Page:A Comprehensive History of India Vol 1.djvu/147

 Chap. V.]

BABER'S CHARACTEIL

113

Tomb of Kmperor Babkr— From Atkinson's SketcJies in Afghauittiin.

I

King of Bengal barely saved liis independence by submitting to an ignominious to be fu"mly establislied.
 * )eace. The throne of the Great Mogul was thus not only set up, but seemed

The love of natm-e, which Baber retained in all its freshness to the very last, and of which many touching instances are re- corded by him- self, a[)peared in his selection of a final resting- place. It was in the vicinity of Cabool, on the banks of a clear running stream, at the foot of a liill commanding a noble prospect.

There his tomb still stands, and in front of it a small but chaste mosque ol' white marble. His character is best learned from his Memoirs or A ufo- hiography, in which his oi)inions and feelings are candidly expressed, and a full insijxht is <jiven into the conduct both of the monarch and the num. Few lives so full of vicissitudes and temptations would bear to be so minutely investigated, and sulfer so little from the investigation. Take him all in all,

in his varied and seldom combined capacities as a writer, a soldier, and a ruler, it nuist be admitted that his proper place is among the greatest men whom the Eiist has j)roduced. It is almo.st needless to .say that both his public and his private life exhibit blemishes. Among those of the former description may be mentioned his folly in sqiiandering the treasiu'e found in Delhi ; and among those of the latter, his bacchanalian habits, which he is said not to have aban- doned till they had made serious inroads on his constitution.

Baber left four son.s. The second, Kannan. who at the time of his father's

' Tlie sm.-iU but very ole^'aiit white niaiUle iiios<|Uc | Rliali Jehai), in l.onour of liis great ancestor. — Vigne's at tlio tomb of Sultan Baber, was built in KMO, by I Vi^il to Ghuziii.

Vot,. I. 15

A.n. I. wo.

nabei'situt.i- biogiai>hy.

WuiTi- Marble Mosque at tlie Tomb of Kmperor naber ■

From Vtum'i Vi.-it to (ihuzin.