of modern times; twenty thousand cuirassiers of Europe, clad in black and impenetrable armour; the troops of Anatolia, whose princes had taken refuge in the camp of Timour, and a colony of Tartars, whom he had driven from Kipzak, and to whom Bajazet had assigned a settlement in the plains of Adrianople. The fearless confidence of the sultan urged him to meet his antagonist; and, as if he had chosen that spot for revenge, he displayed his banners near the ruins of the unfortunate Suvas. In the mean while, Timour moved from the Araxes through the countries of Armenia and Anatolia: his boldness was secured by the wisest precautions; his speed was guided by order and discipline; and the woods, the mountains, and the rivers, were diligently explored by the flying squadrons, who marked his road and preceded his standard.. Firm in his plan of fighting in the heart of the Ottoman kingdom, he avoided their camp; dexterously inclined to the left; occupied Cæsarea; traversed the salt desert and the river Halys; and invested Angora; while the sultan, immovable and ignorant in his post, Battle of Angora, compared the Tartar swiftness to the A. D. 1402, crawling of a snail; he returned on July 28. the wings of indignation to the relief of Angora; and as both generals were alike impatient for action, the plains round that city were the scene of a memorable battle, which has immortalized the glory of Timour and the shame of Bajazet. For this signal victory the Mogul emperor was indebted to himself, to the genius of the moment, and the discipline of thirty years. He had improved the tactics, without violating the manners, of his nation, whose force still consisted in the missile weapons, and rapid evolutions, of a numerous cavalry. From a single troop to a great army, the mode of attack was the same; a foremost line first advanced to the charge, and was supported in a just order by the squadrons of the great vanguard. The general's eye watched over the field, and at his command the front and rear of the right and left wings successively moved forwards in their several divisions, and in a direct or oblique line: the enemy was pressed by eighteen or twenty attacks; and each attack afforded a chance of victory. If they all proved fruitless or unsuccessful, the occasion was worthy of the emperor himself, who gave the signal of advancing to the standard and main body, which he led in person. But in the battle of Angora, the main body itself was supported, on the flanks and in the rear, by the bravest squadrons of the reserve, commanded by the sons and grandsons of Timour. The conqueror of Hindostan ostentatiously showed a line of elephants, the trophies, rather than the instruments, of victory: the use of the Greek fire was It may not be useless to mark the distances between Angora and the neighbouring cities, by the journeys of the caravans, each of twenty or twenty-five miles; to Smyrna twenty; to Kiotahia ten; to Boursa ten; to Cæsarea eight; to Sinope ten; to Nicomedia nine; to Constantinople twelve, or thirteen. (See Tournefort, Voyage au Lavant, tom. ii. lettre xxi.) See the Systems of Tactics in the Institutions, which the English editors have illustrated with elaborate plans, (p. 373-407.) The sultan himself (says Timour) must then put the foot of courage into the stirrup of patience. A Tartar metaphor, which is lost in familiar to the Moguls and Ottomans: but had they borrowed from Europe the recent invention of gunpowder and cannon, the artificial thunder in the hands of either nation must have turned the fortune of the day." In that day Bajazet displayed the qualities of a soldier and a chief: but his genius sunk under a stronger ascendant: and, from various motives, the greatest part of his troops failed him in the decisive moment. His rigour and avarice had provoked a mutiny among the Turks; and even his son Soliman too hastily withdrew from the field. The forces of Anatolia, loyal in their revolt, were drawn away to the banners of their lawful princes. His Tartar allies had been tempted by the letters and emissaries of Timour; who reproached their ignoble servitude under the slaves of their fathers: and offered to their hopes the dominion of their new, or the liberty of their ancient, country. In the right wing of Bajazet the cuirassiers of Europe charged, with faithful hearts and irresistible arms; but these men of iron were soon broken by an artful flight and headlong pursuit: and the janizaries, alone, without cavalry or missile weapons, were encompassed by the circle of the Mogul hunters. Their valour was at length oppressed by heat, thirst, and the weight of numbers; and the unfortunate sultan, afflicted with the gout in his hands and feet, was transported