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Notes1
Presumably the Hon. Henry Westenra, appointed Lieutenant-Colonel
in August 1813 (I, 328). See Robert H. Murray's History
of the VIII King's Royal Irish Hussars, 1693-1927. 2
Throughout the account, Williams borrows liberally from various
sources in travel writing, Eastern history, and poetry. His
descriptions here of Delhi are taken from James Rennell's
Memoirs of a Map of Hindoostan; or the Mogul Empire.
All further references are to this edition. Rennell writes:
"Delhi, the nominal capital of Hindostan at present, and the
actual capital during the greatest part of the time since
the Mohamedan conquest" (65). 3
Williams's source here is the travel history of W. Franklin,
entitled The History of the Reign of Shah-Aulum, the Present
Emperor of Hindostaun. All further references are to this
edition. Franklin describes how, "In the year of the Hijerah
1041, (A.D. 1631-2), the Emperor Shah Jehan founded the present
city and palace of Shahjehanabad which he made his capital
during the remainder of this reign" (199). According to Franklin's
account, "Indraput" is the Sanskrit name for Delhi (209).
4
Compare Williams's description with Franklin's account of
Delhi: "The city is about seven miles in circumference" (200)
and "the streets are, in general, narrow" (207). 5
Compare with Franklin: "Each palace is likewise provided with
a handsome set of baths . . . paved and lined with white marble"
(202). 6
Compare with Franklin: "The environs of this once magnificent
and celebrated city, appeared now nothing more than a shapeless
heap of ruins, and the country round about is equally desolate
and forlorn" (210). 7
Presumably Lieutenant John Fraser, a fellow officer with Williams
in the VIII King's Royal Irish Hussars, stationed in India.
See Murray. 8
"Goorjah," or more commonly "Goojur," is defined in a nineteenth-century
Anglo-Indian dictionary as: the "name of a great Hindu clan
[in Northern India] . . . In the Delhi territory and the Doab
they were formerly notorious for thieving propensities" (386).
See William Crooke's Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of Colloquial
Anglo-Indian Words. All further references are to this
edition. 9
This entire passage borrows heavily from Franklin's description,
in which he writes: "the ascent to the minarets is by a winding
stair-case . . . at the top the spectator is gratified by
a noble view of the King's palace, the Cuttub Minar, the Hurran
Minar, Humaioon's mausoleum, the palace of Feroze Shah, the
fort of old Delhi, and the fort of Loni, on the opposite banks
of the river Jumna" (204). 10
According to Crooke's Glossary, "Mohurrum" is the "first month
of the Mahommedan lunar-year" (574), but the term refers more
specifically to the Islamic rites of fasting and mourning
celebrated by Shi'ites during the first ten days of the month,
in commemoration of the deaths of Hussan and Hussain in 669
and 680 C.E. The rites are distinct from Ramadan, which is
celebrated during the ninth month of the Hijra calendar. 11
Richard Colley Wellesley, Lord Mornington and First Marquis
Wellesley (1760-1842), who served as governor-general of India
from 1797-1805. As a colonial administrator, Wellesley may
be credited with the expansion of British territorial control,
which he achieved largely through strategic alliances with
warring local factions. He was recalled to London in 1805
on account of his vast expenditures, many connected with his
personal taste for luxury. 12
Compare with Franklin's account: "After entering the palace,
we were carried to the Dewaun Khana, or hall or audience for
the nobility, in the middle of which was a throne, raised
about a foot and a half from the ground. In the center of
this elevation was placed a chair of crimson velvet, bound
with gold clasps, and over the whole was thrown an embroidered
covering of gold and silver thread. A handsome samianah [canopy],
supported by four pillars, incrusted with silver, was placed
over the chair of state" (211). And later: "The Dewaun Khass,
in former times, was adorned with excessive magnificence .
. . the roof is flat, supported by numerous columns of fine
white marble, which have been richly ornamented with inlaid
flower work of different coloured stones; the cornices and
borders have been decorated with frieze and sculpted work"
(213). 13
"Beetle boxes" here refer to the containers used to store
the "leaf of the Piper betel [plant,] . . . chewed with the
dried areca-nut . . . by the natives of India" (Crooke, 89).
Similarly, the "Pigdänis" or "Pigdaun" is an Anglo-Indian
term for a spittoon; see C.A.M. Fennell's Dictionary of
Anglicized Words and Phrases, 631. "Uts-däns" have not
been further identified. 14
Efforts to recover this canceled passage through normal methods,
including digital imaging, have been unsuccessful. 15
In fact, the mosque of Roshun Al Dowla, "the place where Nadir
Shah beheld the massacre of the unfortunate inhabitants" (Franklin,
205). Franklin also provides this same casualty count, remarking
that the Shah "put to death an hundred thousand persons" (205).
