to write to thee of Two Things and to do Three Thou wilt first know If this King be Aged and of perfect Health and afterwards If there be any Hopes that the Queen may have Children Thou wouldest also have me send his Highness the Pictures of the King the Cardinal of Richlieu and the Eldest Son of the Prince of Condé As thou art one of the principal Supports of the Power of the Sublime Port elevated above all the Thrones of the World after the Vizir Azem whose Orders are the Rule of the Universe Minister and first Slave of the happy Emperor of the Ottomans I ought to do what thou commandest me I tell thee then I have seen this King thrice nor doth he appear by his Countenance by his Hair or by his Shape to be yet Old neither would it be easie to divine the Number of his Years if we were ignorant of the Day of his Birth But it is known to every Body That this Prince was born the 27. of the Ninth Moon of the Year 1601 according to the Style of the Christians By this thou mayst justly calculate the Age of this Monarch who though he is in his Flower seems fading because he hath as yet given no Heir to his Kingdom besides his Years being near Forty surpass that of a Young Man and 't is observed That few Princes arrive to a great Age. The Queen may still lie in if she prove with Child which if it should happen after Twenty three Years of Barrenness 't is certain a Fruit which hath been so long in ripening will give an ample Subject of reasoning to the Astrologers of Europe For my part I fancy this King will scarce become a Father unless he Repudiate this Wife and marry another It is not permitted to be inquisitive into the Cause of this Sterility Hereby thou seest the Weakness of those Christian Princes who are subjected to the Laws of Rome which think it a Crime to give themselves Heirs that are not born of Lawful Wedlock tho' it often happens that when such are wanting this Kingdom is exposed to Ruine by the Dissensions and Civil Wars which on these occasions are always inevitable The Most High who hath always protected the Grandeur of the Ottoman Empire hath left the Infidels in these Errors to the End that he might give our most Mighty Monarch who is the Avenger of the Divine Vnity an Eminence Superior to that of all Kings who are his Slaves and at the same Time made him Holy above all the Saints in the World and permitted us to have Children that may succeed us from as many Wives as we can entertain the Children of True Believers being always Legitimate I humbly beg Pardon I forgot I spoke to thee who art Wisdom it self and to whom no Secrets of the Law or State are unknown I wlll send to Carcoa at Vienna the Pictures of the King of the Prince of Conde's Son and of the Cardinal Richlieu according to the Orders I received from thee and they shall be dispatch'd in little Time I would to Heaven I could as easily send thee the Originals I should at one Stroke disarm this Kingdom which would thereby be suddenly involved in Fire and Blood The Habit I wear and the Manner after which I live hath already gained me many Friends I find Means to go once a week to Court My Deformity protects me against the Jealousies of Husbands Some People take me for a Wise Man and discourse confidently in my Presence of Politicks and Affairs of State neither do I neglect the making Use of every Thing which may be advantageous to me in my Ministry Thus in doing a Thing for the which I have much Aversion I compass all I desire and I assure thee upon my Faith If thou wilt continue to protect me and assist me with thy Counsels I will do somewhat extraordinary I supplicate the Great God to give a perpetual Health to thy Body and make thy Soul enjoy upon Earth and in Heaven the Felicity of the Blessed Paris 1st of the 1st Moon of the Year 1638. LETTER XI To Bedredin Superior of the Convent of Dervises of Cogny in Natolia I Write to thee who art Venerable by thy Age and so many long Voyages which thou hast made Thou who hast been so many Times in Pilgrimage to Arabia Tartary Persia and the Indies always bare-foot and begging out of pure Devotion to the Saint of Saints our Great Prophet Mahomet I address this Letter to thee Thee who bearest the Scars of five and twenty Great Wounds Thee who hast pray'd nine and fifty Times in the Sacred Porch and adored the Holy Mysteries in the most retired Sanctuary of Mecha and hast lived more than seventy Years of Religion amongst the Dervises where thy Merit caused thee to be elected Superior of the Convent in Natolia Thou knowest well that I serve him who is Arbitrator of the Destiny of the Universe I mean the Sultan Sovereign of the World Learn what I heard here from the Mouth of Christians and pardon me if I have not sufficiently answered them but do not accuse me to have deserved Death for having seemingly cursed our Holy Law and Him that gave it us and if I have seemed to reject his Successors Ali Osman and Omar it was expedient that I should commit some Evil not to lose the Opportunity of doing much Good Thou knowest well I am destined to serve and that being absolved from all the Perjuries I shall commit I may transgress the Law by being permitted to lye That suffices Read my Letter and learn how far their Malice does extend who are Enemies to our Religion To instruct thee better in what has happened to me I must tell thee that amongst these Infidels there is an Order of Religious much in Vogue called the Company of JESVS wherein there is an infinite Company of Men some more able than others in