OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.

auce has long repeated the tale of calumny,'which had disfigured the birth and character,the person, and even the name, of Tamerlane /Yet his real merit would be enhanced, ratherthan debased, by the elevation of a peasant tothe throne of Asia ; nor can his lameness be atheme of reproach, unless he had the weaknessto blush at a natural, or perhaps an honourable,infirmity.

In the eyes of the Moguls, who held the inde-feasible succession of the house of Zingis, he wasdoubtless a rebel subject; yet he sprang fromthe noble tribe of Berlass: his fifth ancestor,Carashar Nevian, had been the vizir of Zagatai,in his new realm of Transoxiana; and in the as-cent of some generations, the branch ofTimouris confounded, at least by the females , 8 with theimperial stem. h He was born forty miles to the

‘ The original of the tale is found in the following work, which ismuch esteemed for its florid elegance of style: Ahmedis Arabsiadte(Ahmed Ebn Arabshah) Vital et Rerum gestarum Timuri. Arabice etLaline Edidit Samuel Henricus Manger. Franequem, 1767, 2 tom. inquarto. This Syrian author is ever a malicious, and often an ignorant,enemy : the very titles of his chapters are injurious; as how the wick-ed, as how the impious, as how the viper, &c. The copious article ofTimur , in Bibliotheque Otientale, is of a mixed nature, as d’Herbelotindifferently draws his materials (pp. 877-888) from Khondemir , EbnSchounah, and the Lebtarikh.

f Dernir or Timur signifies, in the Turkish language, iron ; and Begis the appellation of a lord or prince. By the change of a letter or ac-cent, it is changed into Li ne or Lame; and a European corruption con-founds the two words in the name of Tamerlane.

6 After relating some false and foolish tales of Timour Lenc, Arab-shah is compelled to speak truth, and to own him for a kinsman of Zingis, per mulieres (as he peevishly adds) laqucos Satance (pars i, c. i, p.25). The testimony of Abulghazi Khan (p. ii, c. 5, p. v, c. i) is clear,unquestionable, and decisive.

“ According to one of the pedigrees, the fourth ancestor of Zingis,

and

CHA1*.

1.XV.