listened to the advice of his vizir, who represented that such an enterprise might unite the powers of Christendom in a second and more formidable crusade. His epistle to the emperor was conceived in these words: "By the divine clemency, our invincible scimitar has reduced to our obe dience almost all Asia, with many and large countries in Europe, excepting only the city of Constantinople; for beyond the walls thou hast nothing left. Resign that city; stipulate thy reward, or tremble for thyself and thy unhappy people, at the consequences of a rash refusal." But his

ambassadors were instructed to soften their tone, and to propose a treaty, which was subscribed with submission and gratitude. A truce of ten years was purchased by an annual tribute of thirty thousand crowns of gold; the Greeks deplored the public toleration of the law of Mahomet, and Bajazet enjoyed the glory of establishing a Turkish cadhi, and founding a royal mosch in the metropolis of the Eastern Church.* Yet this truce was soon violated by the restless sultan ; in the cause of the prince of Selybria, the lawful emperor, an army of Ottomans again threatened Constantinople; and the distress of Manuel implored the protection of the king of France. His plaintive embassy obtained much pity and some relief; and the conduct of the succour was intrusted to the marshal Boucicault,+ whose religious chivalry was inflamed by the desire of revenging his captivity on the infidels. He sailed with four ships of war from Aiguesmortes to the Hellespont; forced the passage, which was guarded by seventeen Turkish galleys; landed at Constantinople a supply of six hundred men-at-arms, and sixteen hundred archers; and reviewed them in the adjacent plain, without condescending to number or array the multitude of Greeks. By his presence the blockade was raised both by sea and land; the flying squadrons of Bajazet were driven to a more respectful distance; and several castles in Europe and Asia were stormed

* Cantemir, p. 50-53. Of the Greeks, Ducas alone (c. 13. 15) acknowledges the Turkish cadhi at Constantinople. Yet even Ducas dissembles the mosch. + Mémoires du bon Messire

Jean le Maingre, dit Boucicault, Maréchal de France, partie 1, c. 3035. [Finlay (ii. 590) quotes this work and gives to Boucicault a fleet composed of eight Genoese, eight Venetian, two Rhodian galleys, and one from Mitylene.-ED.]

by the emperor and the marshal, who fought, with equal valour, by each other's side. But the Ottomans soon returned with an increase of numbers; and the intrepid Boucicault, after a year's struggle, resolved to evacuate a country, which could no longer afford either pay or provisions for his soldiers. The marshal offered to conduct Manuel to the French court, where he might solicit, in person, a supply of men and money; and advised, in the meanwhile, that, to extinguish all domestic discord, he should leave his blind competitor on the throne. The proposal was embraced: the prince of Selybria was introduced to the capital; and such was the public misery, that the lot of the exile seemed more fortunate than that of the sovereign. Instead of applauding the success of his vassal, the Turkish sultan claimed the city as his own; and, on the refusal of the emperor John, Constantinople was more closely pressed by the calamities of war and famine. Against such an enemy, prayers and resistance were alike unavailing; and the savage would have devoured his prey if, in the fatal moment, he had not been overthrown by another savage stronger than himself. By the victory of Timour, or Tamerlane, the fall of Constantinople was delayed about fifty years; and this important, though accidental, service may justly introduce the life and character of the Mogul conqueror.

CHAPTER LXV.-ELEVATION OF TIMOUR, OR TAMERLANE, TO THE THRONE OF SAMARCAND. HIS CONQUESTS IN PERSIA, GEORGIA, TARTARY, RUSSIA, INDIA, SYRIA, AND ANATOLIA.-HIS TURKISH WAR. -DEFEAT AND CAPTIVITY OF BAJAZET.-DEATH OF TIMOUR.-CIVIL WAR OF THE SONS OF BAJAZET. RESTORATION OF THE TURKISH MONARCHY BY MAHOMET THE FIRST.-SIEGE OF CONSTANTINOPLE BY AMURATH THE SECOND.

