the door of the great mosque.* After this, he engaged in an expedition to Moultan, which was in a disturbed state; but, falling sick on his march, he returned to Delhi, and expired there, A.D. 1235, after a signally prosperous reign of twenty-five years. It was in the thirteenth year of the reign of this able monarch (according to Ferishta), that Chenghiz Khan overthrew the Khaurizmian empire; and pursu ing his career of conquest, during the succeeding twelve years, that savage destroyer of the human race changed the face of Asia, extending his sway from the sea of China to Syria, and from the Arctic circle to the Indus. Intent upon the subjugation of China, he suffered India to escape an invasion which, in all probability, would have forced it to share the same fate with the rest of Asia. Altumsh was succeeded by his son Ferose Shah, an effeminate and dissipated prince, who, having made himself alike odious and contemptible to his subjects, was, at the end of less than seven months, deposed and imprisoned; and his masculine sister, Mallekeh Doran, Sultana Rizia, was then raised to the throne. This able woman had been, on one occasion, appointed regent by Altumsh himself, during his temporary * See p. 138. Ferishta tells us, that this temple was formed upon the same plan as that at Somnauth; that it had been building for three hundred years, and was surrounded with a wall one hundred cubits high. + Chenghiz Khan died in 1226. Altumsh was, therefore, during part of his reign, contemporary with Hulaloo Khan, who died at Maragha, in 1264. At the time of this irruption of the Moguls, Louis VIII. of France was employed in exterminating the Albigenses; (he died the same year as Chenghiz Khan ;) Henry III. had begun his reign in England; Frederick II. was Emperor of Germany; and the son of Saladin was master of Egypt. absence from the seat of government;* and on her accession, she justified the choice of the omrahs by assuming the imperial robes, and giving public audience every day from the throne, revising and enforcing the laws of her father. Her reign was prosperous, and she appears to have conducted the administration of government with singular ability, till, unfortunately, the nobles took disgust at the promotion of an Abassinian slave to the head of the army. The first demonstrations of discontent were suppressed, but a general revolt took place shortly after; and Behram Shah, her brother, was set up by the Turkish omrahs in her stead. The Sultana, after maintaining for some time the struggle for the throne, was defeated, taken prisoner, and put to death, after a reign of three years and a half. Behram Shah, though nominally emperor, found himself a mere puppet in the hands of the chief of the omrahs and the vizier, by whom, at the end of two years, he was dethroned and murdered. During his brief reign, the Moguls advanced from Ghizni to Lahore, and plundered that city; and in the troubled reigns of his successors, they repeatedly made predatory incursions into the Punjaub with various success. Turmeshirin Khan is reported by Sheref-ed-deen, to have carried his arms into the Doab, and to have penetrated even to the confines of Delhi. On the fall and death of Behram Shah, Massaood, ." When asked by the omrahs, why he appointed his daughter to such an office, in preference to so many of his sons, he replied, that he saw his sons gave themselves up to wine, women, gaming, and the worship of the wind (flattery); and that Rizia, though a woman, had a man's head and heart, and was better than twenty such sons."-Dow, i. 161, a son of Ferose Shah, was raised from a prison to a precarious throne; but his despicable character soon led to his being stripped of the robes of royalty, and his uncle, Mahmood, was, in 1244, made king in his stead, under the title of Nassir-ul-deen. He appears to have been a man of great energy, enterprise, and prudence, as well as of considerable literary attainments. During the time of his imprisonment, he supported himself by writing, despising the emperor's allowance; and often said, that he who could not work for his bread, did not deserve to eat. After he had ascended the throne, he continued the same frugal and laborious habits, supplying his private wants by the use of his pen. His table was that of a hermit, rather than of a king; and contrary, Ferishta remarks, to the custom of all princes, he had but one wife, and kept no concubines. He was the" patron of learning, the protector of the people, and the friend of the poor." He was moreover successful in all his wars, and astonished his subjects by the moderation and clemency with which he pursued his conquests. He behaved with the most severity to the Gickers of Mount Jood. Their country being reduced, the emperor avenged himself upon those turbulent mountaineers for their continual incursions, and for guiding the Moguls through their country into Hindostan, by carrying into captivity some thousands of both sexes. Towards his own subjects, he behaved with rare magnanimity for an oriental sovereign; repeatedly pardoning, upon submission, those who had swerved from their allegiance. Towards the close of his reign, he was honoured with an embassy from Hulakoo Khan, the grandson of Chenghiz Khan, and sovereign of Persia. Baleen, his vizier, went out to meet the ambassador, attended, we are told," by 50,000 foreign horse in the imperial service, 2000 chain-elephants of war, and 3000 carriages of fire-works. He drew up in order of battle, formed in columns of twenty deep, with the artillery and cavalry properly disposed. Having then exhibited some feats of horsemanship in mock battles, and fully displayed his pomp to the ambassador, he conducted him to the city and royal palace. There the court was very splendid, every thing being set out in the most gorgeous and magnificent manner. All the omrahs, officers of state, judges, priests, and great men of the city were present, besides five princes of Persian Irak, Khorasan, and Maver-ul-nahr, with their retinues, who had taken protection at Delhi from the arms of Chenghiz Khan. Many Indian princes also, subject to the empire, stood next to the throne."* This was the last occurrence of importance in this reign. Shortly after, the emperor fell sick, and after lingering for some months, expired in the year 1266, much regretted by his subjects. Mahmoud left no sons, and his able vizier Baleen, who was related to the emperor Altumsh, ascended the throne, with the unanimous concurrence of the nobles.+ Ferishta states, that, in the reign of Altumsh, forty of his Turkish slaves who were high in favour, entered into a solemn mutual engagement to support one another, and, upon their master's death, to divide the empire among themselves. Baleen was one of this number, and, as several of his confederates had Dow, i. 178. + Like Altumsh himself, he was by origin a Turk of Chitta, who had been sold into slavery. Altumsh made him his Grand Falconer; in the reign of Mussaood, he was made "lord of requests," and in that of Mahmood, he was raised to the vizareet, which high office he exercised towards the last in such a manner as to leave the sovereign the mere title of royalty, raised themselves to great power, his first step after his accession was, to rid himself of all who survived of these dangerous rivals, either by sword or by poison, including his own brave nephew Sheer. This act of dreadful policy, he followed up by a vigorous reform of the government, expelling from his court all gamblers, parasites, usurers, and licentious persons; and he became so famous for his wise and just government and for his generosity, that his alliance was courted by the sovereigns of Persia and Tatary, and his capital was the refuge of the fugitive princes who had been de spoiled of their territories by the Moguls. Upwards of twenty of these unfortunate ex-sovereigns, we are told, repaired to the court of Delhi, from Turkestaun, Maverul-nahr, Khorasan, Irak Ajem, Azerbijan, Fars, Room (Asia Minor), and Syria. They had a princely allowance and palaces assigned them; and upon public occasions, took their stations, according to their dignity, to the right and left of the throne; all standing, except two princes of the house of Abbas, who were permitted to sit on either side of the musnud. In the retinue of these princes were many of the persons most renowned in the East for learning and genius; so that the court of Delhi came to be reckoned the most polite and magnificent in the world. All the philosophers, poets, and divines, assembled every night at the house of Prince Sheheid, the heir apparent; while at that of Prince Kera, the Emperor's second son, who was given to pleasure and levity, were convened a number of musicians, dancers, buffoons, and storytellers. The Emperor himself, having a great passion for magnificence, set his omrahs the example of great pomp and display in his palaces and equipages. His state elephants were caparisoned in purple and gold. His horse-guards, consisting of a thousand noble |