Excerpt from A History of British India, Vol. 2: To the Union of the Old and New Companies Under the Earl of Godolphin's Award There is something pathetic in the publication of a posthumous work. The pathos is deepened in the case of a writer suddenly called away in the midst of apparent health and vigour, as he stands on the threshold Of a great literary undertaking. When Sir William Hunter, on January 24, 1900, penned the last words of Chapter VIII. In the present volume it was little realised, either by himself or his friends, that the Shadow of death had already fallen across his path. Yet so it was. A fortnight later he was lying dead - his end so sudden, so calm, and so mercifully wrapped in the sleep of unconsciousness that he had no time to give more than a bare hint of his wishes as to the book he had left incomplete. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.