Well, I shall be
natural or nothing, and recount that I could not help rejoicing
that Jessie was Scotch, and that Scotchmen first broke the rebels'
lines and reached the fort, and that the bagpipes led the way.
That's all. I feel better now that this is also set down.
Lucknow, so rich in historical associations, is poverty itself in
genuine architectural attractions, magnificent as it appears at a
distance. It is a modern capital. About a century ago a king of
Oude, in a moment of caprice, I suppose, determined to remove his
capital from Fyzabad to Lucknow. Palaces on a great scale were
hastily erected of common bricks and covered with white plaster.
These look very fine at a distance, but closer inspection reveals
the sham, and one is provoked because his admiration has been
unworthily excited. Several other kings followed and carried on
this imposture, each building his palace and tomb in this
untruthful way. What could we expect from kings content to lie in
such tombs but lives of disgusting dissipation? A simple marble
slab were surely better than these pretentious lies: anything so
it be genuine. However, retribution came, and the dynasty is
extinct, the present king living as a prisoner in Calcutta.
The bazaars of Lucknow are well worth seeing, with their native
jewellers, brass-workers, and other artificers, working in spaces
not more than six feet square.
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