the fall of Delhi, is too affecting not to be quoted. As he was sitting in his cottage, he heard a gun from the fort near by. "A brilliant hope flashed across my heart; I snatched my hat, and ran up the hill, while peal after peal thundered out, making even the Grand Himalayas reverberate. At last I gained the summit, and stood while I counted the 'Royal Twentyone.' It needed no one to tell me what that meant, our commanding officer had received an express announcing that Delhi had fallen! that Britain was triumphant !

"I stood there wrapped in thoughts that can never be forgotten, and a luxury of feeling flowed through my very heart, that will make that moment a bright spot in my life and recollection forever.

"How often before has the thunder of these British cannon proved the inlet of salvation to the oppressed and persecuted! I am not the first American missionary to whom they have announced 'glad tidings of great joy.' I thought of Judson and his heroic wife, to whose ears, in his melancholy dungeon, these cheerful peals proclaimed approaching liberty.

"None but those who, like ourselves, have been practically captive for months, not knowing but any day our doom might be sealed by the hand of violence, can imagine how every gun, as it rung the knell of the Moslem city and power, while it 'proclaimed liberty' to the Christian and missionary of the cross-none but those so situated can appreciate the luxury of such an hour as that. May Heaven bless the British Nation! May God save the British Queen! Ah, yes! and let every lover of liberty, of civilization, and of Evangelical Christianity in our own happy America, say, from the depths of his heart, Amen! to that prayer!"

Mr. Butler afterwards came to Delhi. He walked through the Chandee chôk which was wont to be thronged by gaily dressed crowds. Not a soul was to be seen, all was silence and utter desolation. The shops where the gold and jewels and precious shawls of India were sold, had all been plundered and gutted. The houses were open and tenantless. "The wretched cats were silently moping about, and the dogs howled mournfully in the desolate houses. Far rather would

I see a city knocked down and covered in its ruins than behold a scene like this. A tomb, or Herculaneum, can be contemplated with interest; but Delhi is now like an open grave, rifled of its contents, and its dishonoured condition lying bare to the gaze of day.

"As I stood that night in the midst of this stern desolation I was forcibly reminded of the regular lesson in the calendar, for the 14th of September, the day in which the assault was given. The lesson was the third chapter of Nahum. It begins: 'Wo to the bloody city; it is all full of lies and robbery ;' and the whole chapter is as applicable to Delhi, as it ever was to Nineveh; and here was her 'woe,' and she is 'naked,' a 'gazing stock,' and 'laid waste,' her 'nobles in the dust,' her people 'scattered ;' so that with truth it may be said of her "There is no healing of thy bruise, thy wound is grievous; all that hear the bruit of thee shall clap their hands over thee, for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually ?""

As soon as the English were fairly established, a courtmartial began to sit permanently for the trial of the rebels. The great body of the mutineers had escaped, so that there could be no "wholesale punishment," but fortunately a number of the leaders and prominent men were captured, tried, and executed. A gallows was erected by the Kotwalee, where deeds were done in May and June that fiends might blush to own, where Englishwomen

"Perished

In unutterable shame."

The scene of their sufferings witnessed their wrongs revenged. As soon as order was restored a proclamation was published inviting all peaceably disposed inhabitants to return to their homes. This, however, was complied with but slowly. All suspected persons, and particularly Moosulmans, were either excluded, or had to produce a written pass before they could enter. The effect of these measures, and of the trials in the Dewán Khas, is thus described by Mr. Butler: "This rigid exclusion of the suspected Moosulman population; this calm, quiet and continued investigation by the authorities; this

searching out and bringing to justice the perpetrators of the outrages of May and June; this discrimination; this justice even to the most suspected wretches, to whom every opportunity is given of proving their innocence (one trial alone lasted ten days*); the prompt execution of those who are proved guilty; this manifest anxiety to separate friends from enemies, and to take care that only the guilty suffer; all this with the disposition of government to acknowledge and reward fidelity, is producing an immense impression. It is all so contrary to the rash and indiscriminate mode of Oriental despotism, and argues in their estimation such resources, and justice, and calm resolve as are invincible; and which it is therefore folly and madness to resist. We have seen, I believe, the last rising against British authority that India will ever witness."

