I was yet at Lucnow, when it was thought necessary to give a successor to the murdered Minister. No person in that multitude of courtiers and Grandees having been found capable of such an office, it was thought proper to recur to Iredj-qhan, whom we have mentioned to have retreated to Delhi after Shudjah-ed-dowlah’s death, on pretence of renewing the treaties with Shah-aalem and Mirza-nedjef-qhan. Assef-ed-dowlah, being in want of his assistance, wrote him a letter full of expressions of esteem and kindness, requesting his immediate attendance. Iredj-qhan, who made no great account of his master’s protection, on which he reposed very little confidence, wrote to Djan Bristow, who was the acting Minister in Assef-ed-dowlah’s dominions, and he informed him, that amongst several other conditions, which he pointed out, he wanted a safe conduct for his person, honor, and fortune: a safe conduct subscribed by himself, and without which he would not move from the place in which he actually was. This request was no sooner made, Iredj-qhan, Prime Minis­ter of Luck­now. than it was complied with; and he arrived at Lucknow, where having been invested with all the office and all the authority of Prime Minister, he was immediately complimented with a rich Qhylaat, a military music, a fringed paleky, a lofty elephant, and all the other insignia of authority and command. As he harboured a secret resentment against M8qhtar-ed-dowlah, and several persons of his family, he commenced the exercise of his office by giving a severe reprimand to the two brothers of the deceased, and by ordering them into a rigorous confine­ment, where they were kept for a length of time, and from whence they were not released until after he had wrung from them by dint of violence and ill-usage every thing which could be extorted. This rigorous usage did not fail to concern my natural sensibility. I thought it incumbent upon me to pay some regard to the title of Seyd, which they bore in common with me, (although I am but the last of mankind), and to shew some respect for certain connections which had subsisted between the deceased and my house; for we were both descended from families of the Tebatebah branches, and I therefore exerted my little influence in behalf of the two afflicted brothers, but all to no purpose. The Ministers’s power, however, proved of short duration, and some time after, a Djaghir of one lac of rupees was settled on the deceased’s son, consort, and daughter; the man­agement of which estate afforded likewise a subsistence to the two brothers. It afforded them also the opportunity of coming sometime to Court, and paying their respects to Assef-ed-dowlah and his Ministers; but otherwise they lived in retirement and silence. And this little incident brings to our recollection a nephew of these persecuted brothers, who after having once cut a great figure in the deceased’s time, had in the sequel come to Azim-abad, where he had a lease of the Pergunnahs or Districts of Sanda and Beliah. He was a great friend of mine, and we were greatly attached to each other. This was Mahmed-aaly-qhan. Finding me unexpectedly at Lucknow, he used to visit me as often as he could, and always took care to make long visits. He was then exerting himself to obtain some preferment, and observing how much I was considered by General Goddard, he wanted to avail himself of my interest, and complained much of the avarice and want of sense of M8qhtar-ed-dowlah’s two brothers, as well as of the eunuch that governed the deceased’s family; nor did he ascribe his ill-success to any but to them.

After having spoke so much of the Ministers of the Court of Lucknow, I must say something more of the private life of its Prince, and must acknowledge that although I had frequent opportunities of conversing with Assef-ed-dowlah, and examin­ing his behaviour, he did not appear destitute of sense; and this, after all, is nothing but what has been said in times of yore by the famous Teacher*, (on whom may grace and mercy repose for ever!) in his renowned Mesnevi:

“The hawk’s keen-sight and his strength of pinion, as well as the genius of man,

Are all so many gracious gifts of the Almighty Artist upon His own work.”

For although he seemed not destitute of sense, yet his company was composed of the scum of mankind, where, however, one might discover here and there a man of birth, as well as a vile contemptible wretch. He seemed intent only on pastimes, amusements, dances, music, and pleasures; in which sports he spent his time without the least regard to decency or any sense of shame. As to those infamous secret practices to which he had the meanness to addict himself without either scruple or remorse, and with such a feminine ardour, he managed so that there appeared no trace of them either in his discourses or in his public behaviour; insomuch that he might have been taken for a man quite stranger to that way of life. It was remarked that although he sometimes would throw his handkerchief to the stoutest of his musqueteers or to the brawniest of his archers, yet such digressions affected but little the whole tenor of his life; nor would an unacquainted man have taken him to be that strange being who delighted in making himself a porter to those Talingas of his, who by their continual attendance on his person, were called his Orderlies. Every morning, as far as twelve o’clock, was spent in going from garden to garden, and from seat to seat, where he amused himself in looking at his elephants, and every third day he made them fight together. This pastime, and that of retiring in cool shady places with his Orderlies, and some other people of the same stamp, all people skilled in those practices so delicious to him, engrossed his whole soul. But there was another article in which he seemed to take a pleasure, and this was promoting marriages. Salar-djung, his uncle, had promised one of his daughters to M8qhtar-ed-dowlah for his son, but the match had been broke off by the latter’s disgrace and death. Assef-ed-dowlah being informed of it, prevailed by dint of intreaties on the bride’s father to go on with the match, and not content with that, he undertook to furnish the whole expense of the ceremony, which he accordingly did, and with a deal of pomp and magnificence. His disposition was so inclined to such scenes, that whenever he heard of any match being upon the carpet, he sent his compliments to the parents, undertook to perform the part of one, and appointed one of his courtiers to perform the part of the other; nor would he give over his attendance, until the match was brought to a full conclusion. He once undertook the marriage of Caïm-qhan, superintendent of his elephants, and I, the poor man, happening to be present, received His Highness’s commands to attend personally, and to perform my part.

We have observed how addicted he was to pleasures, which none but women could have thought of. He had also all the fickleness of a woman. Amongst the slave-boys bred in Shudjah-ed-dowlah’s house, there was one called Imam-baqsh, a man very quarrelsome and of the worst morals and behaviour in the world. Whilst Assef-ed-dowlah was yet a youth, this fellow had found means to elope to him, and to become one of his favourites, in that particular style to which he was a slave; but the father informed of his retreat, and of the perpetual insolencies and excesses the upstart committed on account of the favor he enjoyed, he ordered him to be confined in irons, in which to all appearance he would have remained, had not some principal Commanders supplicated His Highness to dismiss and banish him, a request which was granted. The man fled to Tanda, where he kept himself concealed, and from whence he found means to keep a correspondence with his young master, who, on his father’s demise, made haste to send him letters of recall. To the amazement of all, he introduced him into high offices, and as by the death of M8qhtar-ed-dowlah, and the resignation A worthless slave-boy made Gener­alissimo. of Mahb8b-qhan, there were several bodies of Talingas left without Commanders, and which amounted to about thirty or forty thousand men, besides four or five thousand horse, he gave him the command of that whole army. So thoughtless a promotion could not but raise the indignation and discontent of every officer in the army, as well as the jealousy of every man in his dominions. This man by these means was raised to a degree of power, to which the ambition of no Commander of the army, and no Grandee of the Court had yet aspired I remember to have been several times in his company, and to have had some conversation with him; and I can protest that I never saw anything so vile and so vicious; nothing so destitute of all shame, either in words or actions. He seemed to be fitted for the station of a menial servant at two rupees per month, and this, too, on condition that he should mend his vicious way of life.

“He was very dear even at that price; for he was worth nothing at all, to tell you the truth.”