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were the equals in wealth and grandeur of some of
the minor Indian Rulers. He knew that his port-
rait had a jewelled frame.
" His munificence was like his magnifi-
cence ; and he never became wealthy because
he was always giving away. Whenever a com-
mercial traveller sought his patronage with raised
expectations, he did not go back disappointed —
the order ran into thousands, sometimes into lakhs.
The Nizam did not buy things for himself but to
give them away to others. Generosity was an
impulse with him, and I once heafrd the most
interesting anecdote as an illustration of it. Out
of the hundreds of petitions for pecuniary aid
which were lying on his table he happened one
day to pick up one in which a man living at
Calcutta begged for a loan of one thousand rupees
for the payment of a debt and for his daughter's
wedding. The idea of a loan from the Nizam
instead of a gift was amazing and the Nizam's
heart was strangely moved by it. He ordered
six thousand rupees to be sent to the man —adding
five thousand as a reward to the one thousand
asked for. The happy recipient, evidently an
uncommonly conscientious man, returned the
extra five thousand rupees saying that the amount
must have been sent by mistake. This surprised
and delighted the Nizam still more and he ordered
? another five thousand to be added and ten
- thousand to be sent to the man who was capable of
behaving in this way!!
i