by the English Consul stayed a time to gain the Company of a Caravan which consists of a great mix'd multitude of People from divers parts which get and keep together travelling those parts for fear of the Incursions and Violences by Thieves and Murtherers which they would undoubtedly meet withal if they travelled single or but few together with these he set forwards to that City anciently called Nineveh in Assyria which we find in the Prophecy of Jonah was sometimes a great and excellent City of three days Journey Jonah 3. 3. but now so exceedingly lessen'd and lodg'd in Obscurity that Passengers cannot say of it This was Nineveh which hath now it's old Name changed and is called Mozel From hence they journeyed to Babylon in Chaldaea scituated upon the River Euphrates once likewise so great that Aristotle called it a Country not a City but now it is very much contracted and is called Bagdat From this place they proceeded thorough both the Armenia's where he saw the Mountain Ararat where the Ark of Noah rested after the Flood Gen. 8. From hence they went forward towards the Kingdom of Persia to Uzspahan the usual place of Residence for that great King then called Sha Abbas or King Abbas a victorious Monarch and though of a bloody and tyrannick Disposition yet very kind and respectful to the English Next they went to Seras anciently call'd Sushan where the great King Ahasuerus kept his Royal and most magnificent Court as you may read in Esther 1. From hence for you must think his Shoos were made of running Leather he journeyed to Candahor the first Province North-East under the Subjection of the Great Mogol and so to Lahore the chiefest City but one belonging to that great Empire and afterwards to Agra the Mogol's Metropolis or chief City And here it is very observable that from Lahore to Agra it is 400 English miles and that the Country betwixt both these great Cities is rich being a pleasant and flat Campania and the Road-way on both sides all this long distance planted with great Trees which are all the year cloathed with Leaves exceeding beneficial unto Travellers for the Shade they afford them in those hot Climes This very much extended length of way 'twixt these two places is called by Travellers the Long walk very full of Villages and Towns for Passengers every where to find Provision At Agra our Traveller made an Halt being there lovingly received in the English Factory where he stayed till he had gotten to his Turkish and Morisco or Arabian Languages some good Knowledge in the Persian and Indostan Tongues in which Study he was always very apt and in little time shewed much Proficiency The first of these two the Persian is the more quaint the other the Indian the vulgar Language spoken in East-India in both these he suddenly got such a Knowledge and Mastery that it did exceedingly afterwards advantage him in his Travels up and down the Mogol's Territory he wearing always the Habit of that Nation and speaking their Language In the first of these viz. the Persian Tongue he terwards made an Oration to the Great Mogol which for the rareness of the Language and the honour of our great perambulating Traveller we have transcribed verbatim as followeth HAzaret Aallum pennah salamet fooker Daruces ve tehaungeshta hustam kemia emadam azwellagets door ganne az mulk Inglizan ke kessanaion pethee mushacas cardand ke wellagets mazcoor der akers magrub bood ke mader hamma iezzaerts dunmast Sabebbe amadane mari mia boosti char cheez ast an valbe dedane mobarreckdeedars Hazaret ke seete caramat ba hamma Trankestan reesedast ooba tamam mulk Musulmanan der sheenedan awsaffe Hazaret daveeda amadam be deedane astane akdus musharaf geshtam duum bray deedane feelhay Hazaret kin chumn iauooar der heech mulk ne dedam sen in bray deedane mamwer daryaee shumma Gauga ke Serdare hamma daryaha dumiest Chaharum een ast keyer fermawne alishaion amayet fermayand ke betwanam der wellayetts Uzbeck raftan ba Shahre Samarcand bray zeerat cardan cabbre mobarrec Saheb crawncah awsaffe tang oo mosacheere oo der tamam aallum meshoor ast belkder wellagotte uzber eencader meshoor neest chunan che der mulc Inglisan ast digr bishare eshteeac daram be dedane mobarrec mesare Saheb crawnca bray een Saheb The awne samanche foeheer de shabr stambol boodam ycaieb cohuu amarat deedam dermean yecush bung nasdec shaht mascoor coia che padshaw Eezawiawn che numesh Manuel bood che Saheb crawnca cush mehmannec aseem carda bood baad as gristane Sulteri Baiasestra iange aseem che shuda bood nos dec shahere Bursa coimache Saheb crawn Sultan Baiasetra de Zenicera tellaio bestand oo der cases nahadond een char chees meera as mulche man ium baneed ta mia as mulc Room oo Arrac peeada geshta as door der een mulc reseedum che char hasorr pharsang raw dared beshare derd oo mohuet casheedam che heech ches der een dunmia een cader mohuet ne casheedast bray deedune mobarrec dedaret Hasereret awn roos chee be tacte shaugh ne shaughee musharaf fermoodand The same in English