from the field on the fleetest of his horses. He was pursued and taken Defeat and capby the titular khan of Zagatai; and, tivity of Bajazet. after his capture, and the defeat of the Ottoman powers, the kingdom of Anatolia submitted to the conqueror, who planted his standard at Kiotahia, and dispersed on all sides the ministers of rapine and destruction. Mirza Mehemmed Sultan, the eldest and best beloved of his grandsons, was despatched to Boursa, with thirty thousand horse; and such was his youthful ardour, that he arrived with only four thousand at the gates of the capital, after performing in five days a march of two hundred and thirty miles. Yet fear is still more rapid in its course: and Soliman, the son of Bajazet, had already passed over to Europe with the royal treaThe spoil, however, of the palace and city was immense; the inhabitants had escaped: but the buildings, for the most part of wood, were reduced to ashes. From Boursa, the grandson of Timour advanced to Nice, even yet a fair and flourishing city; and the Mogul squadrons were only stopped by the waves of the Propontis. The same success attended the other mirzas and emirs in their excursions: and Smyrna, defended by the zeal and courage of the Rhodian knights, alone deserved the presence of the emperor himself. After an obstinate defence, the place was taken by storm; all that the English, but preserved in the French, version of the Institutes, (p. 156, 157.) sure. u The Greek fire, on Timour's side, is attested by Sherefeddin; (I. v. c. 47.) but Voltaire's strange suspicion, that some cannon, inscribed with strange characters, must have been sent by that monarch to Delhi, is refuted by the universal silence of contemporaries. x Timour has dissembled this secret and important negociation with the Tartars, which is indisputably proved by the joint evidence of the Arabian, (tom. i. c. 47. p. 391.) Turkish, (Annal. Leunclav. p. 321.) and Persian historians. (Khondemir, apud D'Herbelot, p. 882.) breathed was put to the sword; and the heads of the christian heroes were launched from the engines, on board of two caracks, or great ships of Europe, that rode at anchor in the harbour. The Moslems of Asia rejoiced in their deliverance from a dangerous and domestic foe, and a parallel was drawn between the two rivals, by observing that Timour, in fourteen days, had reduced a fortress which had sustained seven years the siege, or at least the blockade, of Bajazet." his iron cage of Timour; The history of The iron cage in which Bajazet was imprisoned by Tamerlane, so long and so often repeated as a moral lesson, is now rejected as a fable by the modern writers, who smile at the vulgar credulity. They appeal with confidence to the Persian history of Sherefeddin Ali, which has been given to our curiosity in a French version, and from which I shall collect and abridge a more specious narrative of this memorable transaction. No sooner was Timour informed that the disproved by the Persian historian captive Ottoman was at the door of his tent, than he graciously stept forwards to receive him, seated him by his side, and mingled with just reproaches a soothing pity for his rank and misfortune. "Alas!" said the emperor, "the decree of fate is now accomplished by your own fault it is the web which you have woven, the thorns of the tree which yourself have planted. I wished to spare, and even to assist, the champion of the Moslems: you braved our threats; you despised our friendship; you forced us to enter your kingdom with our invincible armies. Behold the event. Had you vanquished, I am not ignorant of the fate which you reserved for myself and my troops. But I disdain to retaliate: your life and honour are secure; and I shall express my gratitude to God by my clemency to man." The royal captive showed some signs of repentance, accepted the humiliation of a robe of honour, and embraced with tears his son Mousa, who, at his request, was sought and found among the captives of the field. The Ottoman princes were lodged in a splendid pavilion; and the respect of the guards could be surpassed only by their vigilance. On the arrival of the haram from Boursa, Timour restored the queen Despina and her daughter to their father and husband; but he piously required, that the Servian princess, who had hitherto been indulged in the profession of christianity, should embrace without delay the religion of the prophet. In the feast of y For the war of Anatolia or Roum, I add some hints in the Institu tions, to the copious narratives of Sherefeddin (1. v. c. 44-65.) and Arabshah, (tom. ii. c. 20-35.) On this part only of Timour's history, it is lawful to quote the Turks (Cantemir, p. 53-55. Annal. Leun. clav. p. 