His Majesty had prepared a grand entertainment for the evening, whither, in company with my kind host, the Assistant Resident, I was by no means sorry to repair—­for the King of Oudh is necessarily associated in one’s mind with exquisite sauces and viands, and we promised ourselves a first-rate dinner after our tedious journey.

The street leading to the palace was brilliantly illuminated, as was also the palace itself, while the view from the reception-rooms was most unique.  The glare of lamps lighted up a square, in which was a garden fitted with the grotesque frames of the various fireworks of the evening.  Birds and beasts of all descriptions were there, waiting to be let off.  Meantime, extraordinary equipages came driving up in rapid succession; the magnificent coach-and-six of the King was followed by the unpretending buggy of the bold subaltern, while natives of high degree descended from gorgeously attired elephants, or sprang lightly off their prancing Arabs:  the varied costumes of the different guests as they passed under a blaze of lamps added not a little to the brilliancy and novelty of the scene.

The court-yard behind contained a large tank, in which the reflection of hundreds of lamps glittered brightly.  Servitors, soldiers, and officers of his Condimental Majesty’s household, filled every available portion of the yard.  The spacious reception and banqueting rooms were crowded to excess, and smelt like a perfumer’s shop in which, by some accident, all the bottles had been left uncorked; while brilliantly-attired natives scratched past you, glittering with jewels, and chevaux de frise of sharp gold tinsel.

At last the King made his appearance, and the guests all jostled into chairs as best they might.  My position, almost immediately opposite his Majesty, afforded me ample opportunity of inspecting the quantity and quality of the jewels with which his person was absolutely loaded, and which I had never seen equalled in magnificence:  a rope of pearls, passing over one shoulder, was tied in a knot at his waist, from which the costly ends negligently depended; his turban and breast were covered with diamonds and other precious stones; and it was a matter of wonder that he did not sink under the heat of the room, combined with the extent of mineral productions he carried on his person.  But the jewels, though worthy of great attention, did not possess nearly so much interest in my eyes as did the mode by which he renovated the burly form that they adorned.  On one side of him stood the bearer of his magnificently jewelled hookah, on the other the bearer of the royal spoon, the contents of which he was already wistfully surveying as it was mixed up by the skilful feeder into the form and consistency that his Majesty loved, and put, as a nurse would put pap, into his Majesty’s mouth, which was then carefully wiped by another man, who, I presume, is called the “wiper,” and who was succeeded in his turn of duty by the hookah-bearer,