d
audacious; and the harsh and ignominious treatment of Bajazet is
attested by a chain of witnesses.

I am satisfied that Sherefeddin Ali has faithfully described the first
ostentatious interview, in which the conqueror, whose spirits were
harmonized by success, affected the character of generosity. But his
mind was insensibly alienated by the unseasonable arrogance of Bajazet;
and Timur betrayed a design of leading his royal captive in triumph to
Samarkand. An attempt to facilitate his escape, by digging a mine under
the tent, provoked the Mongol Emperor to impose a harsher restraint; and
in his perpetual marches, an iron cage on a wagon might be invented, not
as a wanton insult, but as a rigorous precaution. But the strength of
Bajazet's mind and body fainted under the trial, and his premature death
might, without injustice, be ascribed to the severity of Timur.

From the Irtysh and Volga to the Persian Gulf, and from the Ganges to
Damascus and the Archipelago, Asia was in the hands of Timur; his armies
were invincible, his ambition was boundless, and his zeal might aspire
to conquer and convert the Christian kingdoms of the West, which already
trembled at his name. He touched the utmost verge of the land; but an
insuperable, though narrow, sea rolled between the two continents of
Europe and Asia; and the lord of so many myriads of horse was not master
of a single galley. The two passages of the Bosporus and Hellespont, of
Constantinople and Gallipoli, were possessed, the one by the Christians,
the other by the Turks. On this great occasion they forgot the
difference of religion, to act with union and firmness in the common
cause; the double straits were guarded with ships and fortifications;
and they separately withheld the transports which Timur demanded of
either nation, under the pretence of attacking their enemy. At the same
time they soothed his pride with tributary gifts and suppliant
embassies, and prudently tempted him to retreat with the honors of
victory. Solyman, the son of Bajazet, implored his clemency for his
father and himself; accepted, by a red patent, the investiture of the
kingdom of Romania, which he already held by the sword; and reiterated
his ardent wish of casting himself in person at the feet of the king of
the world. The Greek Emperor--either John or Manuel--submitted to pay
the same tribute which he had stipulated with the Turkish Sultan, and
ratified the treaty by an oath of allegiance, f