320-322.) and the Greeks. (Phranza, I. i. c. 29. Ducas, c. 15. -17. Chalcondyles, 1. iii.) The scepticism of Voltaire (Essai sur l'Histoire Generale, c. 88.) is ready on this, as on every occasion, to reject a popular tale, and to diminish the magnitude of vice and virtue; and on most occasions his incredulity is reasonable. a See the History of Sherefeddin, (l. v. c. 49, 52, 53, 59, 60.) This work was finished at Shiraz, in the year 1424, and dedicated to Sultan Ibrahim, the son of Sharokh, the son of Timour, who reigned in Farsistan in his father's lifetime. b After the perusal of Khondemir, Ebn Schounah, &c. the learned D'Herbelot (Bibliot. Orientale, p. 882.) may affirm, that this fable is not mentioned in the most authentic histories; but his denial of the visible testimony of Arabshah leaves some room to suspect his accuracy. victory, to which Bajazet was invited, the Mogul emperor placed a crown on his head and a sceptre in his hand, with a solemn assurance of restoring him with an increase of glory to the throne of his ancestors. But the effect of this promise was disappointed by the sultan's untimely death: amidst the care of the most skilful physicians, he expired of an apoplexy at Akshehr, the Antioch of Pisidia, about nine months after his defeat. The victor dropped a tear over his grave; his body, with royal pomp, was conveyed to the mausoleum which he had erected at Boursa; and his son Mousa, after receiving a rich present of gold and jewels, of horses and arms, was invested by a patent in red ink with the kingdom of Anatolia. French; Such is the portrait of a generous conqueror, which has been extracted from his own memorials, and dedicated to his son and grandson, nineteen years after his decease; and, at a time when the truth was remembered by thousands, a manifest falsehood would have implied a satire on his real conduct. Weighty indeed is this evidence, adopted by all the Persian histories; yet flattery, more especially in the east, is base and audacious; and the harsh and ignominious treatment of Bajazet is attested by a chain of witnesses, some of whom shall be produced in the order of their time and country. 1. The reader has not forgot attested, 1. by the the garrison of French, whom the marshal Boucicault left behind him for the defence of Constantinople. They were on the spot to receive the earliest and most faithful intelligence of the overthrow of their great adversary; and it is more than probable, that some of them accompanied the Greek embassy to the camp of Tamerlane. From their account, the hardships of the prison and death of Bajazet are affirmed by the marshal's servant and historian, within the distance of seven years. 2. The name of Poggius the Italian d is deservedly famous among the revivers of learning in the fifteenth century. His elegant dialogue on the vicissitudes of fortune was composed in his fiftieth year, twenty-eight years after the Turkish victory of Tamerlane; whom he celebrates as not inferior to the illustrious barbarians of antiquity. Of his exploits and discipline Poggius was informed by several ocular witnesses ; nor does he forget an example so apposite to his theme as the Ottoman monarch, whom the Scythian confined like a wild beast in an iron cage, and 2. by the Italians; e Et fut Ini meme (Bajazet) pris, et mené en prison, en laquelle mourut de dure mort! Memoires de Boucicault, p. i. c. 37. These memoirs were composed while the marshal was still governor of Gene from whence he was expelled in the year 1409, by a popular insurrec. tion. (Muratori, Annali d'Italia, tom. xii. p. 473, 474.) d The reader will find a satisfactory account of the life and writings of Poggius, in the Poggiana, an entertaining work of M. Lenfant, and in Bibliotheca Latina media et infimæ Etatis of Fabricius, (tou p. 305-308) Poggius was born in the year 1380, and died in 1450. e The dialogue de Varietate Fortuna (of which a complete and ele gant edition has been published at Paris in 1723. in 4to) was composed a short time before the death of Pope Martin V. (p. 5.) and consequently about the end of the year 1430. f See a splendid and eloquent encomium of Tamerlane, p. 36-39. ipse enim novi (says Poggius) qui fuere in ejus castris...... Regena vivum cepit, caveaque in modum feræ inclusum per omnem Asiam eft. cumtulit; egregium admirandumque spectaculum fortunæ. monized by success, affected the character of generosity. But his mind was insensibly alienated by the unseasonable arrogance of Bajazet; the complaints of his enemies, the Anatolian princes, were just and vehement; and Timour betrayed a design of leading his royal captive in triumph to Samarcand. An attempt to facilitate his escape, by digging a mine under the