d Middlemas, shuddering (vol. 48, Black's ed. of the
novels, p. 382).

3. The Begam's benefactions are detailed _post_.

4. 'This remarkable woman was the daughter, by a concubine, of Asad
Khan, a Musalman of Arab decent settled in the town of Kutana in the
Meerut district. She was born about the year A.D. 1753 [see _post_.]
On the death of her father, she and her mother became subject to ill-
treatment from her half-brother, the legitimate heir, and they
consequently removed to Delhi about 1760. There she entered the
service of Sumru, and accompanied him through all his campaigns.
Sumru, on retiring to Sardhana, found himself relieved of all the
cares and troubles of war, and gave himself entirely up to a life of
ease and pleasure, and so completely fell into the hands of the Begam
that she had no difficulty in inducing him to exchange the title of
mistress for that of wife.' (E. T. Atkinson in _N.W.P. Gazetteer_,
1st ed., vol. ii, p. 95. The authorities for the history of Begum
Samru are very conflicting. Atkinson has examined them critically,
and his account probably is the best in existence.) An anonymous
pamphlet published apparently at Sardhana and sent to the editor
anonymously long ago, gives the name of the Begam's father as 'Lutf
Ali Khan, a decayed nobleman of Arabian descent' living at Kotana.
Some writers state that the Begam was a dancing girl, and was bought
by Sumroo. Her name was Zeb-un-nissa.

5. This first wife died at Sardhana during the rainy season of 1838.
She must have been above one hundred years of age; and a good many of
the Europeans that he buried in the Sardhana cemetery had lived above
a hundred years. [W. H. S.] She was a concubine, named Baha Begam.
(_N.W.P. Gazetteer_, vol. iii, p. 96.)

6. His name is spelt Reinhard on his tombstone, as in the text. It is
also spelt Renard. According to some authorities, his birthplace was
Treves, not Salzburg. He is said to have been a butcher by trade, and
certainly deserted from both the French and the English services.

7. A more probable explanation is that the name is a corruption of an
alias, Summers, assumed by the deserter.

8. Kasim Ali Khan is generally referred to in the histories under the
name of Mir Kasim (Meer Cossim). Mir Jafir was deposed in 1760, and
his son-in-law Mir Kasim was placed on the throne of Bengal in his
stead by the English. The history of Mir Kasim is told in detail by
Thornton in his sixth chapter, and also by M