LOrd Protector of the World all hail to you I am a poor Traveller and World-seer which am come hither from a far Country namely England which ancient Historians thought to have been scituated in the farthest Bounds of the West and which is the Queen of all the Islands in the World The cause of my coming hither is for four Respects first to see the blessed face of your Majesty whose wonderful Fame hath resounded over all Europe and the Mahometan Countries when I heard of the fame of your Majesty I hastened hither with speed and travelled very chearfully to see your glorious Court secondly to see your Majesties Elephants which kind of Beasts I have not seen in any other Country thirdly to see your famous River Ganges which is the Captain of all the Rivers of the World the fourth is this to entreat your Majesty that you would vouchsafe to grant me your gracious Pass that I may travel into the Country of Tartaria to the City of Sarmacand to visit the blessed Sepulchre of the Lord of the Corners viz. Tamberlain whose Fame by reason of his Wars and Victories is published over the whole World perhaps he is not altogether so famous in his own Country of Tartaria as in England Moreover I have a great desire to see the blessed Tomb of the Lord of the Corners for this cause for that when I was at Constantinople I saw a notable old Building in a pleasant Garden near the said City where the Christian Emperour that was called Emanuel made a sumptuous great Banquet to the Lord of the Corners after he had taken Sultan Bajazet in Fetters of Gold and put him in a Cage of Iron These four causes moved me to come out of my Native Country thus far having travell'd on foot through Turky and Persia so
that day proved so cold that they could not stir out of their Tent. The same day there came two Ships of Hull into the Sound who knowing that some men had been left there the Year before being very desirous to know whether they were dead or alive the Master manned forth a Shallop to go as near the Shore as they could and so over the Ice to the Tent when these men came near unto it they haled them with the usual Word at Sea crying Hey to which one of them in the Tent answered again Hoe which sudden Answer almost amazed them all but perceiving them to be the very men left there with joyful Hearts they embraced one another and so coming into the Tent they shewed the Hull-men the curtesie of the House giving them some Venison which was roasted four months before and a Cup of cold Water which for Novelty sake they kindly accepted of After a little Discourse these eight men resolved to leave their Tent and to go with them to their Ship where they were welcomed after the heartiest and kindest English manner and so they staid with them till the London Fleet came which was three days after at which time they went aboard the Admiral in which Captain William Goodler was who made them very welcome and gave order that they should have any thing which was in the Ship that might do them good he gave them Apparel also to the value of twenty pounds so that after fourteen days refreshment they grew all perfectly well but when some of them went to their own Master that had left them there he fell foul upon them calling them Run-a-ways with other harsh Terms far enough from the Civility of an honest man Thus they continued in the Fleet until the 20th of August at which time with joyful Hearts they set Sail thorow the foaming Ocean and though sometimes crossed with contrary Winds yet at last they came safely to an Anchor in the River of Thames and the Muscovy Merchants dealt very well by them The Names of those eight Men thus left in Green-land William Fakely Gunner Edward Pelham Gunner's Mate that wrote this Story John Wise and Robert Goodfellow Seamen Thomas Ayers Whale-cutter Henry Bet Cooper John Daws and Richard Kellet Land-men A notable Story of Edgar King of England how he was by his chief Favourite circumvented of the fair Lady Elfrida and how afterwards the King was revenged of him for the same THis Edgar sirnamed the Peaceable the thirtieth Monarch of the English men was a Prince endowed with a great many Vertues and as many Vices and of all Vices most to Lasciviousness of which the Chronicles relate many Examples we shall only instance in one which for the variety of the matter deserveth to be recorded unto Posterity Fames lavish Report of beauteous Elfrida the Paragon of her Sex and Wonder of Nature the only Daughter of Ordgarus Duke of Devonshire sounded so loud in those Western parts that the Eccho thereof was heard into King Edgar's Court and entered his Ears which ever lay open to give his Eyes the Scope of Desire and his wanton thoughts the Reins of Will to try the Truth whereof he secretly sent his Minion or Favourite Earl Ethelwold of East-Anglia who well could judge of Beauty and knew the Dyet of the King with Commission that if the Pearl proved so orient it should be seized for Edgar's own wearing who meant to make her his Queen and