In the present reprint the text of the original edition of this work has
been reproduced without change, even the curious transliterations of the
vernacular words and phrases having been preserved. The correct forms of
these, so far as they have been ascertained, have been given in the Notes
and in the Index-Glossary. I have added an Introduction containing an
account of the authoress based on the scanty information available, and I
have compiled some notes illustrating questions connected with Islam
and Musalman usages. I have not thought it necessary to give detailed
references in the notes, but a list of the works which have been used will
be found at the end of the text. As in other volumes of this series, the
diacritical marks indicating the varieties of the sound of certain letters
in the Arabic and Devanagari alphabets have not been given: they are
unnecessary for the scholar and serve only to embarrass the general reader.
I have to acknowledge help from several friends in the preparation of this
edition. Mr. W. Foster, C.I.E., has supplied valuable notes from the India
Office records on Mir Hasan 'Ali and his family; Dr. W. Hoey, late
I.C.S., and Mr. L.N. Jopling, I.C.S., Deputy-Commissioner, Lucknow, have
made inquiries on the same subject. Mr. H.C. Irwin, late I.C.S., has
furnished much information on Oudh affairs in the time of the Nawabi.
Sir C.J. Lyall, K.C.S.I, C.I.E., and Professor E.G. Browne, M.A., have
permitted me to consult them on certain obscure words in the text.