508 LUCKA'O W CITY.
elephants or diamond: the Xizdm or 'l‘ipu possessed, in order that he might outvie them. At the marriage of his reputed son, Wazir All Khfin, who four years afterwards murdered Mr. Cherry, and died in Chuna'r prison, the marriage procession consisted of 1200 elephants, and the young prince wort: jewels valued at £200,000. But this trust accumulation of wealth could only be effected by the most crushing taxation. Four years afterwards, Tennant traversed the whole of Oudh, and found almost everywhere :1 plundered and desolate country. The Nan-ah’s dominions, he says, ‘in defiance of the bounty of nature, display a uniform sterility.’ ln Rohilkhand. ‘not the hundredth port of an acre is under cultivation;’ and ‘the solitude and gloom of the l’rovincc’ were only relieved by a littlc prosperity where the eunuch Mifin Almas administered a few districts with comparative wisdom and moderation. Of Lucknow itself he remarks, ‘I never witnessed so many varied forms of wretchcdncss, filth, and vice.’
Saddat Ali Khan, half-brother to Asaf-ud-dauL-i (1798), carried his submission to the British power still further. He gave up half his dominions to the English, and in return obtained the protection of their troops quartered in his citadels. T henceforth the Nawdbs and kings of ()ucih degenerated into a mere fainérwl dynasty of pleasure. seekers, whose works no longer partook of any national or utilitarian character, but ministered solely to the gratification of the sovereign. In the place of mosques, wells, forts, or bridges, palace after palace sprang up in succession, each more ungraccful and extravagant than the hut. At the same time. European influence began to make itself felt in the architecture, which grew gradually more and more debased front reign to reign. Awkward imitations of Corinthian columns supported Musalmin domes, while false Venetian blinds and stucco marble replaced the solid masonry of the earlier period. A modest mansion rented from a private family had satisfied the soldier chief, Saddat Khan, and his two successors. One palace sufliCcd even for the prodigal Asaf-ud-daula, the builder of the Imr'uuhira, the drank, the liiisiirr, and the market-pIaCes. Saadat Ali, ItOn'evct‘, built numerous palaces; while with Nash-uddln llaidar began an era of extravagant expenditure on monstrous residences for the royal family and their female dependants. In the Chattar Manzil lived the king‘s wives; in the Kaisar Pasand and other buildings, his concubines; in the Shfilt Manzil, his wild beasts. He himself inhabited the Fatth Baltsh, the llaziir lizlglt. the palace at Bibizipur, and many others. Wrijid Ali Sluih had 360 concubines, each with a separate range of palatial apartments.
'l‘o Saadat Ali Khan's reign belongs the Farhat lialtsh, or ‘Giver of lbclight,’ the chief royal residence till “'ajid Ali built the Kaisar nigh. Part of this magnificent building, overlooking the river, the