tent, provoked the Mogul emperor to impose a harsher restraint; and in his perpetual marches, an iron cage on a waggon might be invented, not as a wanton insult, but as a rigorous precaution. Timour had read in some fabulous jazet, A. D. 1403. sors, a king of Persia ; and Bajazet was condemned to represent the person, and expiate the guilt, of the Roman Cæsar." But the strength Death of Baof his mind and body fainted under the trial, and his premature death might, without injustice, be ascribed to the severity of Timour. He warred not with the dead; a tear and a sepulchre was all that he could bestow on a captive who was delivered from his power; and if Mousa, the son of Bajazet, was permitted to reign over the ruins of Boursa, the greatest part of the province of Anatolia had been restored by the conqueror to their lawful sovereigns. exhibited a spectacle to Asia. I might add the | in which the conqueror, whose spirits were harauthority of two Italian chronicles, perhaps of an earlier date, which would prove at least that the same story, whether false or true, was imported into Europe with the first tidings of the revolution. 3. At the time when Poggius flourished 3. by the Arabs; at Rome, Ahmed Ebn Arabshah composed at Damascus the florid and malevolent history of Timour, for which he had collected materials in his journeys over Turkey and Tartary. Without any possible correspondence between the Latin and the Arabian writer, they agree in the fact of the iron cage; and their agreement is a striking proof of their common veracity. Ahmed Arabshah like-history a similar treatment of one of his predeceswise relates another outrage, which Bajazet endured, of a more domestic and tender nature. His indiscreet mention of women and divorces was deeply resented by the jealous Tartar: in the feast of victory, the wine was served by female cupbearers, and the sultan beheld his own concubines and wives confounded among the slaves, and exposed without a veil to the eyes of intemperance. To escape a similar indignity, it is said, that his successors, except in a single instance, have abstained from legitimate nuptials; and the Ottoman practice and belief, at least in the sixteenth century, is attested by the observing Busbequius, ambassador from the court of Vienna to the great Soli4. Such is the separation of 4. by the Greeks; language, that the testimony of a Greek is not less independent than that of a Latin or an Arab. I suppress the names of Chalcondyles and Ducas, who flourished in a later period, and who speak in a less positive tone; but more attention is due to George Phranza, protovestiare of the last emperors, and who was born a year before the battle of Angora. Twenty-two years after that event, he was sent ambassador to Amurath the second; and the historian might converse with some veteran janizaries, who had been made prisoners with the sultan, and had themselves seen him in his iron cage. 5. The last evidence, in 5. by the Turks. every sense, is that of the Turkish annals, which have been consulted or transcribed by Leunclavius, Pocock, and Cantemir. They unanimously deplore the captivity of the iron cage; and some credit may be allowed to national historians, who cannot stigmatize the Tartar without uncovering the shame of their king and country. Probable conclusion. man. From these opposite premises, a fair and moderate conclusion may be deduced. I am satisfied that Sherefeddin Ali has faithfully described the first ostentatious interview, The Chronicon Tarvisianum, (in Muratori, Script. Rerum Italicarum, tom. xix. p. 800.) and the Annales Estenses, (tom. xviii. p. 974.) The two authors, Andrea de Redusiis de Quero, and James de Delayto, were both contemporaries, and both chancellors, the one of Trevigi, the other of Ferrara. The evidence of the former is the most positive. h_See Arabshah, tom. ii. c. 28. 34. He travelled in regiones Rumæas, A. H. 839. (A. D. 1435, July 27.) tom, ii. c. 2. p. 13. Busbequius in Legatione Turcicâ, epist. i. p. 52. Yet his respectable authority is somewhat shaken by the subsequent marriages of Amurath II. with a Servian, and of Mahomet II. with an Asiatic, princess. (Cantemir, p. 83. 