€38 
from hence, that he was obftmate and cruel, and yet it is 
certain that no Prince was more under the Influence either 
of Women, or of Minifters, than he, as will very clearly 
appear. from the fubfequent Part of this Hiftory. 
It lias been already obferved, that he took up Arms 
againft his Father, and this Crime drew after it the Punifh- 
ment it deferved 5 for as the old Emperor Akebar , while 
his Son was under Difgrace with him upon this Account, 
often threatened to deprive him of the Succeffion, and to 
leave the Crown to his eldeft Son Sultan Khofrc, or, as it is 
commonly wrote, Cofrou , fo from the very Beginning of 
his Reign, that young Prince at leaft fecretly difputed his 
Right to the Crown, conceiving himfelf the lawful Empe- 
ror, and his Father no better than an Ufurper •, which 
Notion, whether well or ill founded, was the Source of 
thofe Troubles and Difturbances in the .Government, which 
laftecl for' near an hundred Years. Yet it does not appear, 
that the Emperor fhewed any great Jealoufy or Diflike to 
this Son, before fuch time as his Behaviour made it abfo- 
lutely necelfary for him to treat him with Severity ; and 
in all probability, the Reafon that Sultan Cofrou had fo 
many Friends in his Father’s Court, and was able to give 
him fo much Difturbance, proceeded from his own ill Ma- 
nagement, and efpecially from his applying himfelf too 
little to Affairs of State, and giving up too much of his 
Time to his Pleafures. Another great Error in the Con- 
duff: of Jeban Guire , was his fhewing a great Contempt 
for his Father’s Memory, and altering almoft every thing 
that he had done •, whereas Sultan Cofrou , on the other hand, 
ftuclied in every thing to follow the Eootfteps of his Grand- 
father, to fupport the Dignity of his Charadter, to maintain 
his Intereft with the great Omrahs and Rajahs at Court, and 
withal, to gain the Affections of the People. It is eafy to 
difeern from what has been faid, that how peaceable foever 
this Monarch’s Temper might be, his Reign could not but 
be liable to Troubles and Diffractions, as we ffiall fee 
it was. 
This Emperor removed the Imperial Seat from Agra to 
Labor , which lies four or five hundred Miles to the North 
in a more temperate Climate, and the fine Walk of Trees 
from one City to the other, which was begun by Akebar , 
was finiffied by this Prince ; he made alfo large Additions 
fo the City of Lohor , and built him an elegant conve- 
nient Palace, but not near fo magnificent as that of Agra. 
Here it was that the Emperor engaged in an Amour, 
which cccafioned him infinite Troubles during the Re- 
mainder of his Reign *, and though the Beginning of the 
Story have the Air of a Romance, yet as to the Sub- 
fiance of it, there is very little Reafon to entertain a 
Doubt, the Diffractions in the Royal Family, and the 
Wars that fucceeded amongft the Princes of the Blood, 
fufficientiy atteft the Truth of the principal Fa6ls. His 
Majefty it feems was walking on his Terras, under which 
runs a fine River, when he law a. Barge rowing under him, 
■wherein was a Lady of furprizing Beauty fitting under a 
Canopy. The Emperor let the Barge pafs by, but fent 
Immediately to enquire after her Name, and where her 
Refidence was. The Meffengers informed him that the 
Lady’s Name was Nour Mahal and .that fhe was mar- 
ried to an Officer who commanded five hundred Men in 
Ins Majefty’s Service ; whereupon the Emperor ordered rich 
Erefents to be made her, and that fhe Ihould be acquainted 
how much he was fmitten with her Beauty j but the Lady 
vowed inviolable Fidelity to her Hufband, and would not 
hear any Proposals- to his Difhonour. His Majefty, not 
being able to prevail with her to alter her Refolution, 
wrote to her Hufband to attend a certain General, and at 
die fame time fent to the General to put him to Death as 
loon as he faw him, which was. executed accordingly, but 
not fo fecretly but Nour Mahol heard of it, and would not 
be put off with Accounts the Emperor ordered to be di- 
vulged, that he was., killed by Accident. 
Book L 
When his Majefty therefore renewed his AddrefFes, and 
acquainted her there was now no Difficulty in the Wav, 
and that he deftreci no more than the niceit Virtue might 
comply with, to take her among the Number of his 
Wives, flie broke out into the bittereft Invefftives, and re- 
proached him with his Treachery and Cruelty. But the 
Time of her Widowhood being expired, and having had 
Leifure to vent her Grief, and rcfiefft on the advantageous 
Offers which were made her, his Majefty found her "more 
complying 5 and upon Condition that fne fiiould be the 
firft Queen, that herBrother fhouki be Prime Minifteiyandher 
Relations prefented to the higheft Polls, fne was contented 
to yield to the Embraces of her Huf band’s Murderer, 
The Emperor fojemnized his Marriage on the Arrival of 
the new Queen in his Palace, by a Feftival, which lafted 
eight Days •, and inftead of the Name of Nour Mahal , 
which fhe had before, he gave her that of Nour Jehan , or 
the Light of the World. 
