The Church is a large Gothic edifice, English from turret to foundation stone, and an exile, like those who built it. A Gothic building looks as strangely among palm-trees, as en Oriental palace on the shores of Long-Island Sound.

CHAPTER XVII.

A DAY AT LUCKNOW.

Crossing the Ganges-Night-Journey to Lucknow-Arrival-A Mysterious Visitor A Morning Stroll-The Goomtee River-An Oriental Picture-The Crowds of Luck now-Col. Sleeman, the Resident-Drive through the City-The Constantinople Gate-Architectural Effects-The Imambarra-Gardens and Statues-Singular Decorations of the Tomb-The Chandeliers-Speculation in Oude-Hospital and Mosque -The King's New Palace-The Martiniere-Royalty Plundered-The Dog and the Rose-Water-Destruction of the King's Sons-The Explosion of a Fiend-Misrule in Oude Wealth of Lucknow-A Ride on a Royal Elephant-The Queen-Dowager's Mosque-Navigating the Streets-A Squeeze of Elephants-The Place of Execution-The Choke-Splendor and Corruption.

THE post-garree for Lucknow called for me in the evening, at the hotel. There is a good road from Cawnpore to the former place, with communication twice a day, and the distance, fifty-three miles, is usually made in seven hours. In a few minutes after leaving, we reached the bridge of boats over the Ganges, where I, as the passenger, was obliged to pay half a rupee at each end. This is a regulation peculiar to the Cawnpore bridge, distinguishing it from all others in the world. After crossing the river, we came upon a long plank causeway, extending over the sandy flats on the opposite side. The night was dark and damp, and I closed

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the panels on each side and disposed myself to sleep. The country between the two places is an extension of the great plain, and there is nothing on the road worth seeing.

On awaking out of a sound sleep, about three o'clock in the morning, I found the garree standing before the door of the dawk bungalow and post-office, which are both in one building. The drowsy chokedar showed me into a room with eight doors, containing a table and charpoy, covered with a rude mattrass. I tried to fasten the doors but four of them, which led into other parts of the building, had no locks. I then half undressed and lay down on the mattrass to finish my night's rest. It might have been an hour afterward, as I was lying in that dim condition betwixt sleeping and waking, when I heard a slight noise at one of the doors-a muffled vibration, as if it had suddenly opened to a gentle pressure. Listening intently, with all my senses preternaturally sharpened, I heard a very slow and cautious footstep upon the matting, and was try ing to ascertain in which direction it moved, when I dis tinctly felt the gentlest touch in the world, as if some one had passed his hand down my side. I sprang up in some alarm, uttering an involuntary exclamation, but could neither see nor hear any thing, nor did any thing appear until I became fatigued with watching, and fell asleep again. But, from the fact that several attempts at robbery were made the same night, I have no doubt whatever that it was an artful thief in search of plunder, and probably one of those adroit scamps to be found only in India, who will take the clothes off a man's back while he is asleep, without awaking him.

After an early cup of tea, I started off on a solitary stroll, postponing my visit to Col. Sleeman, the English Resident, until after breakfast. I set out at random, but soon ascertained the direction in which the principal part of the city lay, by glimpses of its fortress walls, domes and airy minarets. I did not feel inclined, however, to plunge into its depths without a guide, but followed the course of a bazaar, which was filled with venders of fruit, vegetables and firewood. Crowds of people passed to and fro, the gaudy dresses of many of the natives betraying, as at Delhi, the presence of a native court. Some were borne in palanquins, some mounted on elephants, and a few on fine horses of Arabian blood. They looked at me with curiosity, as if an Englishman on foot was an unusual sight. On the way I passed several small mosques, which showed an odd mixture of the Saracenic and Hindoo styles, a hybrid in which the elegance of Saracenic architecture was quite lost. Which ever way I looked, I saw in the distance, through the morning vapors, the towers of Hindoo temples, or the bulbous domes of mosques, many of them gilded, and flashing in the rays of the sun.

The street I had chosen led me to a bridge over the river Goomtee, which here flows eastward, and skirts the northern side of the city. The word Goomtee means literally, “The Twister," on account of the sinuous course of the river. Looking westward from the centre of the bridge, there is a beautiful view of the city. Further up the river, which flowed with a gentle current between grassy and shaded banks, was an ancient stone bridge, with lofty pointed arches. The left bank rose gradually from the water, forming a long hill, which was crown

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ed with palaces and mosques, stretching away into the distance, where a crowd of fainter minarets told of splendors beyond. The coup d'œil resembled that of Constantinople, from the bridge across the Golden Horn, and was more imposing, more picturesque and truly Oriental than that of any other city in India. The right bank was level, and so embowered in foliage that only a few domes and towers were visible above the sea of sycamores, banyans, tamarind, acacia, neem and palm-trees. I loitered on the bridge so long, enjoying the refreshing exhilaration of such a prospect, that I am afraid the dignity of the great English race, in my person, was much lessened in the eyes of the natives.

The picture, so full of Eastern pomp and glitter, enhanced by the luxuriance of Nature, was made complete by the character of the human life that animated it. Here were not mere ly menials, in scanty clothing, or sepoys undergoing daily pillory in tight coats and preposterous stocks, but scores of emirs, cadis, writers, and the like, attired in silken raiment and splendidly turbaned, continually passing to and fro, with servants running before them, dividing the crowds for the passage of their elephants. The country people were pouring into the city by thousands, laden with their produce, and the bazaars of fruit and vegetables, which seemed interminable, were constantly thronged. At first I imagined it must be some unusual occasion which had called such numbers of the inhabitants into the streets; but I was told that they were always as crowded as then, and that the population of Lucknow is estimated at 800,000 inhabitants! It is, therefore, one of the most populous cities in Asia, and may be ranked with Paris and Constantinople, in Europe. Its length is seven miles, the extre.ne breadth four miles, and the central part is very densely populated.