Ordgarus the Father of a King Ethelwood a jolly young Gallant posted into Devonshire and guest-wise visited Duke Ordgarus his Court where seeing the Lady surpassing the Report blam'd Fame's over-sight for sounding her Praise in so base and leaden a Trumpet and wholly surprized with her Love himself began to wooe the Virgin yea and with her Father's good liking so as the King would give his Assent Earl Ethelwold returning related that the Maid indeed was fair but yet her Beauty much augmented by babling Reports and neither her Feature or Parts any wise befitting a King Edgar mistrusting no Rival in his Love nor dreaming false Fellowship in Wooing did with a slight Thought pass over Elfrida and pitch'd his Affections the faster another way Earl Ethelwold following the Game now on Foot desired Edgar's Assistance to bring it to a stand pretending not so much for any liking to the Lady as to raise his own Fortunes by being her Father's Heir to which the King yielded and ignorant of what had passed sollicited Ordgarus in the behalf of his Minion Ethelwold The Duke glad to be shrouded under the favour of such a Favourite willingly consented and his Daughters Destiny 's assured to Earl Ethelwold The Marriage solemnized and the Fruits thereof a short time enjoyed the Fame of her Beauty began to be spread and that with a larger Epithet than formerly it had been whereupon Edgar much doubting of double dealing laid his Angle fair to catch this great Gull and bearing no shew of wrong or suspect invited himself to hunt in his Parks and forthwith repairing into those parts did not a little grace his old Servant to the great Joy of Ordgarus the Duke But Ethelwold mistrusting the cause of his coming thought by one Policy to disappoint another and therefore revealing the truth to his Wife how in his Proceedings he had wronged her Beauty and deceived his Sovereign requested her loving assistance to save now his endangered Life which lay in her power and of the means he thus adviseth Like as said he the richest Diamond rough and uncut yields neither sparkle nor esteem of great Price nor the Gold unburnished gives better Lustre than the base Brass so Beauty and Feature clad in mean Aray is either slightly looked at with an unfixed Eye or is wholly unregarded and held of no Worth for according to the Proverb Cloath is the Man and Man is the Wretch then to prevent the thing that I fear and is likely to prove my present Ruine and thy last Wrack conceal thy great Beauty from King Edgar's Eye and give him Entertainment in thy meanest Attires let them I pray thee for a time be the nightly Curtains drawn about our new nuptial Bed and the daily Clouds to hide thy splendant Sun from his sharp and too too piercing sight whose Vigour and Rayes will soon set his waxen Wings on Fire that ready are to melt at a far softer Heat Pitch thou seest defileth the hand and we are forbid to give occasion of Evil veil then thy Fairness with the Scaffs of Deformity from his over-lavish and unmastered Eye for the fairest Face draws ever the Gaze if not the Attempts and Natures Endowments are as the Bush for the Wine which being immoderately taken doth surfeit the Sense and is again cast up with as loathing a Tast Of these Dregs drunk Amnon after his fill of fair Thamer Herod of Miramy and Aeneas of Dido yea and not to seek Examples far off King Edgar's variation in his unstedfast
in the same and having turned the Water into the right Course again they flew those whose Help they had used therein and thereupon fled into Orkney Donwald about the time that the Murther was a doing got him amongst them that kept the Watch and so continued in Company with them all the residue of the Night but in the Morning when the noise was raised in the King's Chamber hovv the King vvas slain his Body conveyed away and the Bed all bewrayed with Blood he with the Watch ran thither as though he had known nothing of the matter where finding Cakes of Blood on the Bed and on the Floor and about the sides of it he forthvvith slevv the Chamberlains as guilty of that heinous Murther and then like a Mad-man running to and fro he ransacked every Corner vvithin the Castle pretending to have seen if he might have found either the Body or any of the Murtherers hid in any privy place but at the length coming to the Postern Gate and finding it open he burdened the Chamberlains whom he had slain vvith all the fault they having the keys of the Gates committed to their keeping all the Night It is said that after this heinous Murther thus committed there appeared no Sun by Day nor Moon by Night for the space of six Months together in any part of the Realm but still was the Sky covered with continual Clouds and sometimes such out-ragious Winds arose with Lightnings and Tempests that the People were in great fear of a general Destruction In the mean time the Scots crovvned Culene Prince of Cumberland their King vvho resolving to punish the Murtherers of his Predecessor marched vvith an Army into Murray-land