audience by the King, Akbar II, and the Queen, who were then living in a
state of semi-poverty. She tells us that they 'both appeared, and
expressed themselves, highly gratified with the visit of an English lady,
who could explain herself in their language without embarrassment, or the
assistance of an interpreter, and who was the more interesting to them
from the circumstance of being the wife of a Syaad'.[5]

From inquiries made at Lucknow it has been ascertained that Mir
Hasan 'Ali had no children by his English wife. By one or more native
wives he had three children: a daughter, Fatimah Begam, who married a
certain Mir Sher 'Ali, of which marriage one or more descendants
are believed to be alive; and two sons, Mir Sayyid 'Ali or Miran
Sahib, said to have served the British Government as a Tahsildar,
whose grandson is now living at Lucknow, and Mir Sayyid Husain, who
became a Risaldar, or commander of a troop, in one of the Oudh
Irregular Cavalry Regiments. One of his descendants, Mir Agha 'Ali
Sahib, possesses some landed property which was probably acquired by
the Risaldar. After the annexation of Oudh Mir Hasan 'Ali is
said to have been paid a pension of Rs. 100 _per mensem_ till his death in
1863.

It is also worthy of remark that she carefully avoids any reference to the
palace intrigues and maladministration which prevailed in Oudh during the
reigns of Ghazi-ud-din Haidar and Nasir-ud-din Haidar, who
occupied the throne during her residence at Lucknow. She makes a vague
apology for the disorganized state of the country: 'Acts of oppression may
sometimes occur in Native States without the knowledge even, and much less
by the command of, the Sovereign ruler, since the good order of the
government mainly depends on the disposition of the Prime Minister for the
time being'[6]--a true remark, but no defence for the conduct of the weak