Verse:

“I never saw any myself; if thou knowest of any, pray, tell me.”

He is gone now from us, and gone for ever! Nor have we any other way of testifying our gratitude for those numberless benefits which he had been endlessly spreading upon his people and his friends in general, and upon this disconsolate servant of his, in particular, than by remembering for ever his amiable char­acter, and by pouring daily our fervent prayers to God Almighty, the pattern and spring of all goodness, that he may be an object of the Divine mercy. O God, take no notice, but of the good he has done; You know him better than we can. If he has done any good, give him the greater merit for it; and if he has been a sinner, turn your face from his demerits, and remember that You are the most merciful of all the merciful.*

It having been in the decrees of divine Providence, that the columns of Aaly-verdy-qhan’s family should be undermined and thrown down, and that this revolution, as a chastisement, should extend directly, not only upon the incapable and worthless mem­bers of it, but also indirectly upon all the inhabitants of these once flourishing countries of Bengal and Bahar, and moreover upon all the inhabitants of Hindia (which have all been involved in the fate of their Princes); the catastrophe commenced by sub­stracting from the reigning family those individuals which by their personal merit might have propped the nodding edifice of all that power and dominion; and by their talents in the art of govern­ment, might have employed one hand in crushing the disturbers of the public peace, and the other in insuring the happiness of these regions. But what is singular, that chastisement, and that substraction, took place in the very lifetime of the founder and architect of that empire and family; for it is certain that next to Aaly-verdy-qhan himself, his three nephews, those three persons best qualified for commanding to men, and for governing king-doms, were Nevazish-mahmed-qhan, and Sáyd-ahmed-qhan, and Zin-eddin-ahmed-qhan; three men far superior in those respects to those three grandsons of his, Seradj-ed-döulah with his two brothers. Had any of the three former succeeded to their uncle, and taken full possession of the sovereign power, it is indubitable that the downfall of these once flourishing provinces, with the consequent depression and ruin of their inhabitants, would have not come to pass with so much rapidity and precipitation as we have seen; but it being otherwise predetermined by the decrees of divine Providence, and the course of heavenly bodies produc­ing another series of events, those three persons departed this world under the eyes of the very man whom they were to suc­ceed; so that, the sheets containing the diary of their lives were rolled up and set by in his very lifetime. Zin-eddin-ahmed-qhan, the third of those illustrious personages, and a Prince who in per­sonal prowess and capacity was so far superior to both his elder and younger brother, that he wanted to have the precedence over them both, preceded them in fact, and early departing this life, he took shelter in the mansions of divine mercy: a death that thunderstruck Aaly-verdy-qhan, his uncle, and made him say with a deep-fetched sob, that if dominion and sovereignty had been decreed to last in his family, Háibet-djung (for such was that hero’s title) would have not died. His death was followed by that of Nevazish-mahmed-qhan, who took the road of eternity, and treaded close on the steps of his younger brother. It is after all these losses, that the author of these recording sheets, becoming known to Aaly-verdy-qhan, and being often of his com­pany, heard him sob, and lament himself, and say that Shahamet-djung’s death (meaning Nevazish-mahmed-qhan) affected him, not like that of a son, but like that of a fond indulgent parent, of some one that seemed to have nursed up the whole family. After this death, the old Viceroy was looking up to Sáyd-ahmed-qhan as his last resource; and I remember that the last letter he wrote to him was in these moving terms: Now I am entirely broke both by age and by sorrow. If I live a little more, I shall in the next winter (which was about six months after), repair on purpose to Radj-mahal; not on a hunting party, as formerly, but to feast my eyes for the last time with the sight of your per­son, which is now become my only remaining capital after all the heavy losses, and the ruinous bankruptcies I have suffered; and if I am not to live so long, then hold me excused; and he added these verses of his own, at the bottom of the letter:

“If we remain alive, we shall sew up again

Our garment torn by the thorns of sorrow and absence;

And if we are to die, then accept our excuses.

It would be a pity indeed, that our desire should be disappointed.”

