Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v3.c42.s2.t1.256

v3.c42.s2.t1.256

delicacy of his flattery, in the application of which he was an adept. To crown the whole, there was a mysterious brevity, an oracular sententiousness, in his conversation, which always left something to the imagination of his auditor, who gave him credit for what he did not, as well as what he did utter. None could better appreciate, or studied more to obtain, the meed of good opinion; and throughout his lengthened life, until the occurrences just described, he threw over his acts of despotism and vengeance a veil of such consummate art, as to make them lose more than half their deformity. With him it must have been an axiom, that mankind judge superficially; and in accordance therewith, his first study was to preserve appearances, and never to offend prejudice if avoidable. When he sequestrated the States of the Hara feudality, he covered the fields, by them neglected, with crops of corn, and thereby drew a contrast favourable to himself between the effects of sloth and activity. When he usurped the functions of royalty, he threw a bright halo around the orb of its glory, overloading the gaddi with the trappings of grandeur, aware that—