Page:The Seven Cities of Delhi.djvu/70

 part of this is situated Old Delhi, towards which the road is leading. At the fifth milestone four buildings, all domed, come into view on the left. That nearest to modern Delhi is the mausoleum of Sikandar Lodi, the next that of Ibrahim Lodi, while a fine, high dome among trees is above a gateway to a small mosque close by. Last of all, close to a cross-road, is a tomb of an earlier king — Mahomed Shah, of the Sayyad dynasty. All are over four hundred years old.

Safdar Jang's Tomb. — There now appears, on the right, a building of considerable size, but comparatively modern, which is the mausoleum of Nawab Mansur Ali Khan, commonly called Safdar Jang, Prime Minister of Ahmad Shah and nephew of the man who founded the House of Oudh. The title of "Safdar Jang" means "Disperser of the battle ranks," but on more than one occasion it was his own that he dispersed, by ignominious flight.

The building follows rather the bad principle of "constructing ornament" than of "ornamenting construction :" there is a too free use of plaster. It is sixty feet square and ninety feet high, surmounted by a marble dome, which is, unfortunately, bulbous and heavy. It stands on a high terrace, in an enclosed garden, and the view of it through the gateway is, like all such views,