Page:The tourist's guide to Lucknow.djvu/11



" above title seems somewhat a misnomer for what is really a very excellent and  vade mecum, of which a second edition has just been issued by Mr. E. Hilton, the author and compiler. True enough, the reminiscences of the 'Old Boy' of the Martiniere form a very interesting chapter in the book, but it is now so ampliﬁed in many material respects that the brochure might very properly be re-named, and thus, perhaps, attract the 'globe-trotting' 'globe-trotting' generally than it is apt to do under its present designation.

"We have noticed the previous edition, and now need merely say that the work is the very best of its kind that has hitherto been published and although there are still some trifling errors of description, this veritable 'Guide' to the many notable buildings in Lucnow and neighbourhood cannot be too greatly commended for its general historical accuracy and the care which has evidently been taken to make it really useful to visitors to this celebrated city. There are some good illustrations, an interesting plan of the Residency grounds at the time of the beleaguerment, and a lithographed map of Lucknow City, all of which will prove very useful to visitors."—The Express.

.—Some years ago the compiler of this little work issued a small pamphlet giving his reminiscences of the Residency at Lucknow in 1857.

This pamphlet confined itself to, the description of the incidents which had come under the writer's personal observation; the writer himself being then a student of La Martiniere College, the College boys, as might have been expected, figured most prominently in his narrative, and the pamphlet was accordingly entitled "The Martiniére Boys in the Residency." It was very generously received by the public, and was favourably reviewed by the Press.

Some of the opinions then expressed will be found reprinted above, and the various testimonies to the appreciation in which the book was held encouraged the author to amplify the next edition by giving a fuller account of the siege, and adding short biographies of the Kings of Oudh, and an account of the state of the province whilst under their rule.

A brief description of the places of interest in Lucknow was also included and, as these different additions continued to be maintained, amplified and revised in subsequent editions. the work became a Guide as well as, a History, and it was thought advisable to change he title to that which it now bears.