m, 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 honor 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 honor, and embraced with tears his son Musa,
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 harem from Bursa, Timur 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 victory, to which Bajazet was invited, the
Mongol 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. Amid the care of the most
skilful physicians, he expired of an apoplexy, 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 Bursa;
and his son Musa, 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.

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 an