16
See Alexander Dow's The History of Hindustane, Translated
from the Persian, first published in 1768. All references
here are to the three volume 1812 edition. Dow translates
the history of Firishtah, Muhammad Kasim ibu Hindu Shah, a
central text for historians of Islamic culture in the Romantic
period. 17
Rennell's history provides a brief account of this "Caliph
Valid" (xliv); Dow's refers, somewhat enigmatically, to a
"Chaled," descendent of "Osman" (I.34, 36); this may be the
same person. 18
According to Rennell, "we find little more in Ferishta [Firishtah],
save the histories of the empire of Ghizni (or Gazna) and
Delhi" (xlii). Williams's account employs the latter term
to designate the Gaznadine dynasty. Rennell also identifies
"Mahmood," the son of "Subactagi" (xliv)—the rulers to
whom Williams apparently refers in this passage. 19
For an account of Gauri and the Gauride dynasty, see Rennell
(xlvii). "Kosron Shah" presumably refers to the last Ghiznavi
ruler, "Chusero Shaw," cited in Dow (I.140). 20
Presumably the "Shab ul dien" and "Yeas ul dien," described
in Dow (I.141, 148). 21
Presumably the "Mahomed Gori" described in Rennell (xlvii). 22
Williams's source here is probably Dow's history (I, lxxix
and ff.). 23
An account available in both Dow (II, 279) and Rennell (lxiii). 24
Both Dow and Rennell offer accounts of this emperor "Firrochsere"
or "Ferokheseer" and describe the influence of the "Syeds"
at court. See Dow, II, 279 or Rennell, lxv. 25
These brothers are identified as Raffeih ul Dirjat and Raffeih
ul Dowlat, respectively; see Dow, II, 279-80. 26
For an account of Mahommed Shah and Nizam-ul-Muluck, see Dow,
II, 280. 27
Despite Williams's identification, details given here of the
Nadir Shah are not included in Dow's history; a more likely
source is James Fraser's History of the Nadir Shah.
For information on this Ibrahim, for example, see Fraser,
56. All further references are to this edition. 28
Williams's source here is Dow (II, 285-300). 29
Several parts of this passage are taken verbatim from Dow's
history. Dow writes, for example: "The provinces to the north-west
of the Indus had been ceded to Nadir Shah," who "found means
with the assistance of his own tribe in the confusion which
succeeded the Shaw's death, to carry off three hundred camels
loaded with wealth." See Dow, II, 310-11. 30
Compare with Dow's description: Nadir Shah "took the field
with eighty thousand horses and marched to oppose the invader"
(II, 311). 31
Williams here confuses Achmet Shah, with his son Ahmed Shah,
who in Dow's account "mounted the thrown of Delhi" after his
father's death. See Dow, II, 317. 32
In full "Quid non mortalia pectora cogis auri sacra fames?"
("Where will the hunger for sacred gold not drive the hearts
of mortals?"), from Virgil's Aeneid, III, 56-7; a frequently
quoted passage during the Romantic period. 33
Charles Theophilus Metcalfe, First Baron (1785-1846), who
served as British Resident (ambassador) at Delhi from 1811-19;
he later served as acting governor-general of India (1835-6)
and governor of Jamaica (1839-42) and of Canada (1843-5). 34
Compare with Franklin's account of Shalimar: "these gardens,
made by the emperor Shah Jehan, were begun in the fourth year
of his reign, and finished in the thirteenth....These gardens
were laid out with admirable taste, and cost the enormous
sum of a million sterling; their present appearance does not
give cause to suppose such an immense sum has been laid out
upon them . . . . The extent of Shalimar does not appear to
have been very large. I suppose the gardens altogether are
not above one mile in circumference" (209-10). 35
These locations refer to present-day Rohtak and Bahadurgarh.
