Verse:

“The world has remained behind; but he carried with him all the good he had done.”

Whilst he was in a swoon, the women of his household sent for the learned and pious men, that were in his service, desiring them to pronounce some prayers to make him recover from the fit. And on this, some of them went in, and observed that he was still taking in the two or three mouthfuls of air that were yet of his portion; but they returned immediately back, bathed in tears. Mir-abdol-hady, who understood the Arabic perfectly, and has left a book which proves that he composed in poetry as elegantly as he did in prose, went in with the others; and on casting his eyes upon him, he was so struck with the appearance, that he fell down senseless; some eunuchs and some women took him up, and brought him into the hall, where he remained speechless and senseless. Being put into a chair and carried to his house, he seemed to recover his senses; but about two o’clock the next morning, he expired. May God’s mercy and grace rest upon that worthy Séyd for ever! He was born at Dacca in Bengal, but bred and educated at Shah-djehan-abad, where he made a great proficiency in the sciences and the belle-letters; he was fond of poetry particularly, although writing prose with sin­gular elegance. My blessed father, sensible of his merit, had engaged him to come to Azim-abad, for the purpose of educating my two younger brothers, Séyd-aaly-qhan and Ghalib-aaly-qhan, (to whom may this salute of mine he wafted); and as the Viceroy. Zin-eddin-ahmed-qhan, who intended to marry one of his daughters to Séyd-aaly-qhan, had taken him into his family, the illustri­ous Séyd was likewise taken into his family, entrusted with the young lord’s education, and allowed a handsome pension. After Zin-eddin-ahmed-qhan’s death, he was carried to Bengal by Séyd-ahmed-qhan, who had taken with him all those learned men of Azim-abad, whose names have been mentioned a little above. Thither he followed that generous Prince, and there he ended his days in that strange manner, which we have just seen. He was cautious of mixing or conversing with those he thought ill educated, being averse to their company; and he had such a relish for solitude, that he seldom mixed with others, but passed his time in reading, in meditating upon poetry, or in composing verses. He had a partiality for my conversation and company; and he used to compliment me with this expression, “that his case with me was upon a par with a poet who said to a con­noisseur: Sir, but for yau, my poetry would remain without meaning.”

The body of Séyd-ahmed-qhan was washed and purified by the pious Séyd-saleh, a friend of Séyd-mahmed-turbety’s, who being freshly landed by the way of Calcutta, from the sublime gate of the tomb at Kerbelah, had just arrived at P8raniah, in company with the flower of the virtuous, the learned Aga-abdollah. They wrapped it up with a winding sheet which he had brought from that sacred tomb; and those two venerable men having invited a numerous assembly of faithful, then present, to join with them in prayers, they performed the office of the dead over his corpse; and then taking it up, they carried it by turns to Djaaferi-bagh, a pleasant garden, where they committed it to the earth. At the two brothers, Nevazish-mahmed-qhan, and Séyd-ahmed-qhan, as well as their own uncle, Aaly-verdy-qhan, died within the year, at a few months distance from each other, the chronogram which was composed for the first, might as well serve for the two others.

