One of the most thoroughly unprincipled European adventurers of these days was Somroo, a German soldier, who, after serving as private in the French and English armies, and in those of various native chiefs, became general in the army of the Great Mogul. His name was Gualtier Reignard, or Reinehard, but when he enlisted in the French army (in Europe) he assumed the _nom de guerre_ of Summer, which his comrades, on account of his saturnine complexion, altered to Sombre; this, the Hindoos changed to Somroo, and he was afterwards best known by this last name. He will ever remain infamous as the murderer of two hundred English prisoners at Patna, in 1763. While in the service of Shah Aulum, the Emperor, he commanded a body of cavalry and several disciplined battalions of sepoys officered by Europeans. To maintain this army, the emperor assigned him, as a jaghire, the fertile district of Serdhauna, in the Dooab. Somroo married twice; his second wife was, some say, the daughter of a Mogul noble who had fallen into great distress, though others aver she was a Cashmerian dancing-girl. He persuaded the Begum to renounce Mohammedanism and become a Roman Catholic. At Somroo's death, in 1778, the Vizier Nujeef Khan gave the widow the jaghire and the military post. She was a great favourite with the Emperor, who had the highest respect for her talents. He bestowed upon her the name of Zul Al Nissa, which means "Ornament of her sex." Under the government of this talented woman the "small but fertile" town of Serdhauna improved rapidly. A fort standing a short distance from the town served as a kind of citadel, and contained a barrack, an arsenal, and a foundry for cannon. Her five battalions of sepoys were officered from nearly every country in Europe, and she had a body of five hundred European artillerymen, armed with forty guns of various calibre. George Thomas, afterwards the most famous of all these European soldiers of fortune, accepted a commission in the Begum's service; and her keen eyes quickly discerned his superior military talent. He soon rose to high favour with the Begum, whose esteem he merited by courage, zeal, and untiring activity. So greatly was her revenue and authority increased by his talents, that he was for many years her chief counsellor and adviser.