a simple, unadorned grave; no canopy of
marble, or decorated hall, marks here the peaceful rest of a monarch, who
in his life-time was celebrated for the splendour of his Court; a small
square spot of earth, enclosed with iron railings, is all that remains to
point to posterity the final resting place of the last monarch of
Hindoostaun. His grave is made by his favourite daughter's side, whose
affection had been his only solace in the last years of his earthly
sufferings; a little masonry of brick and plaster supports the mound of
earth over his remains, on which I observed the grass was growing,
apparently cultured by some friendly hand. At the period of my visit, the
solitary ornament to this last terrestrial abode of a King was a luxuriant
white jessamine tree, beautifully studded with blossoms, which scented the
air around with a delightful fragrance, and scattered many a flower over
the grave which it graced by its remarkable beauty, height, and luxuriance.
The sole canopy that adorns Shah Allum's grave is the rich sky, with all
its resplendent orbs of day and night, or clouds teeming with beneficent
showers. Who then could be ambitious, vain, or proud, after viewing this
striking contrast to the grave of Shah Nizaam? The vain-glorious humbled
even in the tomb;--the humble minded exalted by the veneration ever paid
to the righteous.

I was persuaded to visit the ruins of antiquity which are within a morning'
s drive of Delhi. Nothing that I there witnessed gave me so much pleasure
as the far-famed Kootub, a monument or pillar, of great antiquity, claimed
equally by the Hindoo and Mussulmaun as due to their respective periods of
sovereign rule. The site is an elevated spot, and from the traces of
former buildings, I am disposed to believe this pillar, standing now erect
and imposing, was one of the minarets of a mosque, and the only remains of
such a building, which must have been very extensive, if the height and
dimensions of the minaret be taken as a criterion of the whole.[10]

This pillar has circular stairs within, leading to galleries extending all
round, at stated distances, and forming five tiers from the first gallery
to the top, which finishes with a circular room, and a canopy of stone,
open on every side for the advantage of an extensive prospect. Verses from
the Khoraun are cut out in large Arabic characters on the stones, which
form portions of the pillar from the base to the summit in regular
divisi