93.) k See the testimony of George Phranza, (L. i. c. 29.) and his life in Hanckius, (de Script. Byzant. p. i. c. 40.) Chalcondyles and Ducas speak in general terms of Bajazet's chains. Term of the conquests of Timour, A. D. 1403. From the Irtish and Volga to the Persian gulf, and from the Ganges to Damascus and the Archipelago, Asia was in the hands of Timour; his armies were invincible, his ambition was boundless, and his zeal might aspire to conquer and convert the christian kingdoms of the west, which already trembled at his name. He touched the utmost verge of the land; but an insuperable, though narrow, sea rolled between the two continents of Europe and Asia;a and the lord of so many tomans, or myriads, of horse, was not master of a single galley. The two passages of the Bosphorus and Hellespont, of Constantinople and Gallipoli, were possessed, the one by the christians, the other by the Turks. On this great occasion, they forgot the difference of religion, to act with union and firmness in the common cause: the double straits were guarded with ships and fortifications; and they separately withheld the transports which Timour demanded of either nation, under the pretence of attacking their enemy. At the same time, they soothed his pride with tributary gifts and suppliant embassies, and prudently tempted him to retreat with the honours of victory. Soliman, the son of Bajazet, implored his clemency for his father and himself; accepted, by a red patent, the investi1 Annales Leunclav. p. 321. Pocock, Prolegomen. ad Abulpharag. Dynast. Cantemir, p. 55. A Sapor, king of Persia, had been made prisoner, and enclosed in the figure of a cow's hide by Maximian or Galerius Cæsar. Such is the fable related by Eutychius. (Annal. tom. i. p. 421. vers. Pocock.) The recollection of the true history (Decline and Fall, &c. p. 147-150.) will teach us to appreciate the knowledge of the orientals of the ages which precede the Hegira. n Arabshah (tom. ii. c. 25.) describes, like a curious traveller, the straits of Gallipoli and Constantinople. To acquire a just idea of these events, I have compared the narratives and prejudices of the Moguls, Turks, Greeks, and Arabians, The Spanish ambassador mentions this hostile union of the christians and Ottomans. (Vie de Timour, p. 96.) to his capital, after a campaign of four years and nine months. His triumph at ture of the kingdom of Romania, which he already held by the sword; and reiterated his ardent wish, of casting himself in person at the feet of the king On the throne of Samarcand,' he of the world. The Greek emperor (either John or displayed, in a short repose, his magManuel) submitted to pay the same tribute which nificence and power; listened to the he had stipulated with the Turkish sultan, and complaints of the people; distributed ratified the treaty by an oath of allegiance, from a just measure of rewards and punishwhich he could absolve his conscience so soon as ments; employed his riches in the architecture of the Mogul arms had retired from Anatolia. But the palaces and temples; and gave audience to the fears and fancy of nations ascribed to the ambitious ambassadors of Egypt, Arabia, India, Tartary, Tamerlane a new design of vast and romantic com- Russia, and Spain, the last of whom presented a pass; a design of subduing Egypt and Africa, suit of tapestry which eclipsed the pencil of the marching from the Nile to the Atlantic Ocean, oriental artists. The marriage of six of the ementering Europe by the straits of Gibraltar, and, peror's grandsons was esteemed an act of religion after imposing his yoke on the kingdoms of Christen- as well as of paternal tenderness; and the pomp of dom, of returning home by the deserts of Russia the ancient caliphs was revived in their nuptials. and Tartary. This remote, and perhaps imaginary, They were celebrated in the gardens of Canighul, danger was averted by the submission of the sultan decorated with innumerable tents and pavilions, of Egypt: the honours of the prayer and the coin, which displayed the luxury of a great city, and the attested at Cairo the supremacy of Timour; and a spoils of a victorious camp. Whole forests were rare gift of a giraffe, or camelopard, and nine cut down to supply fuel for the kitchens; the plain ostriches, represented at Samarcand the tribute of was spread with pyramids of meat, and vases of the African world. Our imagination is not less every liquor, to which thousands of guests were astonished by the portrait of a Mogul, who, in his courteously invited: the orders of the state, and the camp, before Smyrna, meditates, and almost accomnations of the earth, were marshalled at the royal plishes, the invasion of the Chinese empire. Ti- banquet; nor were the ambassadors of Europe mour was urged to this enterprise by national (says the haughty Persian) excluded from the feast; honour and religious zeal. The torrents which he since even the casses, the smallest of fish, find their had shed of mussulman blood could be expiated place in the ocean. The public joy was testified only by an equal destruction of the infidels; and as by illuminations and masquerades; the trades of he now stood at the gates of paradise, he might best Samarcand passed in review; and every trade was secure