though Empress would be the ancient and more proper title, a present of five mohurs more, and the emperor's chobdars came eagerly up to know when they should attend to receive their buckshish. 2 "It must not, however, be supposed that this interchange of civilities was very expensive either to his majesty or to me. All the presents which he gave, the horse included, though really the handsomest which had been seen at the court of Delhi for many years, and though the old gentleman evidently intended to be extremely civil, were not worth much more than 300 sicca rupees,1 so that he and his family gained at least 800 sicca rupees by the morning's work, besides what he received from my two companions, which was all clear gain, since the khelâts which they got in return were only fit for May Day, and made up, I fancy, from the cast-off finery of the Begum. On the other hand, since the Company have wisely ordered that all the presents given by native princes to Europeans should be disposed of on the Government account, they have liberally, at the same time, taken on themselves the expense of paying the usual money nuzzurs made by public men on these occasions. In consequence, none of my offerings were at my own charge, except the professional and private one of the two books, with which, as they were unexpected, the emperor, as I was told, was very much pleased. I had, of course, several buckshishes to give afterwards to his servants, but these fell considerably short of my expenses at Lucknow. "To return to the hall of audience. While in the small apartment where I got rid of my shining garments, I was struck with its beautiful ornaments. It was entirely lined with white marble inlaid with flowers and leaves of green serpentine, lapis-lazuli, and blue and red porphyry; the flowers were of the best Italian style of workmanship, and evidently the labour of an artist of that country. All, however, was dirty, desolate, and forlorn. Half the flowers and leaves had been picked out or otherwise defaced, and the doors and windows were in a state of dilapidation, while a quantity of old furniture was piled in one corner, and a torn hanging of faded tapestry hung over an archway which led to the interior apartments. 'Such,' Mr. Elliott said, 'is the general style in which this palace is kept up and furnished. It is not absolute poverty which produces this, but these people have no idea of cleaning or mending anything.' For my own part I thought of the famous Persian line, "The spider hangs her tapestry in the palace of the Cæsars,' and felt a melancholy interest in comparing the present state of this poor family with what it was 200 years ago, when Bernier visited Delhi, or as we read its palace described in the tale of Madame de Genlis. "After putting on my usual dress we waited a little, till word was brought us that the King of Kings,' 'Shah-in-Shah,' had retired to his zanana; we then went to the hall of audience, which I had previously seen but imperfectly, from the crowd of people and the necessity of attending to the forms which I had to go through. It is a very beautiful pavilion of white marble, open on one side to the court of the palace, and on the other to a large garden. Its pillars and arches are exquisitely carved and ornamented with gilt and inlaid flowers, and inscriptions in the most elaborate Persian character. Round the frieze is the motto, recorded, I believe, in Lalla Rookh, If there be an Elysium on earth, The marble floor, where not covered by carpets, is all inlaid in the same beautiful manner with the little dressing-room which I had quitted. "The gardens, which we next visited, are not large, but, in their way, must have been extremely rich and beautiful. They are full of very old orange and other fruit trees, with terraces and parterres, on which many rose bushes were growing, and, even now, a few jonquils in flower. A channel of white marble for water, with little fountain-pipes of the same material, carved like roses, is carried here and there among these parterres, and at the end of the terrace is a beautiful octagonal pavilion, also of marble, lined with the same mosaic flowers as in the room which I first saw, with a marble fountain in its centre, and a beautiful bath in a recess on one of its sides. The windows of this pavilion, which is raised to the height of the city wall, command a good view of Delhi and its neighbourhood. But all was, when we saw it, dirty, lonely, and wretched; the bath and fountain dry; the inlaid pavement hid with lumber and gardeners' sweepings, and the walls stained with the dung of birds and bats. "We were then taken to the private mosque of the palace, an elegant little building, also of white marble, and exquisitely carved, but in the same state of neglect and dilapidation, with peepuls allowed to spring from its walls, the exterior gilding partially torn from its dome, and some of its doors coarsely blocked up with unplastered brick and mortar. "We went last to the 'dewanee aûm,' or hall of public audience, which is in the outer court, and where, on certain occasions, the Great Mogul sate in state, to receive the compliments or petitions of his subjects. This also is a splendid pavilion of marble, not unlike the other hall of audience in form, but considerably larger, and open on three sides only; on the fourth is a black wall, covered with the same mosaic work of flowers and leaves as I have described, and in the centre a throne, raised about ten feet from the ground, with a small platform of marble in front, where the vizier used to stand to hand up petitions to his master. Behind this throne are mosaic paintings of birds, animals, and flowers ; and in the centre, what decides the point of their being the work of Italian or at least European artists, a small group of Orpheus playing to the beasts. This hall, when we saw it, was full of lumber of all descriptions, broken palanquins and empty boxes, and the throne so covered with pigeons' dung that its ornaments were hardly discernible. How little did Shahjehan, the founder of these fine buildings, foresee what would be the fate of his descendants, or what his own would be! Vanity of vanities!' was surely never written in more legible characters than on the dilapidated arcades of Delhi !" "2nd January 1825. "This day, being Sunday, I confirmed about twenty persons, and I afterwards preached and administered the Sacrament, Mr. Fisher reading prayers; the congregation was numerous, and there were near forty communicants. In the evening also we had a good congregation." By Muttra, the evil centre of the Krishna cult, Bishop Heber, accompanied by Mr. Lushington and Dr. Smith, henceforth his medical attendant, reached Agra, from which he visited the palace-city of Fatehpoor Sikri, the great Akbar's Windsor. Of that he wrote, "There is no quadrangle either in Oxford or Cambridge fit to be compared with it." Like all visitors, he found the Taj finer than his highest expectations : "12th January 1825. "Archdeacon Corrie's celebrated convert, Abdul Musseeh,1 breakfasted this morning at Mr. Irving's; he is a very fine old 1 See Henry Martyn, Saint and Scholar (1892), pp. 285, 543. man, with a magnificent gray beard, and much more gentlemanly manners than any Christian native whom I have seen. His rank, indeed, previous to his conversion, was rather elevated, since he was master of the jewels to the Court of Oudh, an appointment of higher estimation in Eastern palaces than in those of Europe, and the holder of which has always a high salary. Abdul Musseeh's present appointments, as Christian missionary, are sixty rupees a month, and of this he gives away at least half! Who can dare to say that this man has changed his faith from any interested motives? He is a very good Hindostani, Persian, and Arabic scholar, but knows no English. There is a small congregation of native Christians, converted by Mr. Corrie when he was chaplain at Agra, and now kept together by Abdul Musseeh. The earnest desire of this good man is to be ordained a clergyman of the Church of England; and if God spares his life and mine, I hope, during the Ember weeks in this next autumn, to confer orders on him. He is every way fit for them, and is a most sincere Christian, quite free, so far as I could observe, from all conceit or enthusiasm. His long Eastern dress, his long gray beard, and his calm resigned countenance, give him already almost the air of an apostle." "13th January. "I went to see the celebrated Taj Mahal, of which it is enough to say that, after hearing its praises ever since I had been in India, its beauty rather exceeded than fell short of my expectations. There was much, indeed, which I was not prepared for. The surrounding garden, which, as well as the Taj itself, is kept in excellent order by Government, with its marble fountains, beautiful cypresses and other trees, and profusion of flowering shrubs, contrasts very finely with the white marble of which the tomb itself is composed, and takes off, by partially concealing it, from that stiffness which belongs more or less to every highly-finished building. The building itself is raised on an elevated terrace of white and yellow marble, and having at its angles four tall minarets of the same material. The Taj contains, as usual, a central hall, about as large as the interior of the Ratcliffe Library, in which, enclosed within a carved screen of elaborate tracery, are the tombs of the Begum Noor-jehan, Shahjehan's beloved wife, to whom it was erected, and by her side, but a little raised above her, of the unfortunate emperor himself. Round this hall are a number of smaller apartments, corridors, etc., and the windows are carved in lattices of the same white marble with the rest of the building, and the screen. The pavement is in alternate squares of white, and what is called in Europe Sienna marble; the walls, screens, and tombs are covered with flowers and inscriptions, executed in beautiful mosaic of cornelians, lapis-lazuli, and jasper; and yet, though everything is finished like an ornament for a drawing-room chimney-piece, the general effect produced is rather solemn and impressive than gaudy. The parts which I like least are the great dome and the minarets. The bulbous swell of the former I think clumsy, and the minarets have nothing to recommend them but their height and the beauty of their materials. But the man must have more criticism than taste or feeling about him who could allow such imperfections to weigh against the beauties of the Taj Mahal. The Jumna washes one side of the garden, and there are some remains of a bridge which was designed by Shahjehan, with the intention, as the story goes, to build a second Taj of equal beauty for his own separate place of interment, on the opposite side of the river. "The number of persons confirmed was about forty, half of whom were native Christians, mostly old persons and converts of Mr. Corrie's during his residence here. Abdul Musseeh told me there were a good many more scattered up and down in the neighbouring towns of Coel, Allyghur, and Etawah, whither he went from time to time, but who were too far off to attend on this occasion. Of several he spoke as elderly persons, who had been in the Maratha service during Penn's time, of European extraction, but who knew no language but Hindostani, and were very |