LIVES 
OF THE 
MOGHUL EMPERORS. 
TIMUR BEG. 
CHAPTER I. 
a.d. 1336 — 1354. 
Perhaps there is no character in history which has 
been represented under such various aspects of high 
moral excellence, and of extreme moral deformity, as 
that of Timur Beg, Emperor of the Moghuls, more com- 
monly known to European readers under the name of 
Tamerlane. It is a difficult thing to trace the true 
lineaments of eminent persons of remote ages in the 
pictures given by historians ; as all who have distin- 
guished themselves by the splendour of their achieve- 
ments have their detractors as well as their admirers; 
it is consequently no easy matter to reach the naked 
truth between the wilful misrepresentations of the one 
and the exaggerated eulogies of the other. There is 
one tolerably sure guide, however, — the actions of men 
are an infallible test where these are brought before us 
in their severe and undisguised reality; but even here 
there are the glosses of friends and the warpings of 
enemies to be removed, before we can contemplate the 
B 