his glorious entrance by demolishing the emulous to execute some quaint device, some mar idols of China, founding moschs in every city, and vellous pageant, with the materials of their peculiar establishing the profession of faith in one God, and After the marriage contracts had been ratified his prophet Mahomet. The recent expulsion of the by the cadhis, the bridegrooms and their brides rehouse of Zingis was an insult on the Mogul name; tired to the nuptial chambers; nine times, accordand the disorders of the empire afforded the fairesting to the Asiatic fashion, they were dressed and opportunity for revenge. The illustrious Hongvou, founder of the dynasty of Ming, died four years before the battle of Angora; and his grandson, a weak and unfortunate youth, was burnt in his palace, after a million of Chinese had perished in the civil war. Before he evacuated Anatolia, Timour despatched beyond the Sihoon a numerous army, or rather colony, of his old and new subjects, to open the road, to subdue the pagan Calmucks and Mungals, and to found cities and magazines in the desert; and, by the diligence of his lieutenant, he soon received a perfect map and description of the unknown regions, from the source of the Irtish to the wall of China. During these preparations, the emperor achieved the final conquest of Georgia; passed the winter on the banks of the Araxes; appeased the troubles of Persia; and slowly returned • Since the name of Cæsar had been transferred to the sultans of Roum, the Greek princes of Constantinople (Sherefeddin, 1. v. c. 54.) were confounded with the christian lords of Gallipoli, Thessalonica, &c. under the title of Tekkur, which is derived by corruption from the genitive TOU KUPLOV. (Cantemir, p. 51.) P See Sherefeddin, 1. v. c. 4. who marks, in a just itinerary, the road to China, which Arabshah (tom. ii. c. 33.) paints in vague and rhetorical colours. 4 Synopsis Hist. Sinicæ, p. 74-76. (in the fourth part of the Relations de Thevenot,) Duhalde, Hist, de la Chine; (tom. I. p. 507, 508. folio edition;) and for the Chronology of the Chinese emperors, De Guignes, Hist. des Huns, tom. i. p. 71, 72, art. undressed; and at each change of apparel, pearls and rubies were showered on their heads, and contemptuously abandoned to their attendants. A general indulgence was proclaimed: every law was relaxed, every pleasure was allowed; the people were free, the sovereign was idle; and the historian of Timour may remark, that, after devoting fifty years to the attainment of empire, the only happy period of his life were the two months in which he ceased to exercise his power. But he was soon awakened to the cares of government and war. The standard was unfurled for the invasion of China the emirs made their report of two hundred thousand, the select and veteran soldiers of Iran and Touran: their baggage and provisions were transported by five hundred great waggons, and an immense train of horses and camels; and the troops For the return, triumph, and death of Timour, see Sherefeddia (1. vi. c. 1-30.) and Arabshah. (tom. ii. c. 35-47.) s Sherefeddin (1. vi. c. 24.) mentions the ambassadors of one of the most potent sovereigns of Europe. We know that it was Henry III. king of Castile: and the curious relation of his two embassies is stul extant. (Mariana, Hist. Hispan. 1. xix. c. 11. tom. ii. p. 329, 331 Avertissement à l'Hist. de Timur Bec, p. 28-33.) There appears like wise to have been some correspondence between the Mogul emperor and the court of Charles VII. king of France. (Histoire de France, par Velly et Villaret, tom. xii. p. 336.) 1 might prepare for a long absence, since more than A. D. 1405. April 1. Character and mour. The fame of Timour has pervaded merits of T- the east and west; his posterity is still invested with the imperial title; and the admiration of his subjects, who revered him almost as a deity, may be justified in some degree by the praise or confession of his bitterest enemies." Although he was lame of a hand and foot, his form and stature were not unworthy of his rank; and his vigorous health, so essential to himself and to the world, was corroborated by temperance and exercise. In his familiar discourse he was grave and modest, and if he was ignorant of the Arabic language, he spoke with fluency and elegance the Persian and Turkish idioms. It was his delight to converse with the learned on topics of history and science; and the amusement of his leisure hours was the game of chess, which he improved or corrupted with new refinements.