1 4 A General and Concife HI flory Book liL 
pehdance upon them, alarmed the Shah in the Night, 
pretended that Minifter was coming to murder him, 
and obtained an Order to feize and put out his Eyes, and 
another Order for fecuring his Brother. Both thefe 
were executed *, and as foon as Mir Mahmud was in- 
formed of it, he refumsed his Defign, and entered Perfia 
a fecondTime with a much greater Army. 
This fecond jnvaiion was in the Month of January 
1722, and was not at firfc attended with Succefs. He 
was baffled in the Siege of Kirman, his Forces being no 
Way fit for Sieges \ but borrowing Courage from De- 
fpair, though many of his People returned home, he 
marched on towards Ifpahan. In his Pafiage he met 
and fought the Perftan Knvy^ and by the Difagreement 
between the Generals, defeated them, and afterwards 
laid Siege to the Capital •, which, however, he had ne- 
ver taken but for the Mifunderftandings in the Place, 
and the Intrigues he entered into with fome about the 
Shah, who at laft betrayed him into his Hands, in 
Confequence of a fcandalous Treaty, by which he 
agreed to refign the Empire to Mahmud^ and to give 
him his Daughter, which he performed, and by this 
Means that Captain of Banditti came to have the Title 
of Siiltan Mahomet^ Odt. 22, 1722. 
FIis ConduT, after this unaccountable Succefs, ap- 
peared very unequal j fometimes he behaved with fuch 
Moderation and Prudence, that he feemed to deferve 
all that he had acquired ; at others, he a< 5 ted Vv^ith fuch 
Fiercenefs and Barbarity, as difgraced the very Nation 
fromi whence he came but the Murders he committed, 
and more efpecially his inviting three hundred of the 
Perfian Nobility and Gentry to a Feaft, and then cut- 
ting their Throats, was fuch an Adt of Bafenefs and 
Cruelty, as ought for ever to ftigmatize his Charadfer, 
as the Refiedlion of it afterwards turned his Head. 
The Efcape of Mirza Sefi, the eldefl Son of Shah Huf~ 
fein^ increafed his Fury ; and on the 27th of January 
1725, he caufed moft of the Princes of the Royal 
Blood to be maffacred in his Prefence, except two In- 
fants the Sons of Shah Hujfein, whom that unfortunate 
Prince covered with his own Body, and had his Hand run 
through by parrying a Thruft made at them, before he 
could place them behind him *, which fo mollified the 
Heart of the Ufurper, that he fuffered them to live. 
Not long after this he was feized with a Leprofy, and 
his lucid Intervals grew fliorter and lefs perfedl ; upon 
which the Afghans fent for his Coufm Ajhruff^ whom 
he kept in Prifon at IJpahan for Confpiracy, and made 
him their Prince. 
He was the Son of that Uncle by cutting off whofe 
Head Mir Mahmud made himfelf Prince of Khandahar^ 
and in Return he ordered his Coufins to be cut off in 
the fame Manner, which put an End to a turbulent 
Reign of about two Years and a half. AJhruff, who 
vv'as now Matter of Ifpahan^ is laid to have put to 
Death a Son that Mahmud had by Shah HujfeiA<& Daugh- 
ter ^ but it is certain that he married another Daughter 
of h is himfelf, and treated the old Shah with much 
Lenity for fome Time, though afterwards he caufed 
him to be put to Death •, but when or where, the Ac- 
counts we have hitherto had from this Country, does 
not enable us to mention with Certainty. 
About the Time that the Afghans befieged Ifpahan^ 
it was refolved to fet up one of the young Princes as his 
Father’s Lieutenant-General. Mirza Se^ the eldefl of 
them, had been tried before, and after having been at 
the Head of a fmall Body of Troops for about a 
Month, he declared himfelf incapable of publick iVf- 
fairs, and retired again, of his own Accord, into the 
Haram. The fecond Prince had difobliged the Eunuchs, 
and they perfuaded the old Shah to confine him ; fo 
that it was now refolved, that his third Son Mirza Pha- 
mas fliould be fent out to make an Experiment of his 
Fortune. He marched accordingly at the Head of five 
hundred Men, and had the good Luck to make his 
Efcape. He fliowed fome Bravery, but very little 
Judgment ; for when he had got a few Troops about 
him, he differed with and even attacked the Prince of 
Georgia, the only Perfon from whom he could have 
expected any Affiftance. 
