were, indeed, serving the old padishah with indifferent loyalty and moderated zeal, but the end was not far off, and when in 1707 the last of the house of Timur who commands our respect, died, worn out with warfare, the vast empire which he ruled was already in danger of falling to pieces with its own weight. Whether the integrity of the empire could have been maintained despite the degeneracy of the later descendents of the house of Timur is very doubtful, but there is no doubt that the maintenance of the kingdoms of Bijapur and Golconda as states in subordinate alliance with the empire would have been the most effective check to its enemies, the Marathas.