the Inhabitants of vvhich Country hearing of his Approach and the cause of his coming were stricken with exceeding fear but namely Donwald being guilty in Conscience doubted if he vvere put to Torture he should be enforced to confess the Truth whereupon without making his Wife privy to his Departure or any other of his Family save a few such as he took with him he secretly got him to the Mouth of the River of Spey vvhere finding a Ship ready he went aboard the same purposing to have fled his ways by Sea into Norway But by this his Flight he detected himself for King Culene being hereof advertised imagined assuredly that Donwald must needs be the Author of this horrid Murther and thereupon passed over Spey Water and taking the Castle of Fores slevv all that he found therein and put the House to Sack and Fire Donwald's Wife vvith his three Daughters were taken alive for so was the King's Command to whosoever should light on them they being had to the Rack the Mother upon Examination confessed the whole matter how by her Procurement chiefly her Husband was moved to cause the Deed to be done who they were that by his Commandment did it and in what place they had buried the Body The King with the Residue for that Night rested themselves and in the Morning took order for Provision of all things necessary to take up the Body of King Duffe and then to convey it unto Colmekill there to be buried amongst his Predecessors But as they were preparing thereunto word came that the Traytor Donwald was by Shipwrack cast upon the Shore within four miles of the Castle as though he were by God's Provision brought back into his own Country to suffer worthy Punishment for his Demerits Hereupon the King sent a Band of men to fetch him unto him who were scarcely returned when likewise came in divers Lords of Rosse bringing with them Donwald's four Servants vvhich as before is said did execute the Murther Thus all the Offenders being brought together unto the place where the Murther was both contrived and executed they were arreigned condemned and put to Death being first scourged by the Hang-man then bowelled their Entrails being thrown into the Fire and burnt the other parts of their Bodies were cut into Quarters and set upon the Gates and highest Towers of the chiefest Cities of the Realm Next they proceed to take up the Body of King Duffe which notwithstanding it had lain six Months under the Ground was nothing empaired in Colour or otherwise but was found as whole and found as though it had been yet alive the Scars of the Wounds only excepted But which is more strange no sooner was the Body brought above the ground but the Air began to clear up and the Sun break forth shining more brighter than it had been seen afore-time to any of the Beholders Remembrance but that which was most strange of all was the sight of abundance of Flowers which sprung forth over all the Fields immediately thereupon clean contrary to the Time and Season of the Year Not long after there was a Bridge made over the Water in the same place where the Body had been buried and a Village builded at the one end of the Bridge called Killflos that is the Church of Flowers taking that name of the Wonder that happened at the removing of the King's Body Afterwards was there in the same place built a most magnificent Abbey together with a very fair Church which in the general decay of Abbeys felt also it's Fate being nothing of it left now but only it's remembrance in History Of the Cruelty which Albovine King of Lombardy used to his Queen Rosamond and by what means she was revenged on him with her miserable end THE first King of the Longobards which conquered that part of Italy since from them called Lombardy was named Albovine a Man of great Spirit and very valiant in Actions of War He conquered in Battel Cunmond King of the Girpides and causing his Head to be smitten off made a drinking Cup thereof wherein he used to drink in Triumph of his Conquest and Victory Rosamond Daughter to this King a very beautiful Damsel he took to Wife and being one day over merry in Verona he compelled her to drink out of her Fathers Skull whereat she conceived such high displeasure that the intire Love which she had formerly borne him was converted into deadly Hatred with an absolute resolution to kill him in revenge of this disgrace And to assist her in this determination she conferred with a Gentleman named Hermigilde who told her that to the execution of such an important Business she should require the aid of a Valiant Knight in the Court called Paradine which instantly she did but he would not yield thereto because he took it to be too horrid a Treason Finding her hope therein frustrated and fearing lest her intent would be discovered but ambitious to accomplish her Enterprize being advertized by Hermigilde that Paradine dearly affected one of her attending Ladies she devised thereby to effect her purpose Being acquainted with the secret resort where Paradine and his Lover met together she found some other Employment for the Lady and made use of her place for the time prostituting her Honour
