Now I begin the narration of this history. The death of the late Nawáb occurred on the last day of the month of Zíqa’da 1188 A.H., which was one month before the beginning of the year 1189 A.H. On that day a calamity overtook the residents of Faizábád, and there was no one, European or native, small or great, who was not affected with grief. They had not finished the funeral obsequies of the deceased, when the heir-apparent began to think of his accession, and sum­moning Sálár Jang and Mirza Ali Khán and other nobles from the funeral train, prepared to take his seat on the ruler’s masnad. All represented to him that, as by the grace of God there was no rival to his claims, and his servants and relatives, being aware of the friendliness of the English, were all ready to yield him allegiance, it would be better if he did not exhibit impatience, and the English officials, among whom were Colonel Collins and Mr. Conway, con­sidered it advisable to wait; yet he did not heed them, but showed the greater haste, so that all had to yield to his wishes. At the same time he nominated Mír Murtaza Khán his Náib, with full powers, and created him a Haft-hazári and Sáhib-i-naubat, and appointed Jhao L’al, a native of Faizábád, a man of low extrac­tion, his household steward, to officiate for Muham­mad Bashír Khán; gave him a fine troop of cavalry and infantry, and employed him in several capacities as his private servant. And he honoured several com­mon soldiers, who had been his orderlies, with the title of Rája and gave them the command of troops and loaded them with gifts, although they were not really deserving of such notice. He gave to Tahsín Ali Khán, his Khwája Sará, the post of Názir Khán-sámán and many other such offices. Seeing this, the true friends of the late Nawáb despaired of the future and grew apprehensive on their own account.

First of all Muhammad Iraj, on pretence of obtain­ing a sanad from the Emperor, went off to Sháhjahán­ábád, and after his arrival there, delayed the purpose of his visit and began to prosecute his own acquaintance with Zulfiqár’ud Daulah, with the result that after a little time he was appointed by him Náib of the Subáh of Akbarábád, and Asafu’d Daulah reckoned his departure a gain and took no notice of his conduct. As in Faizábád he was near his grandmother, who disap­proved of most of his proceedings, he conceived a dis­like for that city and moved to Lucknow and began to build there. This was a manifest mistake which he committed, because the climate of Faizábád is better than that of Lucknow, and the ground at Lucknow is uneven and its bazárs and streets are narrow and confined. Had he first of all selected a level site for his new residence, a city worthy of a name would have been raised for less expense than was incurred in the building of Lucknow. At the same time, too, the resi­dents would have escaped all unpleasantnesses, and his name would have survived for the wisdom of his selec­tion.