the next, in right of primogeniture, succeeded under the title of Jehanguire.

Jehanguire reigned about 22 years. Under him, the conquest of the Deccan was not lost sight of, though but faintly pursued. War was made on the Rajpoots, and the Rana, or chief prince, brought to terms. The rebellions of the emperor's son, Shah Jehan, embittered the latter part of his reign; and the influence of his mistrefs, Noor Jean, rendered his councils weak, and constrained his government. However, the provinces having been held together for near 70 years, the empire had acquired a degree of consolidation; and was not so liable to be shaken, as it would have been at some former periods, under the operation of similar events. It was in this reign, and in the year 1615, that Sir Thomas Roe was sent as the first English ambassador to the Emperor of Hindoostan. The Portuguese had by this time acquired considerable settlements in Bengal and Guzerat; but only those in Guzerat, where they also pofsefsed some extent of territory, attracted the notice of the court: and it is curious to observe what the author of the Ayin Acbaree says of them, about the year 1560. Speaking of the lands of Guzerat, he says, "By the neglect of the king's governors, several of these districts are in the hands of Europeans." Ferishta, also, speaking of the site of an ancient Hindoo temple, near Diu, says that it was situated in the districts that were subject to the " Idolaters of Europe.”

Shah Jehan succeeded his father in 1628. The conquest of the Deccan was pursued with more vigour in this reign: and the plunders and devastations perpetrated there, occasioned most, or all of its princes to make submission, and acknowledge the emperor, lord paramount. Golconda was in part, actually taken possession of: but Visiapour and the Carnatic, together with the region of the Gauts, remained in the hands of their ancient pofsefsors.

Candahar, a fortress situated on the common boundary of Persia, and of the Mogul provinces beyond the Indus, was, at this time,

a subject of contention between the two monarchs of Persia and Hindoostan. The first serious quarrel between the Europeans (Portuguese) and Moguls, happened during this reign, 1633: when the Portuguese were expelled from Hoogly, on the Ganges. In 1658, the civil wars commenced between the emperor and his sons; as well as between the sons themselves: which ended in the elevation of Aurungzebe (the third in descent), after he had deposed his father, and murdered or expelled his brethren. The account of these transactions may be seen at large in Bernier and Dow; and is a very curious piece of history. In 1660, Aurungzebe (who took the name or title of Allumgire, and was the first of that name) was in peaceable possession of the throne: and from that period, until the year 1678, there prevailed, throughout Hindoostan in general, the most profound peace that had ever, perhaps, been known: but the remainder of the Deccan was still a desideratum; and Aurungzebe disdained to have any other boundary on the south, than the ocean. Accordingly, the conquest of the remote part of the Deccan employed a very considerable part of his leisure during the latter part of his reign: when the whole of that region, together with the peninsula, a few mountainous and inaccessible tracts only excepted, were either entirely subjected, or rendered tributary to the throne of Delhi. What might appear to Aurungzebe to render this step of subduing the Deccan necessary, was the determined spirit and growing power of Sevajee, the founder of the Mahratta state; who, by his conquests in Visiapour, appeared almost in the character of a rival to Aurungzebe.

A rebellion of the Patans beyond the Indus, in 1678, called for the presence of Aurungzebe there; which was no sooner quelled, than his persecution of the Hindoos stirred up the Rajpoot tribes in Agimere. He undertook this war also in person: but was hemmed in, with his whole army, between the mountains, and the emprefs herself was taken prisoner: she was afterwards, however,

permitted to escape, as well as the emperor. This did not discourage him from carrying the war into the Rajpoot country again, in 1681: when he took and destroyed Cheitore, the famous capital of the Rana; as well as all the objects of Hindoo worship found there. The spirits of these gallant people were, however, still unsubdued; and Aurungzebe was necefsitated to grant them a peace.**

Sevajee died in 1680, and left his rising state of Mahrattas to his son Sambajee; who was afterwards betrayed into the hands of Aurungzebe, and barbarously put to death. Still, however, the mountainous parts of Baglana were unsubdued; and although the kingdom of Visiapour was reduced in 1686, and Golconda in the following year, yet he found great difficulty in prosecuting his conquests on the west; as appears by his camp being fixed on the Kistnah river, about 200 miles to the north-eastward of Goa, in 1695: I say, appears; for we have at present no regular history of any later period than the 10th year of Aurungzebe; that is, to the year 1670, when Mr. Dow's history finishes: all the events that are subsequent to this date, are from other authorities.

