and that
eleven years of that time were spent in the house of her father-in-law at
Lucknow. In the course of her book she gives only one date, September 18,
1825, when her husband held the post of Tahsildar, or sub-collector
of revenue, at Kanauj in the British district of Farrukhabad. No
records bearing on his career as a British official are forthcoming.
Another Lucknow tradition states that on his arrival at the Court of Oudh
from England he was, on the recommendation of the Resident, appointed to a
post in the King's service on a salary of Rs. 300 per annum. Subsequently
he fell into disgrace and was obliged to retire to Farrukhabad with
the court eunuch, Nawab Mu'tamad-ud-daula, Agha Mir.

With the restoration of Agha Mir to power, Hasan 'Ali returned
to Lucknow, and was granted a life pension of Rs. 100 _per mensem_ for his
services as Darogha at the Residency, and in consideration of his
negotiations between the King and the British Government or the East India
Company.

From the information collected at Lucknow it appears that he was known as
Mir Londoni, 'the London gentleman', and that he was appointed
Safir, or Attache, at the court of King Ghazi-ud-din Haidar,
who conferred upon him the title of Maslaha-ud-daula, 'Counsellor of
State'. By another account he held the post of Mir Munshi, head
native clerk or secretary to the British Resident.

One of the most influential personages in the court of Oudh during this
period was that stormy petrel of politics, Nawab Hakim Mehndi. He
had been the right-hand man of the Nawab Sa'adat Ali, and on the
accession of his son Ghazi-ud-din Haidar in 1814 he was dismissed on
the ground that he had incited the King to protest against interference in
Oudh affairs by the Resident, Colonel Baillie. The King at the last moment
became frightened at the prospect of an open rupture with the Resident.
Nawab Hakim Mehndi was deprived of all his public offices and of
much of his property, and he was imprisoned for a time. On his release he
retired into British territory, and in 1824 he was living in magnificent
style at Fatehgarh. In that year Bishop Heber visited Lucknow and received
a courteous letter from the Nawab inviting him to his house at
Fatehgarh. He gave the Bishop an assurance 'that he had an English
housekeeper, who knew perfectly well how to do the honours of his
establishment to gentlemen of her own nation. (She is, in fact, a singular
female, who became the wife of o