Whilst the envoys were passing encomiums on Ram-naráin, he was already come into the presence, where having been made to bow in a manner which he had never seen in his life, he advanced with limbs trembling, and lips dried up by fear, near to the throne, where Medar-ed-döulah laying hold of his hand, which was full of Eshruffies, made the Shah-zada accept his nuzer and his homage. Immediately after the General men­tioned the Radja’s zeal and submission, and supplicated that a qhylaat might be put upon him. The Prince complied with the request; and the Vezir having carried Ram-naráin into an adjoining tent, put the dress of honour upon him, and adorned his head with a circlet, and an aigrett, remarkable by Phœnix’s feathers;* such as is worn by the Imperial Princes. Radja M8rly-dur having refused to be of the party, only two persons more received a qhylaat; and it was Ahmed-qhan-coréishy, and Mustepha-c8ly-qhan, who were both with the Radja, and had bowed to the Prince. Being all dressed in that manner, they all returned to the presence; but the Radja, who had always acted as a master, and who had never been subject to any constraint, was confounded at the respectful posture he was obliged to take, and at the repeated bows he was directed to make, at every word spoke to him—he was overcome with heat and fatigue, and quite astonished at what he beheld. However, as soon as he had returned to himself, and found time to breathe freely, and to recover from his fatigue and surprise, he doubtless reflected in his mind, on that air of wretchedness and misery that pierced through all the flimsy gaudiness which was intended to disguise the Prince’s condition, and that of his famished courtiers. The misery of what was styled the Imperial army, struck his senses forcibly; and he repented heartily of his coming. It is true, he did not utter a word of all that; but I comprehended very well his sense of it, from his humbled looks, the colour of his com­plexion, and from the whole cast of his features; he wished him­self gone, and out of the clutches of those famished vultures. A moment after, the General took his leave, and carried the Radja to the head-quarters, from whence, he had the folly to let such a game escape out of his paws, and to dismiss the man with all the ease imaginable. He had been lodged in a tent apart, but close to that of Mahmed-c8ly-qhan’s; and he had hardly com­menced to breathe freely, when Mirza-m8suvi, one of those who had been dispatched in company with Medar-ed-döulah, to bring him from the city, was sent to him with a message in these words:—The Government of Azim-abad has been bestowed on the man you know, (meaning Mirza-hassen, younger brother to Mah­med-c8ly-qhan), and you have been yourself appointed Divan to both the Governments of Azim-abad and Ilah-abad; for which I wish you joy. This particular has been affirmed by persons of great credit; who add, that Mirza-issac, who happened to come in at that particular moment, and to be joined to Mirza-m8suvi in the same commission, could not help expressing his surprise at the numerous improprieties of the message. Both the envoys excused themselves, and respectfully represented, “that such a message was not yet of season; and that they were certain it would never produce any good at all.” But these objections having answered no other purpose than that of putting the General in a passion, he sent one of his guards to bring the Radja; and on his coming in, he informed him of the dispositions that had been made. The man very wisely inclined his head in token of consent, congratulated the new Governor on his promotion, asked his protection, and then took his leave and went to his tent. In the evening he sent a trusty man (it was Mahmed-afac, the cutwal of Azim-abad) to inform the General, he was going to town to refresh himself. The General answered: “You may; I wish you a good journey.” At these words, some persons present repeated to him the advice I had given; but he heard it with detestation, and said, that it was downright treason; nor was any such matter stipulated in the treaty. They answered, “that they proposed no harm at all; but that it was not stipulated neither, that he should return to his castle.” At these words, the General’s indignation rose to a height; he refused to listen to any thing more on that subject, and added this remark: Let him return to his castle, as much as he pleases. Where is the ??aring enough to stand the brunt of my unsheathed sabre?

"A blind man having by chance stumbled on an opportunity,—

“Made nothing of it himself, nor would let others put it to some profit.”

On the Radja’s coming out of the tent, a person, upon an elephant, received him into the chair, by the General’s directions, and he offered to carry him to the city. The Radja consented; but after having gone a few hundred paces with him, he excused himself on his being, as a Gentoo, forbidden drinking water in the same place with a Mussulman; and calling for another ele­phant of his own, he got on his back, and drank water; and then pushed forwards with all the speed which fear and anxiety could give him.

“Did you not say, that he would fly out of joy?

He flew, indeed, but it was like a peacock that has got rid of its rope.”