As soon as the deceased was carried to the grave, his eldest son, Sháocat-djung, who had been a person of great weight and influence even in his father’s lifetime, came into the hall of audience, and pretending to be greatly affected and overcome with grief, he shed hypocritical tears, and, in token of desolation, threw his turbant on the ground. As I, the poor man, was reputed a person of consequence in his father’s Court, I thought it incumbent upon me to act a part in such a moment of distress; and taking it up therefore from the ground, I put it again upon his head, and rolled it properly; and then I made him sit down as chief mourner. After this I introduced the principal military Commander, Sheh-djehan-yar, with some other persons of distinc­tion, who came to condole with him in the manner usual in Hindostan, to offer him their services, to profess their attach­ment to his person, and to desire his sitting on his father’s Mesned, as heir to his dominions and estate. This being done, I engaged the young Prince to dismiss every one of them with promises of favour; a moment after I sent for a tent, got it pitched in the hall of audience, and appointed it for his sleeping place during three days. The second day in the morning, I waited upon him, and I could see plainly that he did everything in his power to win my heart by his attentions; he observed that it would be proper to send a supplique to his grand-uncle; and he requested me to draw up the minute of it. His pleasure was complied with upon the spot; and the letter being transcribed fair, was dispatched directly. But seventeen days before his nephew’s demise, that Prince himself had fallen sick of that dropsical distemper which soon carried him to his grave; and what is strange, his nephew at P8raniah, unaware how near he was himself to his own dissolution, was bemoaning, and sobbing, and complaining of his ill luck in these very words: “Now that the time is come for my doing something, I am myself out of order.” So little apprehensive was he of his approaching fate, that he gave a dress of encouragement to his agent, and sent him to M8rsh8d-abad with messages full of kindness to the prin­cipal military Commanders, as well as to the Grandees, of the Court, and the principal citizens, recommending to him in the strongest terms to spare nothing in his endeavours to bring them over to his party. Good God! how ignorant, how unaware is man! But in fact this ignorance is one of the wheels that put in motion the pre-established order and government of this world; and were that ignorance less profound, and less complete, it is evident that the world could not exist; nay to all appearance there would be an end of all religion, and an end of all thoughts on futurity. The letter made a deep impression on Aaly-verdy-qhan. On reading the letter, he sobbed greatly and said: Now that I have lost my feathers and wings, there remains nothing for me, but to repair to my Maker. Having said this in a mournful tone of voice, he answered the letter by condoling with the children of the deceased, and by recommending to Sháocat-djung in particular, to live upon good terms with his brothers, and with all the members of his father’s family, as well as with all its dependants. The answer was accompanied by a dress of condolence for every one of the brothers, and with a patent of Governor of P8raniah, “for Sháocat-djung, but under condition, that he should preserve and cherish all his father’s friends, take care of all his dependants and servants, and love his subjects as his own children.” The letter was sent by his chief of the kitchin, Mirza-zin-el-aabedin. Sháocat-djung, who dreaded Aaly-verdy-qhan’s displeasure, seemingly complied with every one of the injunctions in the letter; and putting both his hands upon his eyes and head in token of cheerful compliance, he promised to obey every one of those messages brought him verbally on the part of his great uncle; after which, he made a handsome present to the messenger, and sent him back satisfied and well disposed. All this being over, he in a fovourable hour, ascended the chair of sovereignty; and as if he had waited only for such a moment, he made haste to give specimens of his profligacy and supineness. An elderly woman of the seraglio, whose name was Dái-c8il, and to whom the deceased, who was a connoisseur in merit, had given the title of Dana-annga or the phœnix of wisdom, resigned the service that very day. She was a great friend of mine, and seemed to be so greatly attached to me, that on the very day I resigned the service she sent for me, and hear­ing of my resolution to quit P8raniah, she did all she could to dissuade me from such a step. “I look upon Sháocat-djung,” said she, “to be my own child and son; and he is filling for me the place that had been filled by his father; but he seems to be disrobed of the garment of common sense. He is drunk with the wine of ignorance and supineness, and giddy with the fumes of youth and imprudence; nevertheless do not forsake him. Certainly you owe much to his father’s memory, and not a little even to me, although I should be only one of your feeblest well-wishers; but after all, we have both acquired rights upon your gratitude. I am then of opinion that you ought, out of regard to us, to take upon yourself the trouble of some office, such as that of Prime Minister, in order to inspect the affairs of revenue and Government, and to take care of the correspondence with the Emperor and with Aaly-verdy-qhan, as well as with the Grandees of Bengal, and all the men in office in this province. On the other hand, I conceive Car-guzar-qhan to be a man of importance, as being these many years at the head of our army. Do then join together cordially to prevent Sò8let-djung’s* name and family from going to wreck.” “I answered this lady, that what she said, was reasonable and proper; but you know, added I, that Sháocat-djung will never consent to all that; and on the contrary, that he will listen only to the giddy and the profligate that throng about his person, ready to jump headlong into whatever is likely to promote the ruin of his family, as well as his own. All what you propose, is reasonable; but all that cannot be done without the master’s consent; and we are nothing but servants.” As that worthy woman was full of sense, she acknowledged the probability of what I said, and approved of my shyness. A few days after Sáyd-ahmed-qhan’s demise, I obtained a bounty of five thousand rupees for the learned Aga-abdollah, of whom we have already spoken, and another of a thousand for the glorious Séyd-mir-mahmed; and having put those sums in their hands, and got them dismissed with honour, I obtained leave myself, and resigned the service. The lady in question hearing of my final resolution thereon, sent me five thousand rupees, to bear the charges of my journey. She was a woman of uncommon understanding; and although low born, and from one of the lowest clans of Catec, she had so far acquired her master’s good opinion, as to be entrusted with the government of the whole of his household, in which she managed with the utmost fidelity the treasures deposited in her custody; and yet behaved with so much condescendence and so much inclination to do good, that out of thousands of officers, civilians, revenue-col­lectors, dependants, and pensioners, and servants, few, very few must be those that she did not oblige as often as opportunity served; and few those who in the difficult emergencies of their situations did not recur with fruit to her interposition. She knew how to manage in such a manner, as to merit her master’s approbation, as well as that of every person in the household; indeed of every man in office. She left an excellent character behind, and has been universally regretted.