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44 proverb that not a shot could be fired in anger from Cape Comorin to the Himálaya, without British permission, was nearly though not quite entirely realized. Meanwhile Calcutta, as the seat of imperial authority, was justly asserting its metropolitan position. Such a status naturally reflected itself on the external aspect of the city. The fine architecture of the Government house, built by the Marquess Wellesley, had set an example to private persons and to local magnates, whether official or commercial or professional. Beyond Fort William there expanded the green plain bearing the Mughal name of Mydan. Round the north end of this expanse there stretched a line of houses somewhat palatial in dimensions and design, which caused Calcutta to be styled the city of palaces. The manners of Anglo-Indian society had been, at the beginning of the century, so quaint and old-fashioned that contemporary accounts of them astonish the modern reader. But by this time society had cast off its provincial style, and had begun to assume the airs which befit imperial surroundings. The junction points of highways in the city were still thronged with palanquins calling for fares, corresponding to the carriage stands in the cities of Europe to-day. But along the banks of the broad Húghlí, with the fortifications on one side the river, and the villas with their richly wooded grounds of Garden Reach on the other side, there rolled daily strings of carriages and lines of vehicles, with equipages and liveries of many hues and devices,