THE conquest and monarchy of the world was the first object of the ambition of TIMOUR. To live in the memory and esteem of future ages, was the second wish of his magnanimous spirit. All the civil and military transactions of his reign were diligently recorded in the journals of his secretaries; the authentic narrative was revised by the per

* These journals were communicated to Sherefeddin, or Cherefeddin

sons best informed of each particular transaction; and it is believed in the empire and family of Timour, that the monarch_himself composed the commentaries* of his life, and the Institutions † of his government. But these cares were

Ali, a native of Yezd, who composed in the Persian language a history of Timour Beg, which has been translated into French by M. Petit de la Croix (Paris, 1722, in 4 vols. 12mo.), and has always been my faithful guide. His geography and chronology are wonderfully accurate; and he may be trusted for public facts, though he servilely praises the virtue and fortune of the hero. Timour's attention to procure intelligence from his own and foreign countries, may be seen in the Institutions, p. 215. 217. 349. 351.

* These commentaries are yet unknown in Europe; but Mr. White gives some hope that they may be imported and translated by his friend Major Davy, who had read in the East this "minute and faithful narrative of an interesting and eventful period." [Major Davy brought this MS. with him in 1784, but dying on his passage, it remained unpublished till 1830, when it was translated by Col. Stewart, and printed by the Oriental Translation Committee. It is entitled Mulfuzūt Timury, or Autobiographical Memoirs of the Moghul Emperor Timur. Omitting what had been already given by White the work commences with Book IV. (Omens) and ends with the 41st (Arabian) year of Timour's age (A.H. 777) or his 39th according to our computation (A.D. 1375). They do not therefore include the transactions of his last 30 years, the most important part of his life. Col. Stewart, in his Addenda (p. 9) says that he had received two transcripts of the Delhi MS., which is continued to the close of Timour's career; but it came too late and was too voluminous for translation, nor has this portion yet been published. The authenticity of the whole composition has been questioned, because Timour appears to have recorded his own death. But this was added by one of his attendants, in conformity with his concluding desire, that everything to the last moment of his existence should be written in his Memoirs as if proceeding from bis own mouth.-ED.]

+ I am ignorant whether the original Institutions, in the Turki or Mogul language, be still extant. The Persic version, with an English translation and most valuable index, was published (Oxford, 1783, in 4to.) by the joint labours of Major Davy and Mr. White, the Arabic professor. This work has been since translated from the Persic into French (Paris, 1787) by M. Langlès, a learned Orientalist, who has added the Life of Timour, and many curious notes. [Col. Stewart says (p. vi) that Mr. Erskine, in his Preface to the Memoirs of Baber, 1826, informs us "that the original of Timour's autobiography was found in the library of Jaafer Pasha of Yemen about 1610," at which time Shah Jehan reigned, to whom Abu Talib Hussyny dedicated his Persian Translation. There is no mention of the original at any sub sequent period.-ED.]

Shaw Allum, the present Mogul, roads, values, but cannot imitate,

ineffectual for the preservation of his fame, and these precious memorials in the Mogul or Persian language were concealed from the world, or at least from the knowledge of Europe. The nations which he vanquished exercised a base and impotent revenge; and ignorance has long repeated the tale of calumny, which had disfigured the birth and cha racter, the person, and even the name, of Tamerlane.t Yet his real merit would be enhanced, rather than debased, by the elevation of a peasant to the throne of Asia; nor can his lameness be a theme of reproach, unless he had the weakness to blush at a natural, or perhaps an honourable, infirmity.

In the eyes of the Moguls, who held the indefeasible succession of the house of Zingis, he was doubtless a rebel subject; yet he sprang from the noble tribe of Berlass; his fifth ancestor, Carashar Nevian, had been the vizir of Z1gatai, in his new realm of Transoxiana; and in the ascent of some generations, the branch of Timour is confounded.