These companions were, presumably, Lieutenant Henry Young
and Coronets John Elliott and R.S. Hewett, listed in 1815,
along with Williams and John Fraser, as officers in the VIII
Hussars, all stationed in India under Colonel Westenra. Although
Williams dates the journal's events to 1814, the absence of
his companions from the list of officers in that year suggests
that 1815 is more likely. See Murray, II, 707. 36
Allowing for differences in transliteration, Williams is correct
here. See John Ferguson's Dictionary of the Hindostan Language. 37
Throughout this section of the notebook, Williams refers repeatedly
to William Somervile's early eighteenth-century work, The
Chace, A Poem. Somervile's narrative includes an extended
verse account of Aurungzebe and of traditional Moghul hunting
practices, and the poem was itself taken in large part from
contemporary travel accounts. The lines Williams quotes here
are from the third canto; see III.86 ("in the Madness of Delight")
and III.240-5 ("And Hunger Keen, and pungent Thirst of Blood,
/ Rouse up the slothful Beast, he shakes his Sides, / Slow-rising
from his Lair, and stretches wide / His rav'nous Paws, with
recent Gore distain'd. / The Forests tremble, as he roars
aloud, / Impatient to destroy"). All references are to the
1735 third edition. 38
Compare with Somervile, III.254-5: "Thine Eye-balls flashing
Fire, thy Length of Tail, / That lashes thy Broad Sides." 39
Compare with Somervile, III.295: "Thirsting for Blood, and
eager to destroy." 40
According to Lavater, "the scull of the Indian" is "infinately
thicker" than the European skull, and indication that their
"appetites are gross and sensual" (148). See George Grenville's
translation of The Whole Works of Lavater on Physiognomy.
41
Williams's account of this tiger hunt, from manuscript pages
64-76, appears to have been based on the "Account of the Hunting
Excursions of Asoph ul Doulah, Visier of the Mogul Empire,
and Nabob of Oude," given by William Blane in his Cynegetica
or Essays on Sporting Consisting of Observations of Hare Hunting.
See Blane, 193. 42
As Williams's account suggests, Hansi is located several miles
northwest of Delhi, en route to Rohtak. Hurrianah seems to
refer to the present-day Haryana territory, located at the
southern border of the Punjab district. 43
Williams quotes, with only very minor alterations, from Lavater's
text, cited above; see Lavater, 97. 44
Compare with Lavater: "The difference, apparently slight is,
nevertheless essential" (97). 45
Alluding at least generally to the biblical notion of the
"saving remnant" of Israel, prophecied in the latter chapters
of the book of Isaiah; the phrase may also be intended to
evoke Milton's "fit audience find, tho' few" (Paradise
Lost, VII.31). 46
Apparently Williams intends here the term "burra haramzehada,"
signifying in Hindi "big rogue." See Ferguson. 47
Compare with Somervile, II.478-9 ("with many a Wound / Gor'd
thro' and thro'") and II.430-1 ("with hot-boiling Rage / Stung
to the Quick, and mad with wild Despair"). 48
As Williams indicates, the "Nyl Ghy" or, more commonly, "Nilghau"
is an antelope native to the Indian sub-continent. See also
Crooke, 621. 49
Williams writes "taking" over what was originally "took." 50
Williams writes "it" over what was originally "she." 51
A large bird of the genus Otis, similar in appearance to the
goose and increasingly rare in England by the late 18th century. 52
Williams writes "Rhotuk" over what was originally "it." 53
Alluding to Jeremiah 51:43. Describing the destruction of
Babylon, the King James translation reads: "Her cities are
a desolation, a dry land and a wilderness, a land wherein
no man dwelleth." 54
Inserted above this line, in hand two (Trelawny), is the phrase:
"a long lashing gallop." 55
Inserted above this line, in hand two (Trelawny), is the phrase:
"prick their." 56
Inserted above this line, in hand two (Trelawny), is the phrase:
"forms or marl prints." 57
Apparently a reference to James Hurdis's poem The Village
Curate. Hurdis describes: "Montague and Warwick, two brave
bears, / That in their chains fetter'd the kingly lion, /
And made the forest tremble when they roared" (124). 58
Compare with Somervile, II.481-2: "Swell'd with furious Rage,
/ Their Eyes dart Fire." 59
Compare with Somervile, II.486-7: "Prostrate on the Ground
/ The Grinning Monsters lye." 60
See Paradise Lost, IV.155-6, where Milton describes:
"Vernal delight and joy, able to drive / All sadness but despair." 61
Not further identified. 62
"Cymbals" has been written over what was originally "symbols";
the hand cannot be identified. 63
The "bulbul" is a "species of the sub-family pycnonoti
of the Thrush family, admired in the East for their song as
the nightingale is in Europe." See Crooke, 175. The line quoted
here has not been positively identified, but it may, in part,
allude to Richard Polwhele's poem Sir Allan; or, the Knight
of Expiring Chivalry. The third canto to Polwhele's poem
describes a Eastern-style hunt with a Nabob, alluding specifically
to Somervile's treatment of the subject in "sonorous lines"
(III.672). The phrase "seem'd to mourn" appears in the description
of the Twelfth Day feast, immediately following the hunting
account (III.761). |
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