It is said that Aurungzebe was employed in the Deccan from the year 1678, to the time of his death; and was actually in the field during the greatest part of the last 15 years of his life. This dereliction of his original empire and capital for nearly 30 years, occasioned various disorders in them, and laid the foundation of many more: among others, the second rebellion of the Rajpoots in Agimere; that of the Patans towards the Indus; and of the Jats, or Jates, in the province of Agra. This was the first time that the Jats appeared, otherwise than as banditti; since which, they

The reader may find in the 49th note to Mr. Orme's Historical Fragments of the Mogul Empire, a letter written by Jeswont Sing, Rajah of Joudypour, to Aurungzebe, expostulating with him on the unjust measures he was pursuing, with respect to the Hindoos. This letter breathes the most perfect spirit of philanthropy, and of toleration in matters of religion: together with the most determined resolution to oppose the meditated attack on the civil and religious rights of the Hindoos. The elegant translation of this letter was made by Sir Charles Boughton Rouse.

grew up to be a considerable state: and at one time were of some consideration in the politics of upper Hindoostan.

Aurungzebe died in 1707, in the goth year of his age, at Amednagur, in the Deccan; which he had fixed on for his residence when in winter quarters. Under his reign the empire attained its full measure of extent. His authority reached from the 10th to the 35th degree of latitude; and nearly as much in longitude: and his revenue exceeded 32 millions of pounds sterling, in a country where the products of the earth are about four times as cheap as in England. But so weighty a sceptre could only be wielded by a hand like Aurungzebe's: and we accordingly find, that in a course of 50 years after his death, a succefsion of weak princes and wicked ministers, reduced this astonishing empire to nothing.

Aurungzebe obviously foresaw the contests that would arise between his sons for the empire; and it has therefore been afserted, that he made a partition of it among them. This account, however, is not warranted by the memoirs of a nobleman of Aurungzebe's court, lately published in this country,* nor by the best living authorities that I have been able to consult. Two letters, written by Aurungzebe, to two of his sons, a few days before his death, indicate no intention of dividing the empire; but express in doubtful terms, his apprehensions of a civil war. He left behind ተ him four sons: Mauzum, afterwards emperor, under the title of

Memoirs of Eradut Khan, translated from the Persian by Capt. J. Scott, 1786. This valuable fragment of Mogul history, contains an account of the revolutions that happened in the Mogul empire, from the death of Aurungzebe in 1707, to the accefsion of Feroksere, in 1712. It contains much curious matter; and fully developes the political character of a Mogul courtier.

These letters are preserved in one of the notes to the above work (page 8), and furnish this striking lesson to frail mortality; that, however men may forget themselves, during the tide of prosperity, a day of RECOLLECTION will inevitably come, sooner or later. Here we are presented with the dying confefsion of an aged monarch, who made his way to the throne by the murder of his brethren, and the imprisonment of his father: and who, after being in peaceable possession of it, persecuted the most inoffensive part of his subjects, either through bigotry or hypocrisy. Here we behold him in the act of resigning THAT, to obtain pofsession of which, he incurred his guilt; and presented to us a mere sinful man, trembling on the verge of eternity; equally deploring the past, and dreading the future. How awful must his situation appear to him, when he says, "Wherever I look, I see nothing but

the DIVINITY."

Bahader Shah; Azem, and Kaum Buksh, who severally contested the empire with their elder brother; and Acbar, who 30 years before had been engaged in rebellion, and fled to Persia. The death of their father, was the signal of hostility between Mauzum and Azem; the former approached from Cabul, and the latter from the Deccan, and disputed the possession of the whole empire (for Azem had proposed a partition of it) with armies of about 300,000 men each. Near Agra it was decided by a battle, and the death of Azem; and Mauzum took the title of Bahader Shah. His title, before his accefsion, was Shah Aulum; by which name he is constantly mentioned in the Memoirs of Eradut Khan.

Bahader Shah reigned about five years, and was a prince of considerable ability, and great attention to business: but the convulsions with which his elevation had been attended (notwithstanding his pretensions, as eldest son of the late emperor), added to the various disorders that had taken root during Aurungzebe's long absence in the Deccan, had reduced the government to such a state of weakness, as required not only the exertion of the best talents, but also much time, to restore. The rebellion of his brother Kaum Buksh, soon after his accefsion, called him into the Deccan; and this being quelled by the death of Kaum Buksh, and the total dispersion of his followers, he wisely quitted this scene of his father's mistaken ambition; although the Deccan was far from being in a settled state. He had in contemplation to reduce the Rajpoot princes of Agimere, who had formed a very strong confederacy, to which the long absence of Aurungzebe had been too favourable; and they appeared to act with much confidence and security. However, an evil of a more prefsing nature drew the emperor's attention to another quarter. The Seiks, a new sect of religionists, appeared in arms in the Lahore province; and ravaged the whole country from thence to the banks of the Jumnah river. The Seiks had silently established themselves along the foot of the eastern mountains, during the reign of Shah Jehan. They differ from