Page images
PDF
EPUB

LXV.

CHA P. stem. He was born forty miles to the south of Samarkand, 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 f. 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 Calmucks [], invaded the Transoxian kingdom. From the twelfth year of his age, Timour had entered the A. D. field of action; in the twenty-fifth, he stood forth

His first adven/tures,

13611370.

[ocr errors]

as

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).

See the preface of Sherefeddin, and Abulfeda's Geography, (Chorasmiæ, &c. Descriptio, p. 60. 61.), in the 3d 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.).

In the Institutions of Timour, these subjects of the Khan of Kashgar are most improperly styled Ouzbegs, or Uzbeks, a name which belongs to another branch and country of Tartars, (Abulghazi, p. v. c. 5. p. vii. 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 Uzbeks in Transoxiana.

LXV.

as the deliverer of his country; and the eyes and CHAP. wishes of the people were turned towards an hero who suffered in their cause. The chiefs of the law and of the army had pledged their salvation to support him with their lives and fortunes; but in the hour of danger they were silent and afraid; and, after waiting seven days on the hills of Samarkand, he retreated to the desart with only sixty horsemen. The fugitives were overtaken by a thousand Getes, whom he repulsed with incredible slaughter, and his enemies were forced to exclaim, "Timour is "a wonderful man; fortune and the divine favour "are with him.". But in this bloody action his own soldiers were reduced to ten, a number which was soon diminished by the desertion of three Carizmians. He wandered in the desart with his wife, seven companions, and four horses; and sixty-two days was he plunged in a loathsome dungeon, from whence he escaped by his own courage, and the remorse of the oppressor. After swimming the broad and rapid stream of the Jihoon, or Oxus, he led, during some months, the life of a vagrant and outlaw, on the borders of the adjacent states. But his fame shone brighter in adversity; he learned to distinguish the friends of his person, the associates of his fortune, and to apply the various characters of men for their advantage, and above all for his own. On his return to his native country, Timour was successively joined by the parties of his confederates, who anxiously sought him in the desart; nor can I refuse to describe, in his pathetic simplicity, one of their fortunate encounters. He presented himself as a guide to three chiefs, who were at the head of seventy horse. "When their eyes fell

[blocks in formation]

CHAP. upon me,"

LXV.

[ocr errors]

upon me," says Timour," they were over"whelmed with joy; and they alighted from their "horses; and they came and kneeled; and they "kissed my stirrup. I also came down from my "horse, and took each of them in my arms. And "I put my turban on the head of the first chief; "and my girdle, rich in jewels, and wrought with "gold, I bound, on the loins of the second; and "the third I clothed in my own coat. And they wept, and I wept also; and the hour of prayer "was arrived, and we prayed. And we mounted "our horses, and came to my dwelling; and I col"lected my people, and made a feast." His trusty bands were soon increased by the bravest of the tribes; he led them against a superior foe; and after some vicissitudes of war, the Getes were finally driven from the kingdom of Transoxiana. He had done much for his own glory; but much remained to be done, much art to be exerted, and some blood to be spilt, before he could teach his equals to obey him as their master. The birth and power of Emir Houssein compelled him to accept a vicious and unworthy colleague, whose sister was the best beloved of his wives. Their union was short and jealous; but the policy of Timour, in their frequent quarrels, exposed his rival to the reproach of injustice and perfidy; and, after a small defeat, Houssein was slain by some sagacious friends, who presumed, for the last time, to disobey the commands of their lord. At the age of thirty-four*, and

in

The 1st book of Sherefeddin is employed on the private life of the hero; and he himself, or his secretary, (Institutions,

P: 3

LXV.

He a

scends

of Zaga

A D.

1370,

April.

in a general diet, or couroultai, he was invested with CHAP. Imperial command; but he affected to revere the house of Zingis; and while the Emir Timour reign. ed over Zagatai and the East, a nominal Khan ser- the throne ved as a private officer in the armies of his servant. tai, A fertile kingdom, five hundred miles in length and in breadth, might have satisfied the ambition of a subject; but Timour aspired to the dominion of 'the world; and before his death, the crown of Zagatai was one of the twenty-seven crowns which he had placed on his head. Without expatiating on the victories of thirty-five campaigns; without describing the lines of march, which he repeatedly traced over the continent of Asia, I shall briefly represent his conquests in, I. Persia, fI. Tartary, and, III. India'*; and from thence proceed to the more interesting narrative of his Ottoman war.

A. D.

1370

1400.

Of

I. For every war, a motive of safety or revenge, His conof honour or zeal, of right or convenience, may be quests, readily found in the jurisprudence of conquerors. No sooner had Timour re-united to the patrimony. Perof Zagatai the dependent countries of Carizme and sia, Candahar, than he turned his eyes towards the kingdoms of Iran or Persia. From the Oxus to the Tigris, that extensive country was left without a lawful sovereign since the death of Abou. said, the last of the descendants of the great HolaB 4

cou.

P. 3-77.), enlarges with pleasure on the thirteen designs and enterprises which most truly constitute his personal merit. It even shines through the dark colouring of Arabshah, p.i. c.

1-12.

*The conquests of Persia, Tartary, and India, are repre-sented in the 2d and gd books of Sherefeddin, and by Arabshah, c. 13-55. Consult the excellent Indexes to the Institutions.

A. D. 13801393.

LXV.

CHAP. Cou. Peace and justice had been banished from the land above forty years; and the Mogul invader might seem to listen to the cries of an oppressed people. Their petty tyrants might have opposed him with confederate arms; they separately stood, and successively fell; and the difference of their fate was only marked by the promptitude of submission, or the obstinacy of resistance. Ibrahim, Prince of Shirwan or Albania, kissed the footstool of the Imperial throne. His peace-offerings of silks, horses, and jewels, were composed, according to the Tartar fashion, each article of nine pieces; but a critical spectator observed, that there were only eight slaves. I myself am the ninth," replied Ibrahim, who was prepared for the remark; and his flattery was rewarded by the smile of Timour *. Shah Mansour, Prince of Fars, or the proper Persia, was one of the least powerful, but most dangerous, of his enemies. In a battle under the walls of Shiraz, he broke, with three or four thousand soldiers, the coul or main body of thirty thousand horse, where the Emperor fought in person. No more than fourteen or fifteen guards remained near the standard of Timour; he stood firm as a rock, and received on his helmet two, weighty strokes of a scymetart; the Moguls rallied; the head of Mansour was thrown

at

*The reverence of the Tartars for the mysterious number of nine, is declared by Abulghazi Khan, who, for that reason, divides his Genealogical History into nine parts.

According to Arabshah, (p. i. c. 28. p. 183.), the coward Finour ren away to his tent, and hid himself from the pursuit of Shah Mansour under the womens' garments. Perhaps Sheefeddin (1. ii. c. 25.) has magnified his courage.

« PreviousContinue »