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dewan khass, consisting of three large rooms, surmounted by domes 

 of white marble, are lined with the same, and ornamented with 

 beautiful borders of flowers, worked with cornelians, and other 

 stones." 



During the splendid reigns of the imperial house of Timur, 

 we behold despotism in rather an engaging form; in cultivating 

 the arts of peace, she assumes her mildest aspect; yet absolute 

 power, in its best estate, must be attended with many unhappy 

 consequences. A prince, who wishes to rule with clemency, rarely 

 has it in his power. Shortly after the royal diadem adorns his 

 brow, some confederacy is formed against him, by sons, brothers, 

 or near relations, and he thinks himself under the necessity of 

 putting them to death, or depriving them of sight, to prevent his 

 own destruction from a successor who is too soon to feel the 

 thorns so thickly intermingled with the roses of royalty. 



These horrid crimes cast a gloom over oriental annals ; history 

 paints the way to the musnud through a sea of blood; yet, after 

 being firmly established, the Mogul princes in general governed 

 well. No monarch ever ascended a more sanguinary throne than 

 Aurungzebe; we start with horror at the treatment of his aged 

 father, and the cruel fate of his wretched brothers; but when 

 these obstacles were removed, few sovereigns have displayed (ex- 

 cept in his bigotted persecution of the Hindoos) more justice and 

 clemency than Aurungzebe, during a long reign of fifty years: 

 many parts of his character form a pattern for sovereigns in milder 

 governments. But since the usurpations in the empire, the inva- 

 sion of Nadir Shah, and the conquests of the Mahrattas, which 



