BAJAZET I., sultan of the Turks, a renowned warrior but a tyrant, was conquered by Tamerlane, and exposed by him in an iron cage; the fate he had destined (it is said) for his adversary if he had been the victor.

The iron cage, however, so long and so often repeated as a moral lesson, has been rejected as a fable by modern writers, who smile at the vulgar credulity. They appeal to the Persian history of Sherefeddin Ali, of which a French version has been given, and from which Mr Gibbon has collected the following more specious narrative of this memorable transaction. "No sooner was Timour informed that the captive Ottoman was at the door of his tent, than he graciously stepped forwards to receive him, seated him by his side, and mingled with just reproaches a soothing pity for his rank and misfortune. 'Alas!' (said the emperor), the decree of fate is now accomplished by your own fault: it is the web which you have woven, the thorns of the tree which yourself have planted. I wished to spare, and even to affix, the champion of the Molems; you braved our threats, you despised our friend- Bajazet, ship; you forced us to enter your kingdom with our invincible armies. Behold the event. Had you vanquished, I am not ignorant of the fate which you reserved for myself and my troops. But I diddian to retaliate: your life and honour are secure; and I shall express my gratitude to God by my clemency to man." The royal captive showed some signs of repentance, accepted the humiliation of a robe of honour, and embraced with tears his son Moufa, who, at his request, was sought and found among the captives of the field.

The Ottoman princes were lodged in a splendid pavilion; and the respect of the guards could be surpassed only by their vigilance. On the arrival of the haram from Bourfa, Timour restored the queen Despina and her daughter to their father and husband; but he privately requested, that the Servian princes, who had hitherto been indulged in the profession of Chritianity, should embrace without delay the religion of the prophet. In the feast of victory, to which Bajazet was invited, the Mogul emperor placed a crown on his head and a sceptre in his hand, with a solemn assurance of restoring him with an increase of glory to the throne of his ancestors. But the effect of this promise was disappointed by the sultan's untimely death; amidst the care of the most skilful physicians, he expired of an apoplexy at Akkhehr, the Antioch of Piidria, about nine months after his defeat. The victor dropped a tear over his grave; his body, with royal pomp, was conveyed to the mausoleum which he had erected at Bourfa; and his son Moufa, after receiving a rich present of gold and jewels, of horses and arms, was invested by a patent in red ink with the kingdom of Anatolia.

"Such is the portrait of a generous conqueror, which has been extracted from his own memoirs, and dedicated to his son and grandson, 19 years after his decease; and, at a time when the truth was remembered by thousands, a manifest falsehood would have implied a satire on his real conduct. On the other hand, of the harsh and ignominious treatment of Bajazet there is also a variety of evidence. The Turkish annals in particular, which have been consulted or transcribed by Leucavius, Pocock, and Cantemir, unanimously deplore the captivity of the iron cage; and some credit may be allowed to national historians, who cannot stigmatize the Tartar without uncovering the shame of their king and country." From these opposite premises, Mr Gibbon thinks a fair and moderate conclusion may be deduced. He is satisfied that Sherefeddin Ali has faithfully described the first oftentimes interview, in which the conqueror, whose spirits were harmonized by success, affected the character of generosity. But his mind was insensibly alienated by the unfeigned arrogance of Bajazet; the complaints of his enemies, the Anatolian princes, were just and vehement; and Timour betrayed a design of leading his royal captive in triumph to Samarcand. An attempt to facilitate his escape by digging a mine under the tent, provoked the Mogul emperor to impose a harsher restraint; and in his perpetual marches, an iron cage on a waggon might be invented, not as a wanton insult, but as a rigorous precaution. Timour had read in some fabulous history a similar treatment of one of his predecessors, a king of Peria; and Bajazet was condemned to represent the person and expiate the guilt of the Roman Caesar. But the strength of his mind and body fainted under the trial, and his premature death might without injustice be ascribed to the severity of Timour. He warred not, however, with the dead; a tear and a sepulchre were all that he could bestow on a captive who was delivered from his power; and if Moufa, the son of Bajazet, was permitted to reign over the ruins of Bourfa, the greatest part of the province of Anatolia had been restored by the conqueror to their lawful sovereigns.