'Up the Country': Letters Written to Her Sister from the Upper Provinces of India

Letters written to her Sister
FROM THE UPPER PROVINCES OF INDIA BY THE HON. EMILY EDEN AUTHORESS OF ‘THE SEMI-DETACHED HOUSE’ AND ‘THE SEMI-ATTACHED COUPLE’ NEW EDITION
LONDON RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET PUBLISHER IN ORDINARY TO HER MAJESTY 1867
LONDON PRINTED BY SPOTTISWOODE AND CO. NEW-STREET SQUARE
My dear William,
I know no one but yourself who can now take any lively interest in these Letters.
She to whom they were addressed, they of whom they were written, have all passed away, and you and I are now almost the only survivors of the large party that in 1838 left Government House for the Upper Provinces.
Many passages of this Diary, written solely for the amusement of my own family, have of course been omitted; but not a word has been added to descriptions which have little merit, but that they are true and that they were written on the spot.
Now that India has fallen under the curse of railroads, and that life and property will soon become as insecure there as they are here, the splendour of a Governor-General’s progress is at an end.
The Kootûb will probably become a Railway Station; the Taj will, of course, under the sway of an Agra Company (Limited, except for destruction), be bought up for a monster hotel; and the Governor-General will dwindle down into a first-class passenger with a carpet-bag. These details, therefore, of a journey that was picturesque in its motley processions, in its splendid crowds, and in its ‘barbaric gold and pearl,’ may be thought amusing. So many changes have since taken place in Indian modes of travelling, that these contrasts of public grandeur and private discomfort will probably be seen no more, on a scale of such magnitude.
Believe me, Ever your affectionate Aunt, EMILY EDEN.
Eden Lodge, Kensington Gore: May , 1866.