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 the Imtiaz Mahal, among the part given up to the women. The gardens are now in process of restoration, but can never regain the aspect which once they must have presented, when fair ladies in many-hued dresses filled the gay scene, and the cloistered courts resounded with their laughter. At the beginning of the last century, the interior of the castle presented a mixture of tawdry show and squalor amid magnificent surroundings ; the King found it rather difficult to meet expenses on his income of over thirteen lakhs of rupees (which included allowances from the Company to himself and his family), and the courtiers saw very little pay. After the Mutiny, many of the buildings were cleared away and barracks were built for the garrison, which now consists of two companies of European infantry and a company of garrison artillery.

Diwan Khas (p. 150).— The lovely Hall of Private Audience, or Diwan Khas, which alone among the private apartments was used for the reception of ministers, nobles, or ambassadors, stands on the river-wall. It is faced with marble, painted or inlaid, and, with costly awnings on all sides, and Persian carpets on the floor, must have looked splendid, and have justified the inscription above the arches at the ends of the centre room —