served that the wings of the young ones began to appear. The head still retained the dark red colour, but the black lines on the body had become much fainter.

Again on the 31st, large flights continued to pass, driven by the wind to the southward; of course very few alighted. They caused

little mischief within our view. The wings of the young tribe (the whole four being now formed) were about one-eighth of an inch in length. After this time I made no particular observations on their progress, being otherwise engaged, but they disappeared in a few days.

BIOGRAPHY.

sidering his education, which instilled the most despotic ideas. He was fond of lavishing his treasures on gardens, palaces, horses, elephants, European guns, lustres, and mirrors. He expended every year about 200,000!. in English manufactures. This nabob had more than an hundred gardens, 20 palaces, 1,200 elephants, 3,000 fine saddle horses, 1,500 double barrel guns, seventeen hundred superb lustres, thirty thousand shades, of various forms and colours; several hundred large mirrors, girandoles, and clocks; some of the latter were very curious, richly set with jewels, having figures in continual movement, and playing tunes every hour; two of these clocks cost him thirty thousand pounds. Without taste or judgment, he was extremely solicitous to possess all that was elegant and rare; he had instruments and machines of every art and science, but he knew none; and his museum was so ridiculously disposed, that a wooden cuckoo clock was placed close to a superb time-piece which cost the price

landscape of Claude Lorraine suspended near a board painted with ducks and drakes. His haram contained above 500 of the greatest beauties of India, immured in high walls which they were never to leave, except on their biers. He had an immense number of domestic servants, and a very large army besides, being fully protected from hostile invasion by the company's subsidiary forces, for which he paid five hundred thousand pounds per annum. His jewels amounted to about eight millions sterling. Amidst this precious treasure, he might be seen for several hours every day, handling them as a child does his toys.' Asuf had no legitimate children, and it was doubted whether he had any natural ones. He was in the habit, whenever he saw a pregnant woman, whose appearance struck his fancy, to invite her to the palace to lie-in; and several women of this description were delivered there, and among the number was the mother of Vizier Ally. Several children so delivered were brought up and educated in the palace.

The sprightliness of Vizier Ally, while yet an infant, so entirely engrossed the affections of the old nabob, that he determined to adopt him. In conformity with this resolution, the youth received an education suitable to a prince who was destined to succeed to the musnud. He is said, however, to have developed at this period, a propensity to delight in the sufferings of the brute creation. The affection of the old nabob towards

At thirteen his marriage took place. To give an idea of the splendor which attached to his youth, and from which he subsequently fell, the following ac count of his nuptials is extracted from Forbes' "Oriental Memoirs."

"The wedding of Vizier Ally was celebrated at Lucknow, in 1795, and was one of the most magnificent in modern times. The nabob had his tents pitched on the plains, near the city of Lucknow; among the number were two remarkably large, made of strong cotton cloth, lined with the finest English broad cloth, cut in stripes of different colours, with cords of silk and cotton. These two tents cost five lacks of rupees, or above fifty thousand pounds sterling; they were each 120 feet long, 60 broad, and the poles about 60 feet high; the walls of the tents were ten feet high; part of them were cut into lattice-work for the women of the nabob's seraglio, and those of the principal nobility, to see through. His highness was covered with jewels, to the amount at least, of two millions sterling. From thence we removed to the shumeena, which was illuminated by two hundred elegant girandoles from Europe, as many glass shades with wax candles, and several hundred flambeaux; the glare and reflection was dazzling and offensive to the sight. When seated under this extensive canopy, above a hundred dancing girls, richly dressed, went through their elegant, but rather lascivious

dances

dances and motions, and sung some soft airs of the country, chiefly Persic and Hindoo Persic. "About seven o'clock, the bridegroom, Vizier Ally, the young nabob, made his appear ance, so absurdly loaded with jewels, that he could scarcely stagger under the precious weight. The bridegroom was about thirteen years of age, the bride ten they were both of a dark complexion, and not hand

some.

