DELHI. 
( — M t-3 <3 «A^A^c 1 ^ ^ i"3^J 
C— 1 SjjS jb &3 j\sq L-l!s Jy) ^ 
The emperor Shall Jehan, having founded the 
modern city of Delhi, — still called Shahjehanabad by 
the Mussulmans, — was desirous of erecting an edifice 
which should be, at once, a fit habitation for the 
glorious descendants of the immortal Taimour, and 
an imperishable memorial of the power and magni- 
ficence of the builder. The Badshahi Mahal, the 
fruit of his design, is still standing — is still the 
residence of the imperial family ; and the boastful 
inscription surmounting the state presence-chamber, 
u If there he a paradise on earth , it is this , it is 
this , it is this” remains as legible as on the day 
when first engraved. The lofty gates, the spacious 
courts, and ample halls — the rounded domes, and 
tapering minarets — the frowning battlements, the 
jutting towers, the very thrones, stand now as firmly 
as they stood in the first year of their erection. But, 
Mark how the palace lifts a lying front, 
Concealing, often, in magnific jail, 
Proud want ; a deep unanimated gloom ! 
D 
