father to renounce Mahomedanism. In regard to his son's conduct, Akbur displayed his usual consideration and fine temper. Had he proceeded against him in person, or dispatched an army to Oude, there can be little doubt that a civil war would have commenced, and with it the scenes of the Afghan monarchies would have been renewed. Instead of this, the emperor wrote a kindly and impressive remonstrance, at the same time offering his son reconciliation and forgiveness if he would return. The prince seems to have hesitated at first, and even collected troops, with which he advanced towards his father's camp; but being requested to come slightly attended, returned to Allahabad; and it was during this interval of indecision, that he directed the assassination of the minister. The emperor, however, still pursued his policy of reconciliation. He conferred Bengal and Orissa on his son, and sent to him one of his queens, who, on the death of his own mother, had adopted him; and it was probably owing to her good offices that the prince returned to his father's court and made his submission. After a while, he was requested to resume his campaign against Oodypoor; but his conduct continued to be so far from satisfactory, that he was directed to return to Allahabad. The prince had been long addicted to drinking profusely; and this vice increased upon him so rapidly and materially, that not only may much of his wild and rebellious conduct be attributed to it, but the cruelties he now practised, which, to his humane father, were peculiarly abhorrent. Remonstrance was of no avail; but the emperor's affection could not be restrained, and had in the end some effect upon his son, who repaired to Agra, and for a time submitted to restraint. Here his sons Khoosroo and Khurram quarrelled, both being still boys, and separate parties were formed for each; thus the condition of the imperial family was productive of many sad anticipations for the future. In the midst of these trying scenes, the news of the death of the Prince Daniel reached the emperor, and the grief he felt seems to have stricken him down. Daniel was perhaps his favourite son, and was possessed of much real ability; but the vice he was addicted to, though it had produced no bad effect like that of his brother, was even more ineradicable; and in regard to any reformation, as was proved by his sudden and untimely death, the emperor's continuous remonstrances, and the prince's oaths to his father, were alike useless. From the time he heard of the event, the emperor, it may be said, never completely rallied, nor was the conduct of Akbur's illthose around him calculated to soothe his last days; ness comfor there was, for a time, every prospect of a contest between the Prince Selim and his sons for the throne. In Sep mences. T tember 1605 Akbur grew worse. Finding his end approaching, and true to his promises to his son Selim, he assembled the nobles of his court to hear his dying declaration that he was to succeed him. Mr. Elphinstone, from Price's 'Memoirs of Jehángeer,' thus describes the final scene. 'When they were assembled, he (the emperor) made a suitable address to them, and after wistfully regarding them all round, he desired them to forgive any offences of which he might have been guilty towards any of them. Selim now threw himself at his feet, and burst into a passion of tears; but Akbur pointed to his favourite scimitar, and made signs to his son to bind it on in his presence. He seems afterwards to have recovered from this exhaustion; he addressed himself to Selim, and earnestly conjured him to look to the comfort of the ladies of his family, and not to forget or forsake his old friends and dependants. After this he permitted one of the chief Moollahs, who was a personal friend of Selim's, to be brought to him, and in his presence he repeated the confession of faith, and died in all the forms of a good Mussulman (Hist.' vol. ii. book ix. p. 276). The event occurred at Agra, on October 13, 1605. The emperor was born on October 14, 1542, and had thus completed his sixty-third year, all but a day. Of that period he had reigned, in all the success and glory which * have been detailed, for fifty-one years and some months. He was buried in a splendid mausoleum, near Agra, erected by his son Selim, who, as the Emperor Jehángeer, succeeded him, which is well described by Bishop Heber in his 'Travels,' and is still perfect. Death of the CHAPTER XI. OF THE CHARACTER AND ADMINISTRATION OF AKBUR. BUT little romance has ever attached itself to the characters of Indian history and in this respect the difference between the actions of the Moors of Spain, and the early Mahomedans of India, is very remarkable. During the cruel and gloomy reigns, with few exceptions, of the Afghan dynasties of India, there was little scope for romantic incident, or the development of any free or chivalrous spirit among the people; and it is to the research of Colonel Tod, the Froissart of the Rajpoot clans and States, that the history of all that existed among them, exceptional as it was, is due. The Mahomedans of the same period may be considered too cruel and too savage to allow of the existence of any chivalry. Where they predominated, whatever had hitherto existed was crushed out; their conquests were massacres of the people, or captures of them for sale into slavery. Any idea of equality or sympathy with Hindoos and infidels was utterly foreign to their morose and gloomy fanaticism; and consequently there was no birth of that free social intercourse and mutual respect which sprang up afterwards under Shere Khan Soor, and was perfected by Akbur. This, in some respects, may be compared to the relative situation of the Moors and Christians of Spain; hereditary enemies and religious opponents, yet becoming fused together, as it were, under the influence of a common and beneficent civilisation. In Akbur's character, romance prevails from the earliest dawn of its development, through its constant exercise, down to his last sad moments in the forgiveness of his son's rebellion. In his wars, in his hunting exploits and expeditions, in his State policy, in the generous and tolerant spirit of his religious principles, and their application to the necessities of the varied classes of his people-instances are so numerous, that nothing short of an entire biography would suffice to exemplify them. Romance may be of two kinds: healthy and vigorous; or, on the other hand, mawkish and sentimental; devoted to public benefits, or confined to private gratifications. In Akbur, it was emphatically the former. It made him humane and merciful in conquest, just and considerate; yet, in all cases, firm and decided in action; and while he permitted no scope for the exercise of national fanaticism, he yet secured