"From the shumeeana we proceeded on elephants to extensive and beautiful garden, about a mile distant. The procession was grand beyond conception; it consisted of about twelve hundred elephants, richly caparisoned, drawn up in a regular line like a regiment of soldiers. About a hundred elephants in the centre had houdas, or castles, covered with silver; in the midst of these appeared the nabob, mounted on an uncommonly large elephant, within a houdah covered with gold, richly set with precious stones. The elephant was caparisoned with cloth of gold. On his right hand was Mr. George Johnstone, the British resident at the court of Lucknow ; on his left the young bridegroom; the English gentle men and ladies and the native nobility were intermixed on the right and left. On both sides of the road, from the tents to the garden, were raised artificial scenery of bamboo-work, very high, representing bastions, arches, minarets, and towers, covered with lights in glass lamps, which made a grand display. On each side of the pro

cession, in front of the line of elephants, were dancing girls superbly dressed (on platforms supported and carried by bearers) who danced as we went along. These platforms con. sisted of a hundred on each side of the procession, all covered with gold and silver cloths, with two girls and two musicians at each platform.

"The ground from the tents to the garden, forming the road on which we moved, was inlaid with fireworks; at every step of the elephants the earth burst before us, and threw up artificial stars in the heavens, to emulate those created by the hand of Providence; besides innumerable rockets, and many hundred wooden shells that burst in the air, and shot forth a thousand fiery serpents; these, winding through the atmosphere, illuminated the sky, and, aided by the light of the bamboo scenery, turned a dark night into a bright day. The procession moved on very slowly, to give time for the fire-works inlaid in the ground to go off. The whole of this grand scene was further lighted by above three thousand flambeaux, carried by men hired for the occasion. In this manner we moved on in stately pomp to the garden, which, though only a mile off, we took two hours to reach. When we arrived at the garden gate we descended from the elephants and entered the garden, illuminated by innumerable transparent paper lamps or lanterns, of various colours, suspended to the branches of the trees. In the centre of the garden was a large edifice, to which we ascended

and

and were introduced into a grand saloon, adorned with girandoles and pendant lustres of English manufacture, lighted with wax candles. Here we had an elegant, and sumptuous collation of European and Indian dishes, with wines, fruits, and sweetmeats; at the same time about a hundred dancing girls sung their sprightly airs, and performed their native dances.

"Thus passed the time until dawn, when we all returned to our respective homes, delighted and wonder-struck with this enchanting scene, which surpassed in splendor every entertainment of the kind beheld in this country. The affable nabob rightly observed, with a little Asiatic vanity, that such a spectacle was never before seen in India, and never would be seen again. The whole expense of this marriage-feast, which was repeated for three successive nights in the same manner, cost upwards of 300,000l. sterling."

As soon as Vizier Ally was recognized by Asuf as his successor to the throne, considerable opposition was manifested by the old nabob's family. But on the death of the latter, the young favourite was upheld by our government, which enabled him at once to ascend the musnud of a powerful and extensive territory. An adopted child by the Mohamedan law, is entitled to all the privileges of legitimate birth. The young nabob, however, had scarcely ascended the throne, when he evinced his treachery and ingratitude towards that government by which alone it had been secured to him; and

having afforded many palpable reasons to suspect his designs, the Governor-General deemed it expedient to depose him, and to raise Sadut Ally, the brother of the late nabob to the throne. A pension was allowed to Vizier Ally of two lacks of rupees per annum, but it was thought necessary that he should reside at Calcutta that his movements might be more strictly watched by the government. He was therefore ordered to repair from Lucknow to Benares, where Mr. Cherry, the Company's resident, was to make arrangements for his proceeding on his ultimate destination. Shortly after his arrival at Benares Mr. Cherry invited him to breakfast. He came attended by a large swarry or armed retinue. It had been previously intimated to Mr. Cherry that his appearance was hostile, and that he ought to be on his guard; but he unfortunately disregarded the caution. Vizier Ally made many complaints of the Company's treatment of him, and having continued his strain of reproach against them for some time, he finally gave the dreadful signal to his attendants who rushed in at the moment and literally cut Mr.. Cherry to pieces. The next place to which the sanguinary ruffians directed their course, was the residence of Mr. Davis (now holding a seat in the Direction) who then filled an important situation under the government; but here they met with a most gallant and successful resistance. Mr. Davis having been kind enough to favour us with a copy of his official letter to Sir

Alured