to have Christian Burial but a Learned Divine a Jacobine by Religion made so excellent an Oration to the Pope against the unkind Parents of the deceased Lovers that Obsequies were granted and Burial given them and an aged Woman a Servant to Lucretia who had been the means of their private Marriage was by Authority of Justice burned alive because she had not advertised the Parents thereof A third Story as dismal as the two former here followeth Damoiselle Geneviefue Daughter unto Monsieur Megrelim a Gentleman in ordinary in the Court of Francis the second King of France espoused her self by Word only and without Knowledge of any in her Fathers House to one that was School-master unto her Brethren named Medard a Picar by Nation born in Laon a young man of passable Handsomness and of indifferent Knowledge for his time being about twenty three years old After some space being thus contracted she found her self to be with Child and fearing the Displeasure of her Parents especially of her Mother who was a very severe Woman she forsook her Father's House and the goodly City of Paris accompanied with none but her Troth-plighted Husband the School-master Travelling thorough the Country they made their stay in a great Burrough Town of Champaign where likewise he became School-master taking great Pains to supply their Necessities Within some few Months after their residing there Medard died and she five days after the death of her Husband one Evening after Supper in a publick place declared to all such as gave Favour to her the whole History of their fore-passed Love her Marriage by promise her Extraction want of Government and the Injury done by her to her Servants desiring very heartily Pardon both of God and them so feigning as if she intended to go to Bed with her young Infant which was about six Weeks old she went and hanged her self that Night on a Beam-end of a poor Cottage which they had taken upon hire Certain Observations upon Kings of several Nations A Menophis one of the Kings of Egypt being blind was assured by some of his Wizards that if he washed his Eyes with the Urine of a Woman which had never known any but her own Husband he should be restored to his Sight After a long Search and many vain Tryals he met with one whose Water cured him whom he took to Wife and causing all the rest whom he had made Tryal of to be brought together to a Town called Gleba Rubra he set the said Town on Fire and burnt both it and all the Women therein assembled Sesostris another King of Egypt was a Prince of so great Wealth and Substance that he brought in Subjection all his neighbouring Kings whom he compelled in turns to draw his Chariot It hapned that one of these unfortunate Princes cast his Eye many times on the Coach-wheels and being by Sesostris demanded the cause of his so doing he replyed that the falling of that Spoke lowest which but just before was in the height of the Wheel put him in mind of the Instability of Fortune which the King considering of would never afterward be so drawn in his Chariot And indeed he found the same quickly after to be true by woeful Experience for leading his Army against the Scythians whom in conceit he had already conquered he found himself deceived in his Expectation These Scythians marvelled that a King of so great Revenues would wage War against a Nation so poor with whom the Fight would be doubtful the Victory unprofitable but to be vanquished a perpetual Infamy and Disgrace so joyning Battels Sesostris was discomfited and pursued even to his own home by the Enemy learning him by that to moderate his Prosperity and to beware of Fortunes Instability Charles the second King of Navarr was a Prince much given to Voluptuousness and sensual Pleasure which so wasted his Spirits that in his old Age he fell into a kind of Lethargy to comfort his benummed Joynts he was bound and sowed up naked in a Sheet steeped in boiling Aquavitae The Chyrurgion having made an end of sowing him and wanting a Knife to cut off the Thred took a Wax Candle that stood lighted by him but the Flame running down by the Thred caught hold on the Sheet which according to the nature of Aquavitae burned with that Vehemency that the miserable King ended his days in the Fire Ewen the third also King of Scotland was a Prince much addicted or rather wholly given over to Lasciviousness insomuch that he made a Law that himself and his Successors should have the Maiden-head or first Nights lodging with every Woman whose Husband held Land immediately from the Crown and the Lords and Gentlemen of all those whose Husbands were their Tenants or Homagers This was it seems the Knights Service which men held their Estates by and continued in force till the days of Malcolm Conmor who marrying Margaret Sister to our King Edgar Atheling at her Request abolished the same and ordained that the Tenants by way of Commutation