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1922 REVIEWS OF BOOKS 449 a footnote this Gibbon of the future flings me a word of acknowledgement, I shall be satisfied.' There is a good deal of insight in this piece of self- criticism. The tyranny of the concrete fact, of meticulous accuracy, dominated Irvine's mind. The volume before us is a contribution of first- rate importance to historical studies. It drives a broad pathway through a very tangled jungle. It is based upon an erudite and painstaking com- parison and correlation of original authorities, especially Persian manu- scripts, mainly hitherto unused, and many of them collected by the author himself. It clears up many disputed points, throws a flood of light on the manners, customs, and characters of the time, and certainly will always remain one of the chief authorities for the period. It is a piece of work which badly needed doing, and it has been done with amazing thorough- ness, but the result is a book which, with all its great merits, is curiously lacking in grace of style, in distinction of method, and in philosophic grasp. The narrative is everywhere encumbered by a multiplicity of insignificant events, dates, and details. What good purpose is served by compiling lists of the names difficult enough for western eye and tongue to differentiate and pronounce of subordinate Mughal officers engaged in minor expeditions, of whom otherwise nothing is known and of whom nothing further is recorded ? It is true that Irvine himself is never mastered by his facts ; they do not make him lose the thread of his discourse ; he insists in his voyage of exploration in tracing every affluent to its source, but he always ultimately makes his way back to the main stream again. On the rare occasions on which he ventures on a generaliza- tion, paints character, or analyses causes, he is convincing and illuminating. There are most valuable disquisitions on the condition of Rajputana under Mughal rule, on the rise and growth of Sikhism, and on the nature and incidence of the jazya or poll-tax levied on non-Muhammadan subjects. The reader finds himself longing for more of these oases of judicious and suggestive comment in the arid wilderness of annalistic narration. Part of the trouble no doubt is due to the nature of the subject-matter itself. It is difficult to imagine a more wearisome and barren period than that from the accession of Bahadur Shah to the death of Rafi-ud-daulah, the space covered in this volume. With Aurangzib the last of the great Mughals passed away. Under Bahadur Shah some attempt was at least made to shore up the tottering fabric of the state. Mr. Irvine's researches have thrown considerable light and a favourable light upon his character, He possessed some attractive qualities. He was kindly, dignified, learned, and humane. Amid all the honeyed insincerity and callous savagery of the dynastic struggles of that time the conduct of Bahadur Shah to the worthless Kam Bakhsh, the brother who had wronged him so deeply, stands out as a welcome contrast ; after the latter had received mortal injuries, the emperor ' washed the dry blood from his brother's wound, and with his own hands removed his blood-stained clothes ', and left him, ordering the surgeons to exercise their utmost skill. With the reigns of the half-mad debauchee, Jahandar Shah, ' the first sovereign of the house of Taimur who proved himself absolutely unfitted to rule ', of Farrukh- Siyar, a treacherous weakling, and of his two short-lived successors, the empire sinks to the nadir of inefficiency and contempt. In relentless VOL. XXXVH. NO. CXLVII. G g