128 
LIVES OF THE MOGHUL EMPERORS. 
he abandoned them to the evils which his invasion 
had aggravated or caused, nor were those evils com- 
pensated by any present or possible benefits. Thirdly : 
The kingdoms of Transoxiana and Persia were the 
proper field which he laboured to cultivate and adorn, 
as the perpetual inheritance of his family. But his 
peaceful labours were often interrupted, and some- 
times blasted, by the absence of the conqueror. While 
he triumphed on the Volga, or the Ganges, his ser- 
vants, and even his sons, forgot their master and 
their duty. The public and private injuries were 
poorly redressed by the tardy rigour of inquiry and 
punishment, and we must be content to praise the 
Institutions of Timour as the specious idea of a per- 
fect monarchy. Fourthly : Whatsoever might be the 
blessings of his administration, they evaporated with 
his life. To reign, rather than to govern, was the 
ambition of his children and grandchildren, — the ene- 
mies of each other, and of the people. A fragment 
of the empire was upheld with some glory by his 
youngest son ; but, after his decease, the scene was 
again involved in darkness and blood; and before 
the end of a century, Transoxiana and Persia were 
trampled by the Uzbeks from the North, and the 
Turkmans of the black and white sheep. The race of 
Timour would have been extinct, if a hero, his de- 
scendant in the fifth degree, had not fled before the 
Uzbek arms to the conquest of Hindostan. His suc- 
cessors, the Great Moguls, extended their sway from 
the mountains of Cashmir to Cape Comorin, and 
from Candahar to the Gulf of Bengal. Since the reign 