all Sorts of Scienes sacred and prophane and according to Appearance ought to be very recommendable for the Holiness of their Manners These Religious who are ordinarily called Jesuites have the Education of the Youth almost in all the Cities of Europe as well as in the Indies and many excellent Wits are brought up in the Seminaries they have established When they preach the People crowd to their Sermons They are the Confessors of almost all the Princes and Monarchs of Christendom who discover to them their Weaknesses their Sins and the Vices whereunto they are enclined and receive from them upon their Knees like Slaves such Penance as they think fit to impose on them A Man may say of them That being Dispensers of Penances they are also the Masters of Recompences They are Habited in a long Vest of black Wooll which descends to their Heels They go not bare-foot but their Vestments are simple They observe great Modesty in all their Actions they march with Gravity never go alone and suffer not their Beards to grow They
knowledge of the Manner how he would divide the Estates of the Sultan But Henry was assassinated just as he was ready to leave Paris to begin so great a Work being killed in his Coach in the Arms of his most faithful Courtiers And the Fatal Stroke which carried him out of the World delivered the Empire of the true believers This Empire whose Throne is so high that it reaches up to the First Heaven whence it scares the Infidels and secures the good Mussulmen from the Insults of the Christians One of these old Men I mentioned has assured me he had heard the King speak these following Words some Days before his Death I shall never go out of this Town I know not what with-helds me I shall never accomplish what I design never see the Destructiou of Constantinople for I am toâ—d by Astrologers I shall be kill'd in a Coach I must then always go on Foot and never stir out of Paris Such was the End of this Prince so highly venerated by the French He was really a Man of great Courage and great Penetration and so much the greater in that he regarded the Destruction of the Ottoman Empire as one of the difficultiest Things in the World And truly no other Prince did that Honour to Mahomet nor his Successors But yet not finding his own Forces sufficient to invade and destroy the Turkish Empire he invented a Chymerical Project to find Possibility in a Thing which ever appeared impossible In the very Moment I am Writing I have received certain News of my Ruin If I be not taken off this Time at Paris I shall be perhaps more fortunate than ever and more successfully and fully serve our great Emperor whose Clemency is equal to his Grandure and who is above all the Powers on Earth Cardinal Richlieu has sent for me to come to him I therefore finish this Letter in hast which perhaps will be the last I write being greatly afraid I am discovered If my Fear be vain I shall learn thee in another Letter the most remarkable Events of Henry's Life In the mean time I am resolved and disposed to suffer the Martyrdom If I dye my dear Egry we shall see one another in the other World if it be true that we shall have Eyes there and remember what has past here below Pray the great God for Mahumet and take Care of thy Health Paris 25th of the first Moon of the Year 1639. LETTER XV. To the Invincible Vizir Azem at the Camp under Babylon CArdinal Richlieu made me come in his Presence and yet I am alive he has not attempted any thing against either Life or Liberty but has done me the same Honour as to other foreign Churchmen for he believes I am of Moldavia calling me Titus not knowing any more of me than what I told him It seems on the contrary as if he intended me Kindnesses supposing me a bitter Enemy to the Turks and perhaps I shall receive some Present from him for having served him already as an Interpreter I shall tell thee Invincible Vizier what has past between him and me without any Fear of being tedious to thee I serve thee faithfully and write to thee as oft as my Duty requires As soon as I was in his Closet he thus spoke to me Titus What dost thou do in Paris what Business hast thou in this Town and what is really thy Country I answered him That I was a poor Clerk of Moldavia and came to study Divinity and be a Priest that I knew no better Place to become Wise and Learned and that I would willingly sacrifice all Things to render him Service He afterwards askt me Whether I was acquainted with any of the Eastern Languages and Whether I had ever been at Constontinople I have been replyed I in this great Town when I was a Child and that my Father and Mother were then in Slavery My Father is dead and my Mother is Married again to a Christian Greek I understand Arabic and Turkish and am perfectly skill'd in the School-Greek What do you mean by School Greek reply'd the Cardinal It is different from the Vulgar-Greek answered I which is so corrupted that learned People will not give themselves the Trouble to understand it He afterwards bade me go into a little Closet where I should find one of his Secretaries who would need my Help where I had no sooner entred but the Secretary presented me with a Turkish Manuscript to turn into Latin or Italian if I could not do it into French I immediately translated it into Latin and will now inform thee wise Minister and Governor of the great Empire of the true Faithful of the Contents of it The Christian Dervises called in France Cordeliers keep as thou knowest in Jerusalem the Sepulchre of