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palace: " From the principal front of the sullaun's palace at 

 Seringapatatn, which served as a revenue office, and as a place 

 from whence he occasionally shewed himself to the populace, the 

 chief entry into the private square was through a strong narrow- 

 passage, wherein were chained four tigers ; which, although some- 

 what tame, would, in case of any disturbance, become unruly. 

 Within these was the hall in which Tippoo wrote, and into which 

 very few persons were ever admitted. Immediately behind this 

 was the bedchamber, which communicated with the hall by a door 

 and two windows, and was shut up on every other side. This 

 door was strongly secured on the inside, and a close iron grating 

 defended the windows. The sultaun, lest any person should fire 

 upon him while in bed, slept in a hammock, which was suspended 

 from the roof by chains, in such a situation as to be invisible 

 throuo;h the windows. In the hammock were found a sword and 

 a pair of pistols. 



That this suspicion and anxious dread pervades the whole des- 

 potic system, from the imperial musmud to the durbar of every 

 inferior oppressor, is evident from the general construction of the 

 great houses in Hindoslan, which are full of dark passages, close 

 narrow stairs, and short turnings, from whence the dagger of the 

 assassin may best execute the meditated blow. Too true, I fear, 

 is the melancholy picture of Sir AVilliam Jones in most parts of 

 the world, but in Asiatic regions it applies with tenfold force — it 

 formed part of a letter to Lord Teignmoulh, written from Bengal 

 in 1793. 



' Of European politics I think as little as possible; not be- 

 cause they do not interest my heart, but because they give me too 



