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with his fifter in marriage; and on his death bed, in the most earneft manner, delivered the young Nabob to his tutelage and protection. Mahobut Jung fhould have known, from fuccessful experience, that no ties are fufficiently coercive to restrain the wild force of ambition; particularly that fpecies of it found in an Afiatic breast, which is feen to break down every fence.

their prayers

THE Mollahs, who are employed here to offer up for the dead, faid, that the widow of Seraje-ud-Dowlah, frequently comes to this maufoleum, and performs certain ceremonies of mourning, in memory of her deceased husband. Mooreshedabad, which now bears the various marks of poverty and decay, an evident refult of the removal of the feat of Government, is a city of no old date; as the refidence of the fubahs of Bengal, who, not many years ago, kept their court at Rajah Mhal, about one hundred miles further up the river. The prefent Subahdar, Mubarickud-Dowlah, grandfon of Meer Jaffier, and fon of the Nabob Mirun, who was faid to have been killed by lightening, receives an annual stipend of fixteen lacks of rupees, from the Company's treafury: having never been vested with the power, or possessed of am aspiring temper, he is the less restless, in his present fituation. As the British nation, in the acquifition of their poffeffions in Bengal, have been materially aided, by the family of Mubarick-ud-Dowlah, they should not, from any narrow scheme of œconomy, recede

*He had made a fuccefsful ufe, in his attainment of power, of the various inftruments of intrigue and treachery.

from

from their engagements with this prince, who, though flattered by the most indulgent attention, must still have mortifying moments, unless he is wholly bereft of the fenfe of feeling, or the faculty of reflection. No buildings of note are seen in the city of MooreThedabad: that which most attracts the attention, is the cemetery of Meer Jaffier, his begum, and the Nabob Mherun :* few things are more efficacious, in repreffing or mocking vanity, of which affection fo ample a fhare has fallen to our lot, than, difpaffionately, to view the repository of those who in their lives have been termed great men, who, "before they shuffled off this mortal coil,” inflamed by pride, avarice, ambition, thought empires too narrow for their scope, and that mankind were only created to become the instruments of their mad defires: thefe once towering creatures, are now, per force, lodged in very moderate apartments, where their turbulent fchemes fleep in quiet, and their names are often buried in their afhes.-A tomb is one of those few appendages of a great man, in the poffeffion of which none envy him.

On the 23d of June, I embarked in a boat at Moorefhedabad, and with a fresh easterly wind, failed up the river about 30 miles. The boatmen, generally Hindoos, faften the boat to the fhore in the evening, that they may eat and refresh themselves; it not being the ufage of their fect to prepare victuals on the water.

* I have been alfo informed that Mherun was interred at Rajemhal. It is not ufual among the Mahometans to erect cenotaphs.

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24th.-I saw the village of Jungypore on the eastern shore, where the Company have established a factory, for the manufac ture of raw-filk. This day our courfe was about twenty miles.

25th.-Entered the main branch of the Ganges :- here the river affords a spacious view, which is terminated, at the extremity of a long reach, by a vista of the hills above Rajah Mhal, extending, in a regular chain, to the north-west. The Ganges, which at Sooty,* is full four miles acrofs, was that day roughly agitated by a ftrong wind, which heaving the waters into a fhort breaking wave, gave it the appearance of an arm of the fea. The riches of Bengal, with a large portion of the conveniency of it's inhabitants, are, in an effential degree, derived from this river, which, with its numerous branches flowing through and interfecting an extensive space of country, transports speedily, and at a moderate expence, the various product of districts, towns, and villages, to places, where they are immediately consumed, or collected for the supply of more distant marts. The Ganges also affords a grand aid to the English, in all military operations within their own territory; whilst their armies on the Coromandel and Malabar Coasts, are, from a want of provifions and ammunition, cramped and impeded in their motions; and are frequently, for the obtainment of these supplies, compelled to retreat, on the moment of reaping the full fruits of victory. But, the Bengal armaments are furnished, from their store boats,

* A.village near the head of the Caffimbazar river.

with every equipment; and the Europeans enjoy, in their camps, even the luxuries of life.

In the evening, arrived at Rajah Mhal, a former refidence of fome of the Bengal fubahdars. Ali Vedy Khan, in the beginning of his administration, which commenced in 1742, removed the feat of Government from this place to Mooreshedabad. I could not learn the cause of this preference; although not deficient in enquiry. The natives of India, are not much addicted to curious investigation, and are generally inattentive to the history of their own country. It would seem that their chief happiness is centered, in enjoying the present hour, which absorbs every retrospect of the past, and care of the future. Their pleasures are even indolent and languid, and partake of the mild influence of their climate, and the eafy produce of a fertile foil Ali Verdy Khan probably removed his capital to Moorfhedabad, that he might keep a more vigilant watch over the actions of the English, whom, it was faid, he feared; and alfo more conveniently profecute the war against the Mahrattas, who had invaded his country, on the fide of the Kuttack. Rajah Mhal bears at this day an impoverished aspect; and were it not for the heaps of ruins interfperfed through the town and its environs, which have now mouldered into a state of deep decay, it would be difficult to difcover, that this place had been, fo lately, the principal city of a powerful and opulent chief. Sauntering amongst the ruined building, I ftrayed into a small garden adjoining the bank of the river; where perceiving an old man,

employed

employed in digging, I entered into a conversation with him. Happening to be more intelligent than the common clafs, and agreeably to the period of his life, very narrative, he afforded me much amufement in his relation and remarks. This old Cicerone obferved, that the very spot which he was then cultivating, was the fite of the Nobet Ghah; or the mufic-hall of the old palace; and that within his recollection, a capacious garden had extended in front of his little inclosure, which the Ganges had now swept away. The inftability of the monuments of human grandeur cannot, in any region of the globe, I apprehend, be more faithfully, or more grievously exemplified than at Rajah Mhal; yet I must exclude from this range of ruins the convenient and hospitable houfe of Mr. Cleveland, which formed a part of the Subahdar's palace.

ON the 26th, paffed, with a fresh easterly wind, the village of Sickergully, (where a heavy fwell had nearly overfet the boat) and observed near it a neat building, which had been erected by Mr. Cleveland, for the accomodation of passengers.

27th.-Saw the town of Pointee, near which, on an eminence, stands an Hindoo, or Mahometan manfion; and a mosque, now apparently in difufe. Adjacent to these buildings, a monument has been raised to the memory of a Mr. Middleton, who died there, on his journey to Calcutta: these objects would not prehaps deferve notice, did they not present picturesque land-marks.

28th.-the wind being light, and the current ftrong, the men

were

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