their Messias by a Privilege which Zelim the Conqueror of Palestine granted them These Religious have neither Peace nor Truce with the Greek Christians and they have such Difference together as are of ill Consequences to all they persecute one another without ceasing and spread abroad most bitter Satyrs against each other Each Party makes ill Reports to his Superior of that which is opposite and mixes among some Truths a great many Lyes and absurd Stories But it appears to me That the Greeks who naturally love Cabals and have the Reputation of great Romancers are more dexterous than their adverse Party to do Mischief The Christian Dervises have represented a great many things to this Cardinal to authorise their Pretensions against the Greeks by Means of the French Embassador They not only reproach the Greeks with several Injustices and Violences but accuse the Cadi's of Cruelty and Tyranny and the Souldiers which guard Jerusalem of insupportable Exactions Thou shouldest be throughly informed whether these Complaints be on just Grounds for they affirm their Patience is beyond the Cruelty of the Officers thou employest yet that they can no longer suffer the insolencies which are now put on them and are on the Point of hazarding all by a Stroak of Despair It does not belong to me to be Advocate in the Behalf of those who are submitted to thy Authority and especially of those who ought to bear the Yoke of the Mahometans but 't is the Duty of Mahmut thy Creature to inform thee of the true Circumstances of Affairs which come to his Knowledge Yet if the Oppression of the Dervises be so great as they make it thou that art the true Light which enlightens the Empire of the Faithful and scatterest the Darkness of it thou wilt not permit those that live under the Publick Faith to be opprest and that Four wretched Greeks shall be the Cause of such Disorders as may happen in Palestine the Complaints of which have reached the Ears of the greatest Princes in Europe and to whom such things may give false Idea's of the Government of those who are chosen by God to command all the World Invincible Bassa I have discovered
like the Graces being half naked and wears Buskins like the Poetical Divinities his ordinary Function is to sweep every day my Chamber which yet is as nasty as Augis his Stable when I am awake he 's asleep and he 's always awake when I am asleep for this Thirteen Years that he has seen the Light he cannot remember he has been two Hours without eating When he eats not openly and before Folks lest he should shame me he will yet be sure to keep his Chaps a going on something in Corners When I went abroad I was forced to follow him and now that I keep my Bed 't is hard to judge which of us two is the Master for he never parts with his Hat from his Head He 's more ready to pull off my Cloaths than to put them on which makes me chiefly careful of him at such times that he leaves me not stark naked He 's moreover a Politician as much as any Florentin When he 's to do any good Office he falls into the Spanish Pace but to perfect a bad one he 's as nimble as Caesar was in the quickest of his Expeditions whence it is that I am a Debtor to my own Arm and Hand for the Service I draw from him being like certain Drugs which never yield an Odor till well beaten As to his Religion a Man would imagin he held the Metempsycosis so carefully does he preserve the Lice that eat him lest in killing them he act contrary to the Precepts of Pythagoras He is moreover besides an irreconcilable Enemy to all Neatness to Water and to Truth and he is more stinking than a Synagogue drunker than a Swiss and a greater Lyer than any Oracle In the mean time my Illness encreases and my Domestic Enemy is so well that he assuredly waits my Death to live more Honourably on my Spoils I differ much this Day from what I was Yesterday and I know not whether I shall not to morrow go to my long Home Pray the Immortal for me and remember we were once in Slavery together Should I escape I shall have the Joy of never seeing thee in the sad condition I am and if cannot escape Death at this time I shall have the satisfaction of suffering it before thee However believe I do not despair though I much complain I cease writing to thee but I 'll never cease loving thee Mahmut embraces thee in this Country of Infidâ—ls having thee always in his Heart and praying for thee continually Paris 12th of the 4th Moon of the Year 1639. LETTER XII To the Kaimakan THe King of France has a Dwarf called Osmin born in a Village of the Morea and carried away in his Infancy into Italy by Pyrats He was bought by a Spanish Lord who afterwards made a Present of him to this King with such a boon Grace as entitles Magnificence to the smallest things after the manner of that Nation The Spaniard having presented his Dwarf said no more the Dwarf making this following Discourse Sir I am a Christian although my Parents be Turks If thou willingly receivest me for thy Slave I receive thee yet more willingly for my Master being a just and merciful Prince But I am obliged to tell thee That if thou wilt behave thy self like a Master whose Liberality is guided by Prudence thou wilt never do me any Hurt nor ever do me any great Good Shouldst thou give me Opportunities of acquiring Riches and throw open the Gate of Honours to me I shall thereby perhaps become vicious and insolent Bestow only one thing on me which will not be afterwards in thy Power to take away Give me good Education and let a Man of