the Institutions of his great ancestor. The English translator relion on their internal evidence; but if any suspicion should arise of fraud and fiction, they will not be dispelled by Major Davy's letter. The Orientals have never cultivated the art of criticism; the patronage of a prince, less honourable perhaps, is not less lucrative than that of a bookseller; nor can it be deemed incredible, that a Persian, the real author, should renounce the credit, to raise the value and price, of the work. * The original of the tale is found in the following work, which is much esteemed for its florid elegance of style; Ahmedis Arabsiada (Ahmed Ebn Arabshah) Vitæ et Rerum gestarum Timuri. Arabice et Latine edidit Samuel Henricus Manger. Franequera, 1767, 2 tom. in quarto. This Syrian author is ever a malicious, and often n ignorant, enemy; the very titles of his chapters are injurious; 8 how the wicked, as how the impious, as how the viper, &c. The copious article of Timur, in Bibliothèque Orientale, is of a mixed nature, as D'Herbelot indifferently draws his materials, p. 877 -888, from Khondemir, Ebn Schounah, and the Lebtarikh.

+ Demir or Timur, signifies, in the Turkish language, iron; and beg is the appellation of a lord or prince. By the change of a letter or accent, it is changed into lenc or lame; and a European corruption confounds the two words in the name of Tamerlane. [This is the meaning according to Arabshah, whose History Col. Stewart condemns as a "coarse satire, little worthy of credit." Timour himself (p. 21) derives his name from tamuru (it shall shake) a word in 67th chapter of the Koran, applied to him when an infant celebrated saint.-ED.]

He was

at least by the females, with the imperial stem. born forty miles to the south of Samarcand, in the village of Sebzar, in the fruitful territory of Cash, of which his fathers were the hereditary chiefs, as well as of a toman of ten thousand horse. His birth § was cast on one of those periods of anarchy which announce the fall of the Asiatic dynasties, and open a new field to adventurous ambition. The khans of Zagatai were extinct; the emirs aspired to independence; and their domestic feuds could only be suspended by the conquest and tyranny of the khans of Kashgar, who, with an army of Getes, or Calmucs,¶ invaded the

After relating some false and foolish tales of Timour Lenc, Arabshah is compelled to speak truth, and to own him for a kinsman of Zingis, per mulieres (as he peevishly adds) laqueos Satanae (pars 1, c. 1, p. 25). The testimony of Abulghazi Khan (p. 2, c. 5; p, 5, c. 4), is clear, unquestionable, and decisive.

+ According to one of the pedigrees, the fourth ancestor of Zingis, and the ninth of Timour, were brothers; and they agreed, that the posterity of the elder should succeed to the dignity of khan, and that the descendants of the younger should fill the office of their minister and general. This tradition was at least convenient to justify the first steps of Timour's ambition. (Institutions, p. 24, 25, from the MS. fragments of Timour's History.) [Timour's own history of his family, received from his father, confirms this. Memoirs, p. 27-30.-ED.]

See the preface of Sherefeddin, and Abulfeda's Geography (Chorasmiæ, &c. Descriptio, p. 60, 71), in the third volume of Hudson's Minor Greek Geographers.

§ See his nativity in Dr. Hyde (Syntagma Dissertat. tom. ii. p. 466), as it was cast by the astrologers of his grandson Ulugh Beg. He was born, A.D. 1336, April 9, 11° 57′ P.M. lat. 36. I know not whether they can prove the great conjunction of the planets, from whence, like other conquerors and prophets, Timour derived the surname of Saheb Keran, or master of the conjunctions. (Bibliot. Orient. p. 878.) [Timour does not mention clearly the place or year of his birth. In the translation of his memoirs he is made (p. 30) to quote from an astrologer, that he was born on the 9th of the month Rejeb, A.н. 730. But Col. Stewart considers this to be a mistake either of the Persian translator or the copyist, as all other authorities fix the birth of Timour on the 25th Shaban, A.H. 736, corresponding with the 7th May, 1336. At p. 49, he says also that he was twenty-six in A.H. 762; and all his subsequent dates concur with this.-ED.]

In the Institutions of Timour, these subjects of the khan of Kashgar are most improperly styled Ouzbegs, or Uzbecks, a name which belongs to another branch and country of Tartars. (Abulghazi, p. 5, c. 5; p. 7, c. 5.) Could I be sure that this word is in the Turkish original, I would boldly pronounce that the Institutions were framed a century after the death of Timour, since the establishment of the Uzbecks in Transoxiana. [These Getes must not be mistaken VOL. VII.

M