our home. Having sustained such various misfortunes, I abandoned that
city, which was my native land, and the place of my birth. Such a
vessel, whose pilot was such a king, was wrecked; and I began to sink
in the sea of destitution! a drowning person catches at a straw,
and I sustained life for some years in the city of _'Azim-abad_,
[27] experiencing both good and bad fortune there. At length I left
it also--the times were not propitious; leaving my family there,
I embarked alone in a boat, and came in quest of a livelihood [28]
to Calcutta, the chief of cities. I remained unemployed for some time,
when it happened that _Nawwab Dilawar Jang_ sent for me, and appointed
me tutor to his younger brother, _Mir Muhammad Kazim Khan_. I stayed
with him nearly two years; but saw not my advantage [in remaining there
any longer.] Then, through the assistance of _Mir Bahadur 'Ali Munshi_,
I was introduced to Mr. John Gilchrist (may his dignity be lasting.) At
last, by the aid of good fortune, I have acquired the protection of
so liberal a person, that I hope better days; if not, even, this is
so much gain, that I have bread to eat, and having stretched my feet,
I repose in quiet; and that ten persons in my family, old and young,
are fed; and bless that patron. May God accept [their prayers!]

"The account of the _Urdu_ tongue I have thus heard from my
ancestors;--that the city of _Dilli_, according to the opinion of
the _Hindus_, was founded in the earliest times, [29] and that their
_Rajas_ and subjects lived there from the remotest antiquity, and
spoke their own peculiar _Bhakha_. [30] For a thousand years past,
the _Musalmans_ have been masters there. _Mahmud_ of _Ghazni_ [31] came
[there first]; then the _Ghori_ and _Lodi_ [32] became kings; owing to
this intercourse, the languages of the _Hindus_ and _Musalmans_ were
partially blended together. At last _Amir Taimur_ [33] (in whose family
the name and empire remain to this day), conquered _Hindustan_. From