64 CAWNPORE.
“a bone-handled affair; the spoon and fork were “silver, and of Calcutta make. The plated side-dishes, containing vegetables, were odd ones; one “was round, the other oval. The pudding was “brought in upon a soup-plate, of blue and gold “pattern, and the cheese was placed before me on “a glass dish belonging to a dessert service. The “cool claret I drank out of a richly cut champagne “olass, and the beer out of an American tumbler “of the very worst quality.”
The Maharaja had a large and excellent stable of horses, elephants, and camels; a well-appointed kennel; and a menagerie of pigeons, falcons, peacocks, and apes, which would have done credit to any Oriental monarch, from the days of Solomon downwards. His armoury was stocked with weapons of every age and country, from a masterpiece of Purdey, to the bow and arrows used by the Hillmen of Orissa. His reception-rooms sparkled with mirrors and chandeliers that had come direct from Birmingham; and his equipages had stood within the twelvemonth in the warehouses of Longacre. He possessed a vast store of gold and silver plate; and his wardrobe overflowed with shawls and jewellery, which on gala days were regarded with long- ing eyes by the Cawnpore ladies. Nor did they lack frequent opportunities of contemplating the
