d in the
Mutiny of 1857, not only the sepoys but the people rebelled. The
insurrectionists concentrated at Lucknow, the capital, and captured some of
the forts, as has been related to you. This city has now a population of
two hundred and seventy-three thousand, which makes it the fifth city in
size in India. It is regarded as a very attractive place. The streets are
wide, and the buildings are well-constructed, with the wooden balconies you
see all over India, and the shops and bazaars may entice the ladies to make
purchases. It has a fine park.

"The kings of Oude were ambitious to outshine the glories of Delhi, and, to
a considerable extent, they succeeded; but the architecture is fantastic
rather than grand and beautiful, and experts are inclined to laugh at it.
But our friend Professor Giroud has something to say, and I subside to make
room for him.

"I wish to tell the story of a Frenchman, which I think will interest the
party," said the professor. "Claude Martine was a Breton soldier who went
with his regiment to Pondicherry, the principal French settlement in India,
which has been tossed back and forth between the English, Dutch, and French
like a shuttlecock, but has been in possession of my country since 1816. He
attained the grade of corporal; but this elevated rank did not satisfy him,
and he left for the interior.

"Finally, after a thousand adventures, which he never wrote out, he arrived
at the court of Oude, where, by some means, he obtained a captaincy in the
royal army, and, what was better, the favor of the king. In 1780 he was
commander-in-chief of the native army. But his enterprise did not end here;
for he was the king's trusted favorite, and of course he became a
millionaire, even though there were no railroad shares in being at that
period.

"He brought with him some crude notions of architecture, and he set about
reforming that of India. He was not a success in this capacity; and, as my
lord says, his work is ridiculed by men of taste. But this appears to have
been his only sin; for he used the money he had accumulated in establishing
schools, now known under the name of La Martiniere, in which thousands of
children are educated. As a Frenchman I do not feel at all ashamed of
Claude Martine."

"You need not, Professor," added the viscount. "But here we are at the
Lucknow station."

As usual, by the kindness of Lord Tremlyn, everything had been provided for
the arrival of the company of t