should pay unto their Lords a Mark in Money which Tribute the Historians of that Nation say is still in force Roderick the last King of the Goths in Spain had for the Governour of one of his Provinces an honourable Person named Count Julian whom he sent upon an Embassy to the Moors of Africa and in the mean time defloured his Daughter Cana which the Father took in such indignation that he procured the Moors amongst whom he had gotten much credit to come over into Spain This request they performed under the Conduct of Musa and Tariffe and having made a full Conquest subjected it to the Great Caliphs or Mahometan Emperours It is recorded that at the first coming of Tariffe into Spain a poor Woman of the Country being willingly taken Prisoner fell down at his feet kissed them and told him that she had heard her Father who was letter'd say that Spain should be conquered by a People whose General should have a Mole on his right shoulder and in whom one of his hands should be longer than the other He to animate his Souldiers against the next encounter uncloathed himself and shewed the mark which so encouraged them that they now doubted not the Victory Roderick had in his Army 130000 Foot and 25000 Horse Tariffe had 30000 Horse and 180000 Foot The Battel continued seven dayes together from morning to night at last the Moors were victorious What became of King Roderick was never known his Souldiers took one arrayed in the Kings Apparel whom upon examination they found to be a Shepherd with whom the King after the Discomfiture had changed clothes It is recorded also in Rodericus Toletanus that before the coming of those Saracens King Roderick upon hope of some Treasure did open a part of the Palace of long time forbidden to be touched but found nothing but Pictures which resembled the Moors with a Prophecy that whensoever the Palace was there opened the
small Turrets which are made open with Lights every way that a man in them may be easily seen and heard Now their Moolaas or devout Priests do five times every day ascend unto the tops of those high Turrets whence they proclaim as loudly as they can possibly speak their Prophet Mahomet thus in Arabian La alla illa alla Mahomet Resul-alla that is There is no God but one God and Mahomet the Messenger from God Upon a time Tom Coriat when their Moolaa was to cry as aforesaid he got upon an high place directly opposite to one of those Priests and contradicted him thus La alla illa alla Hasaret Eesa Benalla that is No God but one God and the Lord Christ the Son of God and farther added that Mahomet was an Impostor and all this he spake in their own Language as loud as possibly he could in the ears of many Mahometans that heard it But whether Circumstances considered the zeal or discretion of our Pilgrim were more here to be commended I leave to the judgment of the Reader No doubt but had this bold attempt of his been acted in many other places of Asia it would have cost him his Life with as much torture as cruelty could have invented But he was here taken for a Mad-man and so let alone Haply the rather because every one there hath liberty to profess his own Religion freely and if he please may argue against theirs without fear of an Inquisition as this our Pilgrim did at another time with a Moolaa who had called him Giaur that is Infidel or false Believer which Mr. Coriat took in such Dudgeon that he made a Speech to him as followeth Mr. Coriat's Speech to a Mahometan But I pray thee tell me thou Mahometan dost thou in sadness call me Giaur That I do quoth he Then quoth I in very sober sadness I retort that shameful word in thy Throat and tell thee plainly that I am a Musulman and thou art a Giaur for by that Arab word Musulman thou dost understand that which cannot properly be applyed to a Mahometan but only to a Christian so that I do consequently infer that there are two kinds of Musulmen the one an Ortho-musulman that is a true Musulman which is a Christian and the other a Pseudo-musulman that is a false Musulman which is a Mahometan What thy Mahomet was from whom thou dost derive thy Religion assure thy self I know better than any one of the Mahometans amongst many Millions yea all the particular Circumstances of his Life and Death his Nation his Parentage his driving Camels thorough Aegypt Syria and Palestina the marriage of his Mistress by whose Death he raised himself from a very base and contemptible Estate to great Honour and Riches his manner of cozening the sottish People of Arabia partly by a tame Pidgeon that did fly to his Ear for meat and partly by a tame Bull that he fed by hand every day with the rest of his Actions both in Peace and War I know as well as if I had lived in his time or had been one of his Neighbours in Mecha the Truth whereof if thou didst know as well I am persuaded thou would'st spit in the face of thy Alcoran and trample it under thy Feet and bury it under a Jakes a Book of that strange and weak matter that I my self as meanly as thou dost