46 



CALIPHS OF BAGDAD. 



princes of the blood of Zingis. Since that event 

 Bagdad has witnessed various other sieges and re- 

 volutions. It was burnt and plundered by the fe- 

 rocious Timur (A. D. 1401), who erected a pyramid 

 of human heads on its ruins. In 1637, it incurred 

 the vengeance of Amurath IV., the Turkish sul- 

 tan : 300,000 troops encamped under its walls, and 

 by the incessant play of 200 pieces of artillery its 

 towers and ramparts were levelled with the ground. 

 The vaults and cellars were filled with the dead bo- 

 dies of those who had fled to these recesses for security. 

 The sobs and cries of 15,000 women and children were 

 drowned by the shouts of the enemy exulting over 

 the fallen Queen of the East; and the trembling 

 remnant is said to have owed their preservation to 

 the music of Shah Kali, whose touching strains are 

 alleged to have melted Amurath to tears of compas- 

 sion. Since that period the once illustrious city of 

 the Abbassides has been degraded to the seat of a 

 Turkish pashalic. In the present century it can 

 number 200,000 inhabitants. The rich merchants 

 and the beautiful princesses of the Arabian Tales 

 have all disappeared; but it retains the tomb of the 

 charming Zobeide, and can boast of its numerous 

 gardens and its well-stocked bazaars. The citizens 

 live in greater security than is usually enjoyed in 

 the East; and a European might fancy that the 

 shade of old Haroun al Raschid still preserves the 

 same admirable order which was formerly main- 

 tained among all classes by the terror of meeting 

 that redoubted caliph as he wandered the streets of 

 his capital in disguise. 