the high respect, and often the affection, of his opponents. In former times, the rulers of conquered States in India were either trampled to death by elephants, hewn to pieces, or blinded and consigned to State prisons for life; and there were occasions in Akbur's reign when similar courses would have been applauded by his countrymen and courtiers. Yet they were never followed; and when a foe submitted, he was, in the highest spirit of romance, promoted to dignity, and provided with estates, while very rarely was there any instance of subsequent defection. As one of the first instances of this generous spirit, the case of Báz Bahadur may be stated, who, an usurper of the throne of Malwah himself, and a military adventurer, had no claim but that of his sword to that portion of the imperial dominions. Indolent and voluptuous, he fought badly at first; but he redeemed his character as a soldier, and in the second campaign against him, slew the young emperor's preceptor and friend, and hunted his army nearly to Agra. Continuing afterwards a predatory life, he became unable to bear its privations, and at last threw himself on the emperor's mercy. By any former sovereign of India, his conduct would have provoked, if it did not deserve, instant execution; but Akbur respected the man who had fought bravely for his territory, and of whose prowess in love and war romantic tales were in the mouths of singers and minstrels; and he was not only forgiven, but raised to the highest rank of local nobility. It was the same with all other cases of which accounts can be found in his history or his memoirs. It might even be supposed he had modelled his conduct upon the laws of Menu in regard to kingcraft. When a rajah has conquered a country,' writes Menu, 'he should respect the deities which are worshipped . . . distribute largesses. . . and reassure the people by loud proclamations. . . . He should respect the laws of the country: or he may form an alliance with the rajah whom he has conquered, and act in union with him... by securing a firm ally, a rajah obtains greater strength than by gaining wealth and territory.' Yet, though the emperor's acquaintance with Hindoo moral codes, from Feizi's translations, may have influenced his decision in later times, his earlier instances of generosity proceeded from the spontaneous romance of his character. When the captive Hémoo was brought before him after the battle of Paniput, and he was asked to slay him, he burst into tears, and refused to strike a wounded and helpless enemy. In this case, too, the difference between the old merciless cruelty, and the new tolerance that was to follow, was exemplified in a marked degree. As Akbur wept, Beiram Khan, his uncle and general, struck the 'infidel's' head from his body. Had Akbur obeyed his uncle's desire, the bloody act might have influenced his whole life. This gentleness, the truest test of chivalrous valour, followed Akbur through his life. With a rare perception of its value, both to himself and to his posterity, he forbade, under heavy penalties, the practice of making slaves of persons captured in war, or selling captives as slaves. In former times, while thousands of male Hindoo prisoners were massacred in cold blood, women and children were openly sold into slavery. They were not only sold in India, but dispatched to foreign markets—Arabia, Afghanistan, and Central Asia; but this was now rendered impossible. In regard to the practices of Hindoos also, Akbur's perceptions for the necessity of reform were very deep; yet he did not carry them out with any show of fanatical zeal-they were reforms, not persecutions. He prohibited suttee, except when the act should be entirely voluntary, and on one occasion rode a long distance to prevent the sacrifice of a princely Rajpoot lady, by her family. He allowed, and even provided for, the re-marriage of Hindoo widows; made trial by ordeal a crime; prohibited the sacrifice of living animals, and forbade marriage before the age of puberty. All these were serious innovations upon Hindoo faith and usage, and might have been considered dangerous experiments by another; but Akbur knew no fear: his designs were benevolent, and in the ordinary practices of their religion, the Hindoos were not only unmolested, but all previous restrictions, in the taxation of temples and places of pilgrimage, of sacred bathing-places, with the odious capitation tax, were removed. Considering the emperor's toleration of 'infidels,' his refusals of fanatical persecution, his abolition of slavery and of the poll-tax, his non-interference with temples; his protection of his Hindoo subjects, their priests and wealth-all the opposite of which had been avowed, and heretofore jealously maintained, as tokens of Mahomedan supremacy; and considering also his own unconcealed doubts upon many points of Mahomedan faith, and law as part of that faith; his rejection of any religious opinion promulgated by man, as an article of faith; his rejection of Mahomedan forms of prayer and ceremonial; his encouragement of Christians, his veneration for Christian symbols, his reverence for the sacred Scriptures, and his permission for the establishment of Christian schools, missions, and colleges-it is only wonderful how he escaped, or repressed, solely by his indomitable will, any outbreak of intolerant zeal, to which he would probably have been the first victim. If Mahomedans hated Hindoos, they hated Christians even more; yet the emperor's patient and constant discussion of points of faith with them, and his encouragement of theological controversies between the Christian and Mahomedan priests, were regarded by his powerful nobles, priests, and courtiers without remonstrance. It is easy to perceive how deeply Akbur's religious tolerance affected his State policy. He had induced the proudest and most exclusive of the hitherto inaccessible Rajpoot chiefs to bestow daughters in marriage upon himself, his sons, and his grandsons. He employed Rajpoot princes as generals and civil administrators, and his great finance minister, Rajah Toder Mul, brought, by his measures of reform, thousands of Hindoos into the imperial service. They shared the details of all ordinary business with Mahomedans; were collectors, treasurers, surveyors, assessors, everything indeed but judges; for their administration of Mahomedan law would have been impossible. Hindoos, however, enjoyed the protection of their own laws, which were now recognised and explained in the courts of the Mahomedan judges. When all these reforms are considered, it becomes difficult to realise how they not only emanated from, but were carried out in all their details by, one mind; and that too under frequent interruptions by war, and other political events. One material circumstance, how |