"It (Thornton's India) presents such a mass of valuable and authentic information respecting the origin, government, and resources of our Indian territories, as is to be found in no other publication. * * * It is the best, the most comprehensive, and the most original history of India which has yet appeared, and we cannot doubt its becoming the most popular, if, indeed, it be not so already. The style in which it is written is clear, vigorous, and terse, and free from those far-fetched, flowery, and pompous clap-traps which too many writers of the present day are apt to inflict upon their readers."—United Service Gazette.
"The style of the work is free, rapid, and spirited, and bears marks of a thorough familiarity with the subject. Every Englishman ought to be acquainted with the history of the British empire in India, and we therefore cordially recommend this work to our readers."—Patriot.
"Mr. Thornton's history is comprehensive in its plan, clear and forcible in its style, and impartial in its tone."—Globe.
"A sound, an impartial, and a searching composition; chaste, elegant, and flowing in diction, profound in thought, and thoroughly logical in reasoning."—Colonial Magazine.
A Dictionary, Hindustani and English; to which is added a reversed part, English and Hindustani. By Duncan Forbes, LL.D., Professor of Oriental Languages in King's College, London; Member of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland; Member of the Asiatic Society of Paris, &c. In 1 Vol., royal 8vo., cloth, £2. 12s. 6d., or half-bound, £2. 16s.
"The present volume, by Dr. Forbes, we regard as an inestimable contribution to our Oriental literature, and worthy of a more extended notice than we can give to such a work. To compose a lexicon of the Hindustani tongue, suited to the present advanced state of this and kindred studies, demands in its author an uncommon share of learning and critical sagacity,—that he be cautious, well practised in analysis and arrangement, with ability to assign to secondary and figurative meanings a due position, a philosophical classification under their proper themes. To this part of the task Dr. Forbes has brought rare qualifications, many years' experience, great aptness in teaching the Oriental tongues, much tact with respect to the kind and degree of help required to their thorough mastery. He has already done good service; his former works have stimulated many to acquire that knowledge which is essential to an efficient discharge of the various offices of trust and responsibility of every Indian resident. To say that it is an entirely new work would be to claim for it an equivocal character; but we do say it is a matchless production of its kind, every way calculated to sustain its author's well-earned reputation. The plan and principal authorities are fully detailed in the preface, to which we refer our readers; the classical works have been diligently explored; the more modern and valuable works of Thompson, Herklots, Cox, and H. M. Elliot have been laid under contribution for particular terms and local usage; the aim has been to compile a thoroughly usable and economical book. The words are given in alphabetical order; the leading word, and the meaning of which it, its derivatives and compounds, are susceptible, are given with great care;—in a word, if condensation and definiteness, if due distinction between the provinces of a grammarian and lexicographer, if to avoid faults, to reject things of a doubtful utility, to supply deficiencies, and do all this with a determination that typography, paper, and price shall be unexceptionable,—if these in combination be a recommendation to an author and his work, then Dr. Forbes's Dictionary is fully worthy of the patronage of the patrons and students of Hindustani literature. We have to add, for we must not omit to mention, that it contains a second part, or a reversed dictionary—a very valuable companion indeed."—Friend of India, published at Serampore.
Grammar of the Hindustani Language, in the Oriental and Roman Characters, with numerous Copper-plate Illustrations of the Persian and Devanagari Systems of Alphabetic Writing. To which is added, a copious Selection of Easy Extracts for reading in the Persi-Arabic and Devanagari Characters, forming a complete introduction to the Bagh-o-Bahar, together with a Vocabulary and explanatory Notes. By Duncan Forbes, LL.D. 8vo., cloth, 12s.