accumulate against him, he will discover the value of the motto “_Mihi res non me rebus_,” and will find little to interfere with his enjoyment of the social pleasures of the capital. He may even find time for hunting and shooting, if such are his tastes. He can ride and play polo, or he can make his choice between rackets and lawn-tennis, or cricket when cricket is in season. The doors of every fashionable house are open to him if he chooses to leave his card. If he is a good musician he will be all the more welcome. If he can dance well he will have no difficulty in finding partners. At his club he becomes a sort of authority, and has to practice the affectation of being mysterious about trifles, so as to keep himself in training to baffle inconvenient questions on official matters of importance. Whatever social pleasures and amenities life in the capital of Bengal affords, these are all at the disposal of the fortunate civilian under-secretary. We have hitherto written of the junior officers in the Civil Service. Promotion in the ordinary course is regulated principally by seniority. The whole scheme of the Civil Service in Bengal and in the other provinces of India is like the iron framework of a machine, in which all the principal parts consist of members of the Civil Service. As the older members are used up and worn out, the younger members are fitted into their places. The Government sometimes removes a man who does not seem strong enough for his share in the work, and transfers him to a position where the strain on his power is less, and replaces him by a stronger man. To most men the first direct object of their ambition is to obtain charge of a district. After about ten years of subordinate service, the civilian finds himself appointed as collector and magistrate to the charge of a district, and he thus becomes the direct representative of the executive government of the country. The title “collector-magistrate” is somewhat vague and misleading, especially to English readers unacquainted with India. The word “collector” has no special dignity or authority about it. Our own juvenile reminiscence of a collector in England was of the local collector of taxes, a man with a white apron and a pen behind his ear, and a portable ink-bottle at his waist. An Indian collector, at least in Bengal, is a collector almost only in name. The revenues of the district are doubtless collected under his superintendence, but he has almost as little connection personally with the actual collection as the Governor of the Bank of England has with the sovereigns and bank-notes which pass through his bank. The title of “magistrate” is scarcely less misleading. It is true that he is the chief magistrate of the district, but he has very little direct concern with the actual trial of the criminal cases in his district. But the title of “collector-magistrate” exists in Bengal, and therefore we must deal with it. In reality he is the administrator of a small