ty to so great a degree that recruits from every part of Persia
hastened to join his standard; and in less than three months after this
action Nadir descended again into the plains of Bagdad with an army more
numerous than before.

His brave antagonist, Topal Osman, had jealous rivals at the court of
Constantinople; and these, alarmed at the great fame he had acquired,
not only prevented, by their intrigues, his being reenforced with men,
but, by withholding the supplies of money that were necessary to pay his
troops, compelled him to separate his force. He, nevertheless, made the
greatest efforts to oppose this second invasion of Nadir. He sent a
corps of cavalry to arrest the progress of the Persians; but the latter,
eager for revenge, made such a sudden and furious attack on this body
that they completely routed it. On hearing this intelligence, the
Turkish general advanced with all the troops he had been able to draw
together to his support; but his own army partook of the panic of their
flying comrades. Topal Osman endeavored in vain to rally them. He was
himself so infirm that he always rode in a litter. His attendants, in
the hope that he might escape, lifted him, when the flight became
general, upon a horse; but his rich dress attracted the eye of a Persian
soldier, who pierced him with his lance, and then, separating his head
from his body, carried it to his commander. We are pleased to find that
Nadir respected the remains of his former conqueror. His head and corpse
were sent by an officer of rank to the Turkish army, that they might
receive those honorable rites of sepulture which in all nations are
considered due to a great and valiant soldier.

After the death of Topal Osman and the defeat of his army Nadir
proceeded to invest Bagdad; but being alarmed at the account of a
serious revolt in the province of Fars, he readily listened to the terms
which the ruler of the city proposed, which were that the governments of
Turkey and Persia should repossess the countries that belonged to them
in the reign of Sultan Hasan before the Afghan invasion. The rebellion
which had compelled him to retire from the Turkish territories had
hardly been suppressed before he learned that the Emperor of
Constantinople had refused to ratify the engagements made by the Pacha
of Bagdad, and had sent a general, named Abdallah, at the head of a
large force, with orders either to conclude peace or to continue the
war, as circumstances