21.  It is difficult to understand how men like the Marquis of Hastings and Lord William Bentinck could have been guilty of such barbarous stupidity.  But the fact is beyond doubt, and numberless officials of less exalted rank must share the disgrace of the ruin and spoliation, which, both at Agra and Delhi, have destroyed two noble palaces, and left but a few disconnected fragments.  Fergusson’s indignant protests (History of Indian and Eastern Architecture, ed. 1910, vol. ii, p. 312, &c.) are none too strong.  Sir John Strachey, who was Lieutenant-Governor of the North-Western Provinces in 1876, is entitled to the credit of having done all that lay in his power to remedy the effects of the parsimony and neglect of his predecessors.  The buildings which remain at both Agra and Delhi are now well cared for, and large sums are spent yearly on their reparation and conservation.  The credit for the modern policy of reverence for the ancient monuments is due to Lord Curzon more than to any one else.

22.  This date is erroneous.  The inscription is dated A.H. 1063, in the 26th year of Shah Jahan, equivalent practically to A.D. 1653.  It is given in full, with both text and translation, in A.S.  Ann.  Rep. for 1903-4, p. 183.  It states that the building was erected in the course of seven years at a cost of 300,000 rupees, which = L33,750, at the rate of 2_s_. 3_d_. to the rupee current at the time.  Errors on the subject disfigure most of the guide-books and other works commonly read.

23.  The beauty of the Moti Masjid, like that of most mosques, is all internal.  The exterior is ugly.  The interior deserves all praise.  Fergusson describes this mosque as ’one of the purest and most elegant buildings of its class to be found anywhere’, and truly observes that ’the moment you enter by the eastern gateway the effect of its courtyard is surpassingly beautiful’.  ’I hardly know anywhere’, he adds, ‘of a building so perfectly pure and elegant.’ (Ind. and E. Arch., ed. 1910, vol. ii, p. 317.  See also H.F.A., p. 412, fig. 242.)

24.  I would, however, here enter my humble protest against the quadrille and tiffin [scil. lunch] parties, which are sometimes given to the European ladies and gentlemen of the station at this imperial tomb; drinking and dancing are, no doubt, very good things in their season, even in a hot climate, but they are sadly out of place in a sepulchre, and never fail to shock the good feelings of sober-minded people when given there.  Good church music gives us great pleasure, without exciting us to dancing or drinking; the Taj does the same, at least to the sober-minded. [W.  H. S.] The regulations now in force prevent any unseemly proceedings.  The gardens at the Taj, of Itimad-ud-daula’s tomb, of Akbar’s mausoleum at Sikandara, and the Ram Bagh, are kept up by means of income derived from crown lands, aided by liberal grants from Government.