1 HISTORY OF THE SIKHS.
2 225
3 bribed as perfectly happy, and forgetting the
4 affairs of the state, gives himself - entirely up to
5 festivity. He rarely or ever indulges now, and the
6 quantity of spirit which he consumes is measured
7 out with great care in a small golden cup.
8 et It is surprising, that even with the strongest con- Broken con
9 1 stitutum.
10 stitution, Eunjeet should have lived so long ; and
11 it will not appear strange, that he is now suffering
12 from the; excesses and fatigues of his early life.
13 His constitution is fast breaking up; already ho
14 has been attacked by paralysis, from the effects of
15 wliich he has not yet entirely recovered ; his tongue
16 is the part chiefly affected, and it is not likely
17 that its powers will be ever fully restored, since he
18 will not submit to any active medical treatment.
19 To the use of medicine in any shape, lie has a
20 thorough dislike, and can with difficulty be per¬
21 suaded to take even a single pill: before this is
22 effected, the medicine must be given to one or two
23 persons about him ; and should its effects on any
24 of them be greater than he was led to anticipate,
25 he insists on some other composition of a less
26 active nature; and thus delays from day to day,
27 until the patience of his medical attendant being
28 exhausted, he gets lid of the dose altogether.
29 When We consider the position which Eunjeet now
30 holds, as the absolute sovereign of several states,
31 which formerly owned distinct rulers, and all of
32 them reduced into subjection by himself, it is
33 evident that he is no common character, hut pos¬
34 sessed of powers of mind rarely met with, either in
35 VOI/. I. 0