The first words he uttered, on coming within the city, was an order to the garrison to stand to their arms, and to man the ramparts, the towers and the gates; and it was in this manner that an affair concluded for Mahmed-c8li-qhan, and that lay at his feet, was suffered to escape out of his hands. That General, proud of his prowess, and full of his own mind, passed his days, as well as nights, in amusing himself with the performances of a number of dance-women, with whom he was plunging headlong in all kinds of pleasures, fully persuaded all this while, that the Radja was his servant, and would never prove refractory. Impressed with this notion, he was every day sending some new order to his new subject, with which the other complied in some shape or other.—These words were always carried by either Mirza-issac, or by mace-bearers, who talked high, but who were suffered to talk, the Governor being anxious only to hear of the Bengal army; and matters remained on that footing, until the sun, get­ting in the sign of Aries,* the new year’s day drew near; and people, anxious to put their predictions to the test, were waiting to see whether Ram-naráin would come out or not, to present the nuzurs and offerings customary on that day. If he should come, then fortune had been more favourable to Mahmed-c8li-qhan than he had deserved; if he should not, then all that had been fancied and schemed by that General, was nothing but whim and dream. At last the new year’s day came, and then Ram-naráin sent to both the Prince and General the number of eshruffies usual on that day, together with a vast quantity of eggs, plain, red and painted; as well as a number of trays full of several kinds of sweetmeats and confectionery, made lozenge ways, and covered with gold and silver leaf; but he did not move from his lodgings. He excused himself at the same time on his being entirely taken up with executing the orders sent him; and he likewise wrote letters of excuse to the principal Grandees; so that it became ascertained now, that he would come no more. This was the general opinion, excepted, however, that of the senseless Mahmed-c8li-qhan, who, trusting to his own idea of the matter, continued to believe him as much his servant as ever.

The Prince and his Vezir having spent much time in cele­brating the new year’s day, and in enjoying to satiety every kind of pleasure, which fine women could afford by their voices and dances, they came at last to remember of politics; and it was resolved that the army should move from that spot, and encamp on the other side of the city, in that part which looks eastwards to Bengal. But as the highroad goes through the main street, and through several markets of it, Ram-naráin sent word to camp, “that the Imperial army, consisting mostly of Moguls, a sort of people from which the inhabitants were par­ticularly afraid, it was apprehended, that if they came to pass through the city with those swarms of plunderers that always followed armies, many disorders and violences might take place, which might induce the gentlemen of the city to take arms in their own defence, and would give occasion to much quarrelling and much bloodshed in the very heart of Azim-abad; that he hoped, therefore, it would be found convenient and proper to send the pioneers of the army to make a road southward of the city, on the skirts of a lake now dried up, along which the artillery, and carriages of the army would roll with more facility, as they would be assisted by the city pioneers, which were no less his servants, than those of the army; and that once the road made, he conceived that the General himself would find it more commodious for going to encamp at Djaafer-qhan’s seat, which was eastward of the city.” An expedient so artfully proposed could not fail of being adopted by Mahmed-c8li-qhan, who ordered the army to march that way, firmly persuaded still that Ram-naráin was his servant, and a man incapable of entertaining thoughts of resistance or independence. Some days were spent in the encamp­ment; and every day used to produce messages, with new orders about sending the papers relative to the income and expenditure of the province; and every day the messengers and mace-bear­ers assumed a higher tone of voice, and exercised authority wherever they went. All that was borne with calm and patience by the Radja who submitted to every thing, and endeavoured by every means in his power to keep the General in good humour. At last news came to the Radja, that Miren, eldest son, as well as deputy of Mir-djaafer-qhan, had set out of M8rsh8d-abad with the tried in battle,* and his English. This chanced to be at the very time when Mahmed-c8li-qhan’s mace-bearers and messengers, presuming on their master’s power, had exceeded all bounds in their threats and violences; insomuch, that both M8rly-dur and Ram-naráin had lost all patience. The latter still intended to go on with dissembling, and with a submissive behaviour, until Miren and the Colonel should be near enough to administer corporal chastisement to that senseless General, as well as to his insolent troops, without his being at any trouble for it himself. But such was the overbearing and outrageous behaviour of the mace-bearers, that they disturbed this arrangement. M8rly-dur himself had lost all patience; and he was anxious to re-establish his character, by throwing away the mask at once, and fighting the enemy for a few days; but the Radja prevailed upon him to keep his temper, and to wait a few days more, after having waited so long; and he added, that as soon as the English should make their appearance, it would be then time to cudgel these insolent mace-bearers into better manners, and to drive them totally away. It is a common adage, that many a fool will sometimes act like a wiseman; but Mahmed-c8li-qhan was none of those. His conduct was a continual scene of ignorance and folly; nor was it but after an immense deal of misery and trouble, that he found out his having been mistaken. Prepetually despising any opinion, not his own, he rendered useless, and of no avail, that very small stock of wisdom that might be in his camp; and he went bluntly on with trusting none but his own insufficient genius. Matters came to such a pass at last, that nothing remained to him, but to bite his own hands out of despair; and this is what we shall explain briefly.