* In his religion, he was a zealous, though not perhaps an orthodox, mussulman; but his sound understanding may tempt us to believe, that a superstitious reverence for omens and prophecies, for saints and astrologers, was only affected as an instrument of policy. In the government of a vast empire, he stood alone and absolute, without a rebel to oppose his power, a favourite to seduce his affections, or a minister to mislead his judgment. It was his firmest maxim, that whatever might be the consequence, the word of the prince should never be disputed or recalled; but his foes have maliciously observed, that the commands of anger and destruction were more strictly executed than those of beneficence and favour. His sons and grandsons, of whom Timour left six and thirty at his decease, were his first and See the translation of the Persian account of their embassy, a curi. Jus and original piece, (in the fourth part of the Relations de Theve. not.) They presented the emperor of China with an old horse which Timour had formerly rode. It was in the year 1419, that they departed from the court of Herat, to which place they returned in 1422 from Pekin. From Arabshah, tom. ii. c. 99. The bright or softer colours are borrowed from Sherefeddin, D'Herbelot, and the Institutions. His new system was multiplied from 32 pieces and 64 squares to 56 pieces and 110 or 130 squares: but, except in his court, the old game has been thought sufficiently elaborate. The Mogul emperor was rather pleased than hurt with the victory of a subject: a cliess-player will feel the value of this encomium! Per most submissive subjects; and whenever they deviated from their duty, they were corrected according to the laws of Zingis, with the bastonade, and afterwards restored to honour and command. haps his heart was not devoid of the social virtues ; perhaps he was not incapable of loving his friends and pardoning his enemies; but the rules of morality are founded on the public interest; and it may be sufficient to applaud the wisdom of a monarch, for the liberality by which he is not impoverished, and for the justice by which he is strengthened and enriched. To maintain the harmony of authority and obedience, to chastise the proud, to protect the weak, to reward the deserving, to banish vice and idleness from his dominions, to secure the traveller and merchant, to restrain the depredations of the soldier, to cherish the labours of the husbandman, to encourage industry and learning, and, by an equal and moderate assessment, to increase the revenue, without increasing the taxes, are indeed the duties of a prince; but, in the discharge of these duties, he finds an ample and immediate recompence. Timour might boast, that, at his accession to the throne, Asia was the prey of anarchy and rapine, whilst under his prosperous monarchy a child, fearless and unhurt, might carry a purse of gold from the cast to the west. Such was his confidence of merit, that from this reformation he derived excuse for his victories, and a title to universal dominion. The four following observations will serve to appreciate his claim to the public gratitude; and perhaps we shall conclude, that the Mogul emperor was rather the Scourge than the benefactor of mankind. 1. If some partial disorders, some local oppressions, were healed by the sword of Timour, the remedy was far more pernicious than the disease. By their rapine, cruelty, and discord, the petty tyrants of Persia might afflict their subjects; but whole nations were crushed under the footsteps of the reformer. The ground which had been occupied by flourishing cities, was often marked by his abominable trophies, by columns, or pyramids, of human heads. Astracan, Carizme, Delhi, Ispahan, Bagdad, Aleppo, Damascus, Boursa, Smyrna, and a thousand others, were sacked, or burnt, or utterly destroyed, in his presence, and by his troops; and perhaps his conscience would have been startled, if a priest or philosopher had dared to number the millions of victims whom he had sacrificed to the establishment of peace and order. 2. His most destructive wars were rather inroads than conquests. He invaded Turkestan, Kipzak, Russia, pre y See Sherefeddin, 1. v. c. 15. 25. Arabshah (tom. ii. c. 96. p. 801. 803.) reproves the impiety of Timour and the Moguls, who almost ferred to the Koran the yasca, or law of Zingis (cui Deus maledicat): nor will he believe that Sharokh had abolished the use and authority of that pagan code. z Besides the bloody passages of this narrative, I must refer to an anticipation in the Decline and Fall, which in a single note (p. 558. note b) accumulates near 300,000 heads of the monuments of his cruelty. Except in Rowe's play on the fifth of November, I did not expect to hear of Timour's amiable moderation. (White's preface, p. 7.) Yet I can excuse a generous enthusiasm in the reader, and still more in the editor, of the Institutions. |