We have no very diflin£l Account of his A6lions 
while Mir Mahmud held the fupreme Power ; but it is 
certain that his Succeffor Su\iznA(hruff drove him intoM<2- 
zenderan, from whence, with fome Difficulty, he got 
into Khorafan, and there he took the Title of Shah on 
Account of his Father’s abdicating the Government. 
His Affairs wore a very indifferent Afpedt, till fuch 
Time as he placed Fatteh allah Khan Kajar at the Head 
of his Army, who brought his Concerns into fome Order. 
In 1726, he took Nadir Kuli, afterwards known to the 
World by the Name of Fhamas Kouli Kan, into his 
Service, who infinuated himfelf fo into his good Graces, 
that in the Spring of the Year 1728, he prevailed upon 
him to put his old General to Death, and to give him 
the foie Command. 
His Affairs were then in a very indifferent Situation, the 
Turks were Matters of all the Weftern Provinces, AJhruff 
and his Afghans were in Poffcffion of the Middle of the 
Empire, and the Abdollee Afghans had adlually invaded 
Khorafan, His whole Army con fitted only of twenty 
thoufand Men, with which Nadir Kali engaged and de- 
feated ihtAbdollees totally. This awakened the Atten- 
tion of Afhruff, who in September 1729, marched from 
Ifpahan in order to attack him. Nadir Kuli potted 
himfelf with fixteen thoufand Men in a very advanta- 
geous Camp, and there waited for Afghans, who 
attacked him with great Fury *, but, after an obftinate 
Difpute, were entirely routed. This raifed his Repu- 
tation highly, and as the greateft Reward the Shah could 
then give him, he beftowed his Name upon his Ge- 
neral, who thence forward was ttiled Thamas Kouli Kan. 
The Fame of this Viflory enabled him to increafe 
his Army foon after to forty thoufand Men, with which 
he defeated Afhruff a fecond Time ; and this fo much 
difpirited the Afghans, that they refolved to plunder, 
burn and abandon Ifpahan ; but the Shah did not give 
them Time to put this barbarous Defign in Execution, 
but marched with fuch Vivacity towards the Capital, 
that they were obliged to leave it with great Precipita- 
tion, in the Month of November 1730, This great 
Stroke, that in all outward Appearance feemed to fee 
him above the Reach of Fortune, was very foon fol- 
lowed by a Step that made Way for his Ruin. He 
thought that his General was flow in purfuing the Af- 
ghans, he therefore preffed him to ufe more Expedition. 
Upon this Kouli Kan told him roundly, that he was 
well informed of the Manner in which his Father’s Ge- 
nerals had been treated, that when they were in the 
Field, they were ill fupplied •, and that he was refolved 
to lay down his Command, unlefs he would give him 
the Power of raifing Money in what Manner he thought 
fit : To this, though with much Reludance, the Shah 
conlented j and, in Hopes of uniting his General more 
clofely to him, gave him his Aunt in Marriage. 
Kouli Kan then followed the Afghans to Shiras, tho* 
it was in the Depth of Winter, defeated them totally, 
took all their Baggage and Treafure, and Afhruff en- 
deavouring to make his Retreat towards Khandahar, 
was furprized by a Body of the Balluches, who cut him 
and the few Troops he had about him to Pieces. Shah 
Thamas then turn’d his Arms againft the Turks, but 
was unluckily defeated by Achmet Bafhaw, who foon af- 
ter his Viflory, offering reafonable Terms of Peace, 
the Shah accepted them. In the Month of Augufl, 
1732, Thamas Kouli Kan having fettled all the Eaftern 
Provinces of the Empire, returned to Ifpahan with an 
Army of fixty thoufand Men, and infilled upon break- 
ing the Peace with lh.t Turks to which the Shah ffiow- 
int’' lome Unwillingnefs, Kouli Kan foon after feized 
hir Perfon, and fent him Prifoner to Mazenderan. He 
next took his Son, though, a Child in his Cradle, and 
declared him Shah by the Title of Abbas the llld. 
By this Means having fecured the Tranquillity of 
Perfia for the prefent, he turned his Arms againft the 
Turks, whom in the Space of two Years, he defeated in 
various Battles, and at laft difpirited them to fuch a 
Degree, 