But, notwithftanding one of the greatefl Emperors of 
the Eaft was captivated with her Charms, and the Em- 
pire was, for fome Time, governed by her Arts, her Pa- 
rentage was but mean ; and when fhe came from Perfia y 
the Place of her Birth, with her firft Hufband, he was 
no more than a Camel-Driver, though he afterwards ad- 
vanced his Fortune in the Mogul’s Service, and became 
a Commander of five hundred Men, as was obferved 
before. Within the Compafs of the firft Year after her 
Admiffion into the Hararn, or Seraglio, fhe difpatched 
five of the Ladies there, who were moft in the Empe- 
ror’s Favour, by Poifon. And fugh was her Influence 
over the Emperor himfelf, that fine engaged him to for- 
bear drinking, at leaft, beyond the Bounds' of Modera- 
tion, allowing him no more than nine Glaffes at a Sit- 
ting. She had no Children by the Emperor, and but 
one Daughter by her former Hufband ; and the great 
Gbjeff: therefore of her Policy was, to marry this Daugh- 
ter to one of the Emperor’s Sons, and then advance him 
to the Throne. Jehan Guire had four Sons by feveral 
Wives, the eldeft was born in the Life of his Granfather 
Akebar , and was ftiled Sultan Cofrou ; the fecond Sultan 
Parvis ; the third Sultan Chorrom 0 •, and the fourth Sul- 
tan Sbehriar. It was to Sultan Cofrou that Nour Jehan' 
intended to have married her Daughter, but this Prince, 
it feems, v/as prejudiced againft her already, on account 
of the Influence fhe had over his Father ; and another Qb- 
ftacle was, his having married a Daughter of one of the 
great Rajahs , of whom he was paffionately fond, where- 
upon he flighted the Propofal. The Sultanefs offered her 
Daughter to Sbehriar, the youngeft Son, Sultan Chorrom 
being already married to her Niece, the Daughter of Afaph 
Khan. His Brother Sbehriar was pleafed with the Match, 
as the moft likely Means to advance him to the Throne 
after the Death of his Father. And the Marriage was no 
fooner celebrated, but the three elder Brothers were ap- 
pointed to diftant Governments. Sultan Chorrom was 
fent to Decan , Sultan Parvis to Bengal , and Sultan Cofrou , 
the eldeft, was defigned for Guzerat. ‘ 
But, inftead of going to that Command, he affembied 
a Body of Troops to fecure his Succeffion to the Crown, 
which he apprehended to be his Right, even at this In- 
ftant, for he was bred up in a Belief that his Grandfather 
Akebar had appointed him his immediate Succeffor ; and 
though he was content his Father fiiould enjoy the Crown 
before him, he could not bear to fee his youngeft Brother 
the Favourite at Court, and with his Mother-in-law the 
Sultanefs, taking fuch Steps as muft infallibly exclude him. 
If this did not juftify it, at leaft it excufed his Conduct, 
and brought many to fide with him ; but there were others 
who were not caught, even with this plaufible Pretence, 
and, amongft them, the very beft Friend the young Prince 
had in the World. 
The HISTO R Y of the 
f f Te Text I have followed the ufual Way of Spelling,, becaufe by that this Lady is well known to us from Mr. Dryden's Play of the Great' 
Pogul , but her Name more accurately expreffed was Rour-Mabl, which lignifles the Light of the Haram, or Seraglio ; and therein confifts the Com- 
P‘ eu Q nt J. N ^ rn P ei T’ s changing her Name to Nour Jehan , in which there is a double Entendre, fince it fignified at once the Light of the Emperor , 
and thzLigotx of the World. She was not only the handfomeft Woman in the Indies, but a great Wit alfo, and had a fine Vein in Poetry. In a 
wood, fhe was the moft accomplifhed of her Sex, and if flie had not had too many of their Vices, would have made a very fhining Figure in Hiftory. 
Inere are compleat Memoirs of her amorous and political Intrigues under the Title of Macir Jehanguiry. 
I pi °per .Name of this Son of the Emperor was Saltan Khourm, i. e. the P rinse of ‘Joy. He was born in the Tear 1 592, and was the Soil 
an bid l an Irffcefs, the Daughter of Rajah Qudefmg •> and though he was the third Son of the Emperor, vet fucceeded his Father, and his Fa- 
mily* are Kill poffefled of the Throne of Indopin. 
This- 
5 
