After a few pages occupied by a sketch of the history of Mysore during the preceding century, Macaulay proceeds

“Seringapatam has always been a place of peculiar interest to me.  It was the scene of the greatest events of Indian history.  It was the residence of the greatest of Indian princes.  From a child, I used to hear it talked of every day.  Our uncle Colin was imprisoned there for four years, and he was afterwards distinguished at the siege.  I remember that there was, in a shop-window at Clapham, a daub of the taking of Seringapatam, which, as a boy, I often used to stare at with the greatest interest.  I was delighted to have an opportunity of seeing the place; and, though my expectations were high, they were not disappointed.

“The town is depopulated; but the fortress, which was one of the strongest in India, remains entire.  A river almost as broad as the Thames at Chelsea breaks into two branches, and surrounds the walls, above which are seen the white minarets of a mosque.  We entered, and found everything silent and desolate.  The mosque, indeed, is still kept up, and deserves to be so; but the palace of Tippoo has fallen into utter ruin.  I saw, however, with no small interest, the airholes of the dungeon in which the English prisoners were confined, and the water-gate leading down to the river where the body of Tippoo was found still warm by the Duke of Wellington, then Colonel Wellesley.  The exact spot through which the English soldiers fought their way against desperate disadvantages into the fort is still perfectly discernible.  But, though only thirty-five years have elapsed since the fall of the city, the palace is in the condition of Tintern Abbey and Melrose Abbey.  The courts, which bear a great resemblance to those of the Oxford Colleges, are completely overrun with weeds and flowers.  The Hall of Audience, once considered the finest in India, still retains some very faint traces of its old magnificence.  It is supported on a great number of light and lofty wooden pillars, resting on pedestals of black granite.  These pillars were formerly covered with gilding, and here and there the glitter may still be perceived.  In a few more years not the smallest trace of this superb chamber will remain.  I am surprised that more care was not taken by the English to preserve so splendid a memorial of the greatness of him whom they had conquered.  It was not like Lord Wellesley’s general mode of proceeding; and I soon saw a proof of his taste and liberality.  Tippoo raised a most sumptuous mausoleum to his father, and attached to it a mosque which he endowed.  The buildings are carefully maintained at the expense of our Government.  You walk up from the fort through a narrow path, bordered by flower beds and cypresses, to the front of the mausoleum, which is very beautiful, and in general character closely resembles the most richly carved of our small Gothic chapels.  Within are three tombs, all covered with magnificent palls embroidered in gold with verses from the Koran.  In the centre lies Hyder; on his right the mother of Tippoo; and Tippoo himself on the left.”