see me attired now have already written two better Books God be thanked and will hereafter this by God's gracious Permission write another better and truer yea I would have thee know thou Mahometan that in that renowned Kingdom of England where I was born Learning doth so flourish that there are many thousand Boys of sixteen years of Age that are able to make a more learned Book than thy Alcoran neither was it as thou and the rest of you Mahometans do generally believe composed wholly by Mahomet for he was of so dull a Wit he was not able to make it without the help of another namely a certain Renegado Monk of Constantinople called Sergis so that his Alcoran was like an Arrow drawn out of the Quiver of another man I perceive thou dost wonder to see me so much inflamed with Anger but I would have thee consider it is not without great cause I am so moved for what greater Indignity can there be offered to a Christian which is an Artho-musulman than to be called Giaur by a Giaur c. By this which hath been said you may perceive our Coriat thus distinguished that himself was the Orthodox Musulman or true Believer The Moolaa the Pseudo-Musulman or false true Believer a distinction which must needs make an Intelligent Reader to smile It also shews what an opinion he had of his former writings and how if he had returned what a bustle he would have made in the World with another Volume but death prevented him for having left it Thomas Rowe the English Ambassador at Mandoa he went to Surat where he was over-kindly used by some of the English who gave him Sack which they had brought from England he calling for it as soon as he first heard of it and crying Sack Sack is there such a thing as Sack I pray you give me some Sack and drinking of it though moderately for he was a very temperate man it increased his Flux which he had then upon him and this caused him within a few days after his very tedious and troublesome Travels for he went most on foot at this place to come to his journeys end for here he overtook Death December 1617. and was buried under a little Monument like one of those usually made in our Church-yards upon whom a joking Wit made this Epitaph Here lies the Wonder of the English Nation Within the bosome of old Tellus maw For fruitless Travel and for strange Relation He past and repast all thy eyes e're saw Odcomb produc'd him many Nations fed him And worlds of Writers through the World have spread him The reason inducing the Mahometans to often Prayer exemplified by a Story IN a great City where Mahomet was zealously professed there lived say they a devout Musulman who for many years together spent his whole day in the Mosquit or Church in the mean time he minding not the World at all became so poor that he had nothing left to buy bread for his Family yet notwithstanding his poor condition he was resolved still to ply his Devotions and in a morning when he perceived that there was nothing at all left for the further subsistence of himself and houshold took a solemn leave of his Wife and Children resolving for his part to go and pray and dye in the Mosquit leaving his Family if no relief came to famish at home But that very day he put on this resolution there came to his house in his absence a very beautiful young Man as he appeared to be who brought and gave unto his Wife a very good quantity of
his fate and wish he had never come to Athens and these thoughts took such a deep impression upon him that what for lack of sleep and other perturbations he was brought into a very languishing condition His friend Gisippus perceiving this alteration and willing to remedy what was amiss in him demanded of Titus what was the cause of his disease blaming him for unkindness in not revealing it unto him protesting there was nothing which lay in his power which he would not undergo to pleasure his friend with which words the mortal sighs renewed in Titus and the salt tears brake out of his eys in such abundance as it had been a Land-flood running down off a Mountain after a storm so that Titus as it were constrained blushing and ashamed holding-down his head with much difficulty returned this answer My dear and most loving friend withdraw your friendly offers cease your courtesie refrain your tears and regrettings rather take a knife and slay me here where I lie or otherwise take vengeance on me most miserable and false Traitor unto you and of all other most worthy to suffer shameful death For whereas God of Nature like as he hath given to us similitude in all the parts of our body so had he conjoyned our wills studies and appetites together in one so that between men was never like concord and love as I suppose And now notwithstanding onely with the look of a woman those bonds of love be dissolved reason oppressed friendship excluded there availeth no Wisdom no Doctrine no Fidelity or trust yea you your self is the cause of all this Alas Gisippus what envious Spirit moved you to bring me with you to her whom ye have chosen