Nevazish-mahmed-qhan’s demise was followed by that of his brother, Sáyd-ahmed-qhan, who himself became a traveller in the regions of eternity. That unhappy event took place in this manner: About two months after the demise of his elder brother, he by degrees commenced feeling an acute pain in his head, at a place that became prominent of itself; and he suffered and bemoaned, but otherwise was so healthy, that it never came into any man’s mind that he would die of it. I, the poor man, apprehended so little danger from it, that I obtained leave to repair to M8rsh8d-abad for condoling with my mother, who was inconsolable of Nevazish-mahmed-qhan’s death. I paid my respects to Aaly-verdy-qhan at the same time, was charged with some messages to his nephew, and I repaired again to P8raniah, where I delivered the messages, and found him still complaining of that headache, and suffering a particular pain whenever he had to roll his turbant round his head. A few days after he said to me, that he thought that applying leeches to his head would do him good. I answered “that losing some blood, and getting himself shaved, might afford him some relief.” Two or three days after I observed that he had fixed his mind on the leeches, and was insisting on their being sent for. I took the liberty to object again. He paid no regard to my reasoning, and he added that some women said that leeches were best, when their genitals seemed apparent. I again presumed to reply, “that what old women said did not deserve his attention.” That’s true, answered he, but yet, there can be no harm in the application. Find­ing him bent on having leeches, I kept silence; and as there is no flying from one’s destiny, leeches were sent for, and applied. A deal of blood and watery matter came out, but every part where an application had been made, began to suppurate; and he now turned towards chirurgy. By degrees the whole neck swelled, and put on a strange appearance; and it seemed greatly tumefied. In short the swelling increased daily, and it was thought that the tumour being full of matter, it would be proper to procure an issue to it; and upon this surmise Bend-aaly, the chirurgeon, was sent for, and ordered to open it. But fate having likewise blinded the chirurgeon, the man, without examining the part; without making any inquiry; without consulting the phy­sicians, made a crucial incision upon the tumour in expectation of seeing the matter flow out; but not a drop appeared. He therefore according to the rules of his art, put on it a poultice of pounded green leaves of Nim*, and having bound the part with linen, he went away. At night some tokens of giddiness and swooning made their appearance; whereupon he took away the linen from his neck, and drank some rose water, and some other strengtheners; and his pain abated; but he was exceed­ingly uneasy. Meanwhile his friends, and principal officers and dependants had filled the hall of audience; and some had pitched tents in the very yard where they were present day and night, together with the physicians. I was myself sitting close to the curtain, that parted the hall from the closet; and I lived and slept on some bedding which I had sent for. Roh-eddin-hos­séin-qhan, son to Séif-qhan, who had these many months become an ally of the distressed Prince, slept close to me, together with my younger brother, Naky-aaly-qhan, and the physician, Doctor-mesihi* and some other men of the art. There were over against me two learned men of the first rank, who had just arrived from Iran (or Persia), and who having been presented to the Prince had been so graciously received by him, that there was no doubt of his intending to give them some office adequate to their eminent merit. These were Aga-abdollah, the Prince of the learned ones of Iran, who understood all sciences, and especially those of the speculative kind; and the learned and pious Séyd-mahmed-turbety. These two learned men were fond of convers­ing with me; and they passed every day some hours in my corner, putting up fervent prayers for the Prince’s preservation; but as there is no parrying the shafts of fate, the wound continued to look worse and worse, until at the beginning of the night on the 25th of Djemadi the first, some delirium made its appearance. The Prince spoke some incoherent words, as if he had been a Gentoo. This strange appearance struck Sheh-mahmed-djehan-yar, who although one of his principal military Commanders, was skilled in physic; for that art had been hereditary in his family, so as to be transmitted to him from his father; and as he was now assisting the physicians, he cast a look at me, at the very moment I was turning my eyes towards him. Not a word was uttered on either side; but he went away. At this sight, that throng of friends and persons of distinction, lost all hopes, it being concluded that the matter that had caused the swelling in the neck, had now struck up into the brain. At about the morn­ing Death of Sáyd-ahmed-qhan. the Prince himself feeling something new within his person, ordered the prisons to be set open, and charities to be distributed in abundance. He had hardly sent the order, when the veiled ones of the sanctuary commenced weeping and sobbing; and it appeared that it was on account of his being in a swoon. It was now the second hour after day-break; and this being the moment where he heard the call of his Creator, he answered: I am ready, A.D. 1754. and departed towards the regions of eternity. It was the twenty-fifth of the first Djemadi, in the year 1169.