Later Mughals v1.c4.s2.1

v1.c4.s2.1

At his retirement he was only 48, and looked forward to many years of health and leisure which could be devoted to literary work. Already while in India he had perfected his knowledge of Persian, and, what is much more difficult, he had become proficient in reading manuscripts written in that tongue. He had also begun to collect Persian historical MSS., in addition to printed and lithographed works in that language as well as Urdu and Hindi having even the remotest connection with the Mughal period. During his official career many Indian gentlemen, knowing his special taste, sought to please him by presenting Persian MSS., and he also purchased them in India and in England. Besides, he kept in his pay a Muhammadan scribe of Bhitari Sayyidpur (Ghazipur district), to search for and copy such Persian MSS. as could not be had for love or money. Transcripts were also made for him of those rare MSS. of the Royal Library, Berlin, which he required for his historical researches. Thus it happened that he made a collection of original MS. authorities on his special period which was unapproached by any of the public libraries of Europe.