to be your Wife where I received this poison I say Gisippus where was then your wisdom that you remembred not the frailty of our common Nature what needed you to call me for a witness of your private delights why would ye have me see that which you your self could not behold without ravishing of mind and carnal appetite Alas why forgot ye that our minds and appetites were ever one and that also what you liked was ever to me in like degree pleasant what will ye more Gisippus I say your trust is the cause that I am intrapped The rayes or beams issuing from the eyes of her whom you have chosen with the remembrance of her incomparable vertues hath pierced my heart in such wise that I desire nothing more than to be out of this wretched Life which is not worthy the company of so noble and loving a Friend as you be concluding his Speech with a profound Sigh and such plenty of Tears as as if his whole Body would be dissolved into salt drops But Gisippus nothing dismay'd at his words embracing and kissing him thus answered Why Titus Is this your only sickness and grief that ye so uncourteously have so long concealed and with much more unkindness kept from me than ye have conceived it I acknowledge my folly wherewith ye have rightly upbraided me that in shewing her to you whom I loved I remembred not the estate of our Nature nor the agreeableness or as I may say the unity of our two Appetites surely that default can be by no reason excused wherefore it is only I that have offended I confess to you Titus I love that Maid as much as any wise man may possible and took in her company more delight and pleasure than of all the Treasure and Lands that my Father left me which you know was very much howbeit for the servent love I bear to your Virtues here I renounce to you clearly all my title and Interest that I now have or might have in that Maiden And therefore call to you your former Courage abandon all the Heaviness the day appointed for our Marriage approacheth let us consult how without difficulty ye may wholly attain your desire Now you know that we two be so alike that being apart and in like Apparel few men do know us from each other also you know the custom is that notwithstanding any Ceremony done at the time of the Spousals yet the Marriage is not confirmed until at Night that the Husband puts a Ring on the Finger of his Wife and unlooseth her Girdle Wherefore I my self will be present with my Friends to perform all the parts of a Bridegroom and you shall abide in a secret place where I shall appoint you until it be Night when you shall be conveyed into the Maids Chamber and for the likeness of our Personages and of our Apparel you will not be known by the Women which have with us no acquaintance then get you to Bed and put your own Ring upon the Maids Finger and undo her Girdle of Virginity by which the Marriage will be consummated With these words Titus began to move as it were out of a Dream and doubting whether he heard Gisippus speak or else saw but a Vision lay still as a man abashed but having a little recovered himself he thanked Gisippus for his incomparable kindness but refused the Benefit that he offered saying that it were better a hundred such unkind wretches as he was should perish then so noble man as was Gisippus should suffer any reproach or dammage But Gisippus sware and protested that he freely resigned the Lady unto him and therewith embraced and kissed Titus who thereupon setting himself up in his Bed the blood somewhat resorted unto his visage and after a little good Meats and Drinks taken he was in a few days restored again to his former strength and vigour In short the day of Marriage was come when Gisippus accompanied with his Friends went to the Bride's House where they were nobly entertained and feasted and after the Covenants were read and sealed the Dowry appointed and all other things concluded the Friends of either part took their leave and departed the Bride with a few Women as was the custom brought into her Chamber then as it was before agreed Titus was conveyed into her Chamber and being taken for Gisippus into her Bed where he first demanded of her if that she loved him and vouchsafed to take him for her Husband forsaking all other which she with a blushing countenance half laughing and half mourning as in point to depart from her Maiden-head but supposing it to be Gisippus that asked her affirmed Then did he ask her if that she in ratifying that promise would receive his Ring whereto she consenting put the Ring on her Finger and unloosed her Girdle and so they lovingly sunk down into the Bed together where what they did there I leave to married mens imagination The morrow being come Gisippus thinking it expedient that the truth should be discovered assembled the Nobility of the City to his House where a full Assembly being come Titus made to them this following Oration Most noble Athenians there is at this time shewed amongst you an example almost incredible of the divine power