Queen. The horrors of the Mogul invasion had driven many a royal fugitive for refuge in the Court of Bulbun. Long had the streets of his capital retained the names of Roum, Ghori, Kahrizm, Bagdad, and other kingdoms, derived from the territories of the royal exiles. But not a vestige is seen of the celebrated Ruby Palace erected by that pompous monarch. The grossminded Kei Kobad, who made his own aged father to undergo the abject Oriental obeisance of kissing the ground before the royal throne, had fitted up a palace at Kilokeree, upon the banks of the Jumna, to enjoy there the soft society of silver-bodied damsels with musky tresses,' but nobody in that village now recollects the site of that palace.

There are some remains, however, to the south-west of the Kootub, which your guide would wish you to believe to be the ruins of Alla-ud-deen's palace. The walls are of enormous thickness, but much injured, and none of the rooms has a roof left upon it. He may have lived here in the early years of his reign. Popular report also believes this as his last resting-place, and if no trace of a sarcophagus is found, it is because a new road has been cut through the tomb, scattering his remains to the winds.'

No doubt can be entertained as to the genuineness of the Alia Durwaza, or Gate of Alla-ud-deen,-bold inscriptions in Arabic recording his name over three of the entrances, with the date of A. H. 710, or A. D. 1310. The reader who may have read of his assuming the title of the Second Alexander,' and of his con

ceiving the most extravagant project of universal conquest like the Macedonian, will find this a veritable fact from the addition of the title of Secunder Sani to the

repetitions of his name. In form, the gateway is a square of 34 feet inside, and 564 feet outside, the walls being 11 feet thick. On each side there is a lofty doorway with a pointed horse-shoe arch, the outer edge of the arch being fretted, and the under-side panelled. The corners of the square are cut off by bold niches, the head of each niche being formed by a series of five pointed horse-shoe arches, lessening in size as they retire towards the angle. The effect of this arrangement is massive and beautiful, and the mode in which the square is changed into an octagon justly merits the praise bestowed upon it, as more simply elegant than any other example in India!' The interior walls are decorated with a chequered pattern of singular beauty. In each corner there are two windows, of the same shape and style as the doorways, but only one-third of their size. These are closed by massive screens of marble lattice-work. The interior walls are panelled and inlaid with broad bands of white marble, the effect of which is certainly pleasing. The walls are crowned by a battlemented parapet, and surmounted by a hemispherical dome. For the exterior view of the building this dome is, perhaps, too low, but the interior view is perfect, and, taken altogether, I consider that the gateway of Alla-ud-deen is the most beautiful specimen of Patan architecture that I have seen.'* The Alai

* General Cunningham.

Durwaza forms the south gateway to the quadrangle of the Kootub. The interior of it is yet in a fair condition, but on the outside it has been a good deal injured. The delicate carvings in marble and red sandstone have disappeared. The roof also must have received an injury, as the fine tracery on the marble has been overlaid with a coating of cement and whitewash. The Alai Durwaza may confirm the site of Alla-ud-deen's early palace. The date of the gateway corresponds with the year in which Cafoor returned loaded with the rich spoils of the Carnatic. The vast treasures seem to have been laid out in such costly structures, as well as the unfinished Minar. There was an European artist taking the photograph of the northern face of the beautiful gateway,-having a pretty lady to sit beneath the arch, to give an attraction to his subject.

Hard by, in a low-walled enclosure, and on a raised terrace, is a pretty marble tomb that covers the remains of Emam Zamin, the religious guide of Hoomayoon. It is said to have been built in the lifetime of the Emam, about A. D. 1535, during the reign of his religious pupil. The tomb of Emam Mushudee, the religious guide of Akber, is to the west of the Musjeed-i-Kootub-ul-Islam.

Further on to the south-east is the tomb of Mahomed Koolee Khan, another of Akber's four fosterfathers. The building is now fitted up as a European residence, and is best known under the name of Metcalfe House, from its having been the favourite resort of Sir Theophilus Metcalfe, Resident at the Court of Delhi.

The propriety of this conduct on the part of a statesman is open to question. To cite the following from Sleeman, the magnificent tomb of freestone covering the remains of a foster-brother of Akber, was long occupied as a dwelling-house by the late Mr Blake, of the Bengal Civil Service, who was lately barbarously murdered at Jeypoor. To make room for his diningtables he removed the marble slab which covered the remains of the dead, from the centre of the building, against the urgent remonstrance of the people, and threw it carelessly on one side against the wall, where it now lies. The people appealed in vain, it is said, to Mr Fraser, the Governor-General's representative, who was soon after assassinated, and a good many attribute the death of both to this outrage upon the remains of the dead foster-brother of Akber.'-Rooms are let in the Metcalfe House for a rupee a day for each person.

Finished the tour of the antiquities, Hindoo and Patan, of Delhi Proper. Our movements were too hurried, our means of observation and stock of knowledge too limited, to enable us to speculate properly upon the mystery which overhangs many of the antiquities; and we have endeavoured to come to some decision of our own from the labours, the researches, and the conflicting opinions of others.

Thoroughly tired and thirsty, we found all enthusiasm cooled, and nought could pull up our spirits again but a stiff ounce of brandy-pawnee, followed closely by the cheroot-which the etymologist may define as the root of cheer. On a fine plot of grass-land, with the

Kootub rising in your sight, has a bungalow been put up for a beautiful resting-place for the traveller. Thither we bent our steps, and drew a chair, to take the stiffness off our back-bone. Our début into forbidden ground was an ominous puzzle to our stanch Hindoo coachee. He stood, with folded hands, under a tree, and looked upon us as inscrutable beings, as we peeled off an orange from a plate used by the Sahib-logues. Bread and butter were next served, and when brandy brought up the rear, it was an outrage of which he could not remain to bear the sight. Poor fellow! how we regretted his being scandalized in the eyes of the Mussulmans about the place,—and how he must have deplored that the day had gone by when such heresy justly merited the gibbet! Could we have helped, it would have afforded us the greatest pleasure to spare his feelings; and we curse the infirmities of human nature that such customs have insinuated themselves among us. Time was when the Hindoo was sober, and livers and apoplexies were almost unknown diseases in the land. He has taken with great facility to drinking, and must reckon the change a mighty fall. It was not for a boast or bravado, that sitting among the ruins of Delhi, with the traces of Hindoo rule before our eyes, we chose to raise the wine-cup to our lips; rather we felt it as it were a treason to our forefathers, and a high misdemeanor to the shades of Dilu and Pirthi-raj. It was merely to chase away the fag' that flesh is heir to,' -for angels of heaven!' defend us from all tee-totalists, who find poison in the billionth solution of a drop