rom which he could
absolve his conscience so soon as the Mongol arms had retired from
Anatolia. But the fears and fancy of nations ascribed to the ambitious
Tamerlane a new design of vast and romantic compass; a design of
subduing Egypt and Africa, marching from the Nile to the Atlantic Ocean,
entering Europe by the Straits of Gibraltar, and, after imposing his
yoke on the kingdoms of Christendom, of returning home by the deserts of
Russia and Tartary. This remote, and perhaps imaginary, danger was
averted by the submission of the Sultan of Egypt, the honors of the
prayer and the coin attested at Cairo the supremacy of Timur; and a rare
gift of a giraffe, or camelopard, and nine ostriches, represented at
Samarkand the tribute of the African world. Our imagination is not less
astonished by the portrait of a Mongol, who, in his camp before Smyrna,
meditates, and almost accomplishes, the invasion of the Chinese empire.
Timur was urged to this enterprise by national honor and religious zeal.
He received a perfect map and description of the unknown regions, from
the source of Irtysh to the Wall of China. During the preparations, the
Emperor achieved the final conquest of Georgia; passed the winter on the
banks of the Araxes; appeased the troubles of Persia; and slowly
returned to his capital, after a campaign of four years and nine months.

On the throne of Samarkand he displayed, in a short repose, his
magnificence and power; listened to the complaints of the people;
distributed a just measure of rewards and punishments; employed his
riches in the architecture of palaces and temples; and gave audience to
the ambassadors of Egypt, Arabia, India, Tartary, Russia, and Spain, the
last of whom presented a suit of tapestry which eclipsed the pencil of
the oriental artists. A general indulgence was proclaimed; every law was
relaxed, every pleasure was allowed; the people was free, the sovereign
was idle; and the historian of Timur may remark that, after devoting
fifty years to the attainment of empire, the only happy period of his
life was the two months in which he ceased to exercise his power.

But he soon awakened to the cares of government and war. The standard
was unfurled for the invasion of China; the emirs made their report of
two hundred thousand, the select and veteran soldiers of Iran and Turan;
their baggage and provisions were transported by five hundred great
wagons and an immense train of horses and camels; and the