e. Originally a simple trooper of the Afshar tribe, he
advanced himself by valour, boldness, and enterprise, and crowned his
successes by winning the admiration of the royal leaders and adherents,
who on the death of the infant King, Abbas III., son of Shah Tamasp,
elected him to be their King. As such he carried the war into the
country of the evicted oppressors, and established the power of the
empire from the Oxus to Delhi, whence he returned with the splendid
spoil which yet enriches and adorns the Crown of Persia. It speaks much
for Nadir Shah's strong character that, having gained such distinction,
he did not allow flatterers to find amid the obscurity of his birth the
lost traces of great ancestors. He never boasted a proud genealogy; on
the contrary, he often spoke of his low birth, and we are told that even
his flattering historian had to content himself with saying that the
diamond has its value from its own lustre, and not from the rock in
which it grows. A characteristic story of this remarkable man is that
on demanding a daughter of his vanquished enemy, Mahmud Shah, the
Emperor of Delhi, in marriage for his son, Nasr-ullah, he was met with
the answer that for alliance with a Princess of the Imperial house of
Timor a genealogy of seven generations was required. 'Tell him,' said
Nadir, 'that Nasr-ullah is the son of Nadir Shah, the son of the sword,
the grandson of the sword, and so on till they have a descent of
seventy, instead of seven generations.' Nadir, the man of action and
blood and iron, had the greatest contempt for the weak, dissolute Mahmud
Shah, who, according to the native historian of the time, was 'never
without a mistress in his arms and a glass in his hand,' a debauchee of
the lowest type, as well as a mere puppet King. In the end the demon of
suspicion poisoned the mind of Nadir to such an extent that he became
madly murderous, and assassination ended his life. The Persians say that
he began as a deliverer and ended as a destroyer.

As a people, the Persians are of a happy disposition and bright
imagination, doubtless produced by the dry, clear air of their high
tableland, which relieves from dullness and depression. They enjoy a
joke and laugh heartily, and they are able to see that most things have
their comic side. The late Shah was quick to show the merry look of
appreciation when something amusing was said. At the Nauroz Court
reception of the Corps Diplomatique all the Legations, head