154 
THE ORIENTAL ANNUAL. 
With this view Mirza Zaffi collected a large 
force, and dividing them into small bodies, advanced 
within one day’s march of the capital, and then 
Mohummed Kahn having issued from the fort of 
Agra with a small band of his adherents, made a 
descent upon and laid waste the private estate of the 
Vizier, which that nobleman no sooner ascertained 
than he obtained the Emperor’s permission to punish 
the offender, with a strong body of troops from the 
garrison. Then immediately as Afrasiah quitted 
Delhi, Mirza Zaffi marched in, and boldly ad- 
vancing his men into the very palace of the Em- 
peror, he was at once proclaimed Vizier by that im- 
becile monarch, who also was persuaded to bestow 
upon him the hand of the Begum Khadeja’s daughter, 
together with a large sum of money as a dowry. 
Being over-elated with his extraordinary success, 
the new Vizier threw off that courteous and fascinating 
address which, for a time, had gained him the voice 
of the nobles and officers around the King’s person, 
and displayed his character in its true colors, before 
he had become firmly established in his new dignity. 
His conduct became suddenly so overhearing and 
imperious that his adherents fell off from him daily ; 
those who had been most active in his support were 
speedily his bitterest foes, and as fully determined 
upon his removal as they had been anxious for his 
success. Conspiracies were springing up in all 
quarters within the city and the court, but their 
