CHARACTERS. 



483 



able sum of money by encoura- 

 ging that prince's taste for the 

 productions of Europe^ with which 

 he undeitook to supply him. An- 

 other mode by which he realized 

 money was, by establishing an 

 extensive credit with the slirolFs, 

 or bankers, in Oude, and the ad- 

 jacent provinces; so that no pub- 

 lic loan could be made v.ithout liis 

 having a sliarc in it. Tlie extra- 

 ordinary degree of favour and 

 credit which he thus acquired in 

 the ^'izir's dominions, induced all 

 descriptions of people to repose 

 in him such an imjjlicit confidence, 

 that in times of public commotion, 

 they flocked to him from all quar- 

 ters, to deposit their moveable 

 property, which on the condition 

 of paying him twelve per cent, on 

 its full value, he engaged to se- 

 cure and return them on demand. 

 This alone must have been a 

 source of immense profit, in a 

 country where, for upwards of 

 twenty years of his residence in 

 it, personal property was so often 

 exposed to dangei'. 



The vast riches whicli he ac- 

 cumidated by these various and 

 singidar modes, he does not ap- 

 pear to have laid out with a very 

 generous spirit. He is said, in- 

 deed, to have been hospitable to 

 the English gentlemen who re- 

 sided at Lucknow, but his table 

 was little calcuh\ted to invite his 

 acquaintance to it, either by the 

 elegance of the entertainment, or 

 the conviviality that presided at 

 it. Very few instances have come 

 to our knowledge of his private 

 bounty and benevolence. He is 

 " said to have assisted his family at 

 Lyons, by occasionally remitting 

 small sums of money ; and by his 

 will he has left them ^5,0001. 



J5ut the principal object of his am- 

 bition, and wish of his heart, 

 seems to have been to amass im- 

 menie treasures in order to gra- 

 tify himself by the possession of 

 them while he lived ; and by be- 

 queathing almost the whole of 

 them on his death, to the support 

 of pious institutions, and pubhc 

 charities, to leave behind him the 

 reputation of a philanthropist. 

 Meanwhile every sensible reader 

 will judge of his title to that 

 name, not from the bequests of 

 his will, but from the actions of 

 his life. 



After having lived twenty-five 

 years at Lucknow, he had attain- 

 ed by regular succession the rank 

 of Lieutenant-Colonel in the 

 Company's service. 



At the commencement of the 

 war with Tippoo Sultan in 1790, 

 he presented the Company, at his 

 private expense, with a number 

 of fine horses, sufficient to mount 

 a troop of cavalry. He was soon 

 afterwards promoted to the rank 

 of Colonel in the Comjjany's army, 

 which object the present of horses 

 was obviously designed to obtain. 



In 1796, when the Company's 

 officers received brevet rank from 

 his Majesty, Martine was included 

 in tiie promotion of colonels to 

 the rank of Major-General. 



Some years before this he had 

 finished a spacious dwelling-house 

 on the banks of the river Goom- 

 tee, in the building of which he 

 had long been employed. This 

 curious edifice is constructed en- 

 tirely of stone, except the doors 

 and window-frames. The ceilings 

 of the apartments are formed of 

 elliptic arches, and the floors made 

 of stucco. Tlie basement-story 

 comprises two caves or recesses 



2 12 within 



