OF NADIR SHAH, ScC. 631 



which takes as its foundation, the actual state of the 

 community in which such characters were born, ths 

 means which they possessed, and the actions wh ch 

 they achieved ; and, on this fair and just ground, pro- 

 nounces with truth and discernment, on the liuht they 

 had, from their quahties and achievements, to that prc- 

 -eminence which they attained. 



Ip such an author were to write the history of 

 Nadir Shah, he would probably see something more 

 than a mere usurper and tyrant in the man, who, born 

 in a low rank of Hfe, at a period when his country was 

 overrun by foreign invaders, raised himself by the force 

 of his own genius and courage to the highest ii-ilirary 

 rank ; attacked, defeated, and expelled every enemy 

 from Persia ; and afterwards, with the universal con- 

 sent of his countrymen, seized the sceptre which his 

 valor had saved, and which a weaker hand could not 

 have wielded. Such an historian, after dwelling with 

 pleasure if not enthusiasm, on the early events of his 

 life, would accompany Nadir with satisfaction in his 

 war upon those barbarous Afghan tribes, who for a 

 series of years had committed the most horrid ravages 

 in Persia ; and thouoh it would be iiDpossible to corn- 

 mend the motives tiiat led that monarch to attack the 

 Emperor of ///JA/, the extraordinary valour and conduct 

 which he displays in that enterprise, the exercise he 

 gave by it to that military spirit which he had with such 

 difficulty rekindled among his coimtrymen, and tlie 

 magnanimity with which he restored. the crown (^which 

 he had conquered) to the weak representative of the 

 illustrious house of Tiniur, might, without otfencc to 

 truth, be stated by such a writer in mitigation of that 

 insatiable desire of glory which prompted the enter-- 

 prise, and of tiiosc excesses by which it was attended. 



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