212 
THE ORIENTAL ANNUAL. 
qualities which can adorn and dignify the character 
of man ; for his courage, his clemency, his religious 
ardour, (if, without profanity, Moslem bigotry may 
be so quoted,) and his charity, are extolled as with- 
out precedent. Eastern historians also reckon, among 
his glorious attributes, his insatiable desire of con- 
quest and love of power, as it gave him, say they, 
extended means of improving the condition of the 
human race. Certain it is, that he was the warmest 
patron and lover of the arts, Akbur, perhaps, excepted, 
who ever attained to any great sway in Hindostan. 
Though economical in all other things, his bounty 
appears to have been bestowed without measure for 
the encouragement of civilization and refinement. 
The inscription which was placed over the remains 
o,f this monarch contained an ingenious play upon the 
letters recording the date of his death, similar in 
construction to that of Mohummed Shah Bhamani, 
before mentioned. The lines ran thus 
<jLu < — ft-j L&f jf-*. 
C. t . 
IJo 
bearing a literal translation thus : — When the illus- 
trious Sultan Mahmood , according to the will of God , 
went on his long journey, I inquired of a courtier the 
date of his decease , and a voice answered — “ His place 
