LUCKJ'O IV CITY. 5“?
called Over, and their wages paid, at dead of night. The building cansists of one large hall of immense size and magnificence. It measures 167 feet in length by 52 in breadth, and cost, according to local computation. no less than a million sterling. The gaudy decorations which once mvered its walls have DOW disappeared; and as the mausoleum stands within the walls of the fort, it sen-es at present as an arsenal for the British garrison. The building is as wild as it is graceful, being raised upon very deep foundations, and without a single piece of woodwork in its construction. Mr. Fergusson, though he has little to say in favour of any other architectural work in Lucknow, praises the admirable vaulting of the lmdmbt'tm, and observes that the mausoleum, “when not too closely looked into, is not unfit to be spoken of in the same chapter as the earlier buildings.’
Amongst other works of .\s:tf-ud-dacl:i. the Rtiini Dam-$2.1, a fine old massive and isolated gateway that still leads out or the Machl Bhawan fort, ranks highest in importance. The Daulat‘khana, along the banks of the river west of the fort. and the magnificent palace known as the Residency, also belong to the same period. The latter edifice looks down upon the Gumti from a considerable elevation. and forms the own striking feature in the whole of Lucknow. It was allotted to the British Resident by Saridat Ali when he made his own home in the magnificent Farhat Baksh. Outside the city. and across the river, lies the palace of Bibidpur, built by As'tf—ttddaula as a country residence and hunting lodge. Numerous other handsome edifices in various parts of the ten-n attest the greatness of the same Nawab, whose memory is still preserved in popular rhymes as the embodiment of liberality and magnificence.
To the reign of Asaf—ud-daula belongs also the )lartiniicre, a school founded by General Claude Martin, and completed after his death. It consists of a colossal Italian villa on an exaggerated scale. General Martin himself designed the plan and elevation, and showed them to the Nan-rib, who wished to buy the building for a million sterling. The founder's bones were buried within the MartiniE-rc to prevent its confiscation by the Musalman court, but were dug up and scattered during the Mutiny. The school now affords clothing and education to 120 boys.
Under Asaliud-daula, the Lucknow court reached its highest splen~ dour. The dominions of the Xawab extended ever a wider area than at any earlier or later period. All the wealth of the State was devoted to the personal aggrandizement of its ruler, and the accumulation of those materials which minister to oriental pomp. Xo court in India or in Europe could rival the magnificence of Asaf-uddaula ; and his only ambition apparently consisted in discm-ering how many
