manner, complimented Pfander on the uncommon merit of his productions, and
informed him that he had set one of his pupils to furnish a reply.1
The author of the present work, therefore, is not the Shiea Apologist himself,
but his nephew, Syud Mahommed Hâdi, whose father and the Mujtahid are sons of
the famous Syud Dildar Ali, who gained celebrity by his travels in Arabia,
Persia, and other countries; and, being a pillar of the Shiea faith, and a man
famed for his attainments, became the spiritual guide of the King of Oudh, and
the Mujtahid of Lucknow. The office would thus appear to be in some measure
hereditary, and the incumbent is said to be enriched by the free-will
offerings of the Oudh nobility; so that the position is not only a dignified
but a lucrative one.