* This was written before the trial of the Emperor, which occupied much more time.

CHAPTER XXV.

AGRA.

Arrival at Agra-The Taj-Its Proportions-Mosaics-The "Tribe of the Infidels""The Ornament of the Palace"-Cost of the Taj-The Fort-The Pearl Mosque -The Dewán Am-Dewán Khas-A Seat for a Sovereign-A Court of the Zenana -The Palace of Mirrors-The Terrace Sleeping Rooms-Town of Alexander-The Printing Establishment-Akbur's Tomb-Akbur's Character-His Legislative and Administrative Acts-His Religion-An Unexpected Meeting-Dine with my American Friends-"Young Bengal"-Illumination of the Taj-Revisit the Palace-An Indian Oubliette-The Old Hindoo Palace-Hindoo Art-A Great Well -A Pleasant Summer Residence-Presentation of Colours-Commander-in-Chief's Camp-Manly Sports-The Cathedral-Ram-bagh-Tomb of Aktmud-ood-Dowlah"The Light of the Harem"-Her Ambition and its Success.

I LEFT Delhi, by gárrhee-dâk, on the evening of December 28th, and arrived in Agra the next day about noon. On the outskirts of the city there were ruins of many gardens, tombs, and other buildings, but neither in number or beauty did they compare to those which cover the country outside the walls of Delhi.

The city of Agra is situated on the south side of the Jumna, a hundred and fifty miles below Delhi. Its buildings and public edifices are quite equal to those of Delhi, as it was the capital of the great Emperor Akbur, and was a favourite residence of several other sovereigns.

The cantonments were situated about two miles from the town. I put up at one of the hotels, which compared very unfavourably with that at Umbala.

On the day after my arrival I drove to the Taj,* the mag

*This word is a corruption of the last syllable of Moomtaz, the name of the Queen whose tomb it is. The “j” should be pronounced soft, as in French, or as if the word were written "tarshj”-remembering to give the "a" a broad sound, as in the word "father."

nificent tomb erected by Shah Jehan, the most splendid of the Mogul Emperors, over the remains of his favourite wife Moomtaz-ce-Mahul.

The Taj is built apart from all other buildings, on the banks of the Jumna, two miles east of the city. It is in a beautiful garden, surrounded on three sides by a lofty wall of redstone. The garden is entered by a magnificent gateway, which is approached through several large paved courts, used as surais.

The northern side of the garden is occupied by a chubootra, or platform of redstone, over nine hundred and fifty feet in length. It is open toward the river, and the side of it which is washed by the waters of the Jumna is protected by a water wall of squared redstone.

At each corner of this vast chubootra is a tower, with a white marble kiosk. Two mosques occupy the east and west sides. Like the towers, they are of red sandstone, inlaid with white marble. Their domes are of the latter material. The western mosque only was used for prayer, which must always be made in the direction of Mecca. That to the east was built as a jowáb, or answer to the other, in order to preserve the symmetry of the group.

Upon this redstone chubootra is reared another of white marble, which supports the Taj. The marble chubootra is over three hundred feet square, and has at each angle a round minár, one hundred and fifty feet high, with two projecting galleries, and a light kiosk, or dome, supported by columns. In the centre of the chubootra, between the minárs, is the Taj itself. Its form is octagonal, but the sides which face the four cardinal points, and contain the entrances, are by far the largest. Each is about one hundred and thirty feet long, but if produced, so that the building should be a square, would be nearly a hundred and seventy feet in length. The roof is seventy feet from the surface of the chubootra; above rises for fifty feet the circular neck of the dome. The height of the dome from where it begins to swell is seventy feet. It is surmounted by a gilt copper ornament, the top of which is two hundred and twenty feet from the marble chubootra,