Learning take the Charge of me by which means I shall be revenged of Nature in making me but an Atome of a Man and perhaps make thy Courtiers one day repent of their present Laughter at me Osmin has behaved himself so well and gained such Credit by the Subtilty of his Wit and Readiness of his Answers that he is at present one of the Courts choicest Entertainments and the Scourge of Debauched People Coming one day to divert and comfort me in my Illness he told me That being in private Discourse with one of the Women belonging to a Lady of the first Rank he was forced to conceal himself speedily behind the Hanging to prevent being surprized in the Chamber where this Lady unexpectedly entred with the Venetian Embassador who ordinarily resides in this Court and where he heard the following Discourse from this Ministers own Mouth Madam I shall willingly discover to you now that we are alone the Intentions of the Republick I serve touching the Turkish Affairs provided you promise me to do me two different good Turns 'T is absolutely necessary we make War with these Barbarians before they declare it against us The Ottoman Family is like the Mathematical Compass which enlarges its self the more 't is pressed You are not to be informed of the famous Victory gained by our General Capello who has led in Triumph all the Gallies of Africk but though Amurath be employed on the Frontiers of Persia in the Siege of a most important Place yet does he already threaten to be revenged for the Defeat of these Barbarians The Ministers of the Port do also press him to shew his Resentment and we certainly know by secret Relations from the Turkish Camp lying before Babylon that the Grand Seignior has said in full Council That he will himself throw the first Fire-ball into our Arsenal That Madam which lies in your Power is to perswade the King to engage in the Common Cause and for this End make up a Peace with his Enemies that he may joyn his Naval Forces with Ours On the other Hand we could wish you would offer the Contrary to the Cardinal Richlieu because this Minister usually slighting Womens Counsels â—ill come to our Purpose through his obstinate Humour â—f contradicting you And I do not doubt but this Arâ—â—fice will succeed if you perswade him the King is reâ—â—lved not to give us any Assistance There runs a Reâ—â—rt as if our Bailio has been laid hold on at Conâ—â—antinople and retained Prisoner in the Castle of Seâ—en-Towers by the Order of the Kaimacan And 't is â—dded that the Grand Seignior offers a Peace to â—he Persians to return speedily into Europe that â—aving no Diversion on that side he may turn all his â—orces against the Republick The Pope promises much and we need not fear but â—e will keep his Word being the Person most interessed â—n our Affairs He will furnish Mony joyn his Galâ—â—ys to those of the Republick and moreover send us â—â—veral stout Men. The King of Spain promises us â—orty Gallies with all Necessaries together with Fifty â—essels of War The Great Duke of Tuscany will â—ssist us with eight Vessels well set out and six Gallies â—ell Armed The King of Poland promises to send â—nto the Infidels Country an Army of fifty
Thousand Cossacks and others shall cruise about the Levantine â—eas with their Brigantins and especially the Archiâ—elago As to what respects the Republick the chief â—amilies in Venice have already proffered to set out â—nd entertain at their own Charge a Vessel till the War be ended and all the great Castles and Towns on â—he firm Land freely offer to furnish the Republick â—ith Fifty Thousand Ducats a Month. This Kingdom which is so full of Men amongst which there are so many good Officers which are rich in Mony and at â—resent so considerable at Sea must not only not trouâ—le so noble and necessary a Project in continuing a War with Spain but also gives its assistance by Supâ—lies of Men Mony and Vessels If you can Madam â—blige the King to enter into this League you will meâ—it an Everlasting Remembrance and have an hundred thousand Crown which lye ready for you at Venice to be paid when and where you please This is God's Cause the Occasion is favourable anâ— all things seem in a readiness You may immortalizâ— your Name and with your Beauty your Credit anâ— Eloquence give good grounds of Hope to Christendom of Success by obtaining the Assistance of the most puissant of the Christian Monarchs This is what the Dwarf heard and what he entrusted me with since were I in a condition Illustrious Kaimakan to relate particularly the Liâ—â— of Osmin I am perswaded thou wouldst give entirâ— Credit to the Discourse he made me Osmin is born a Turk he loves me dearly anâ— has a certain Sympathy with me which obliges hiâ— to seek me often and entrust me with all the Adventures of his Life treating me not only as 〈◊〉 Friend but living with me as if I were his Brother There being some days since I languished in Bed tormented with a Distemper which at its Beginning threatned me with vexatious Consequenceâ— and which causes me to droop and languish thoâ— wilt pardon me if I reason not much on an Adventure so extraordinary Should God restore mâ— to my Health I shall double my Care and Diligence in observing the Measures of this Courâ— Order by thy Prudence and Valour that the Preparations of these Infidels against the formidable Monarchy of the true Believers may vanish intâ— Smoak And the great Soveraign of the Lower anâ— Upper World grant thee perfect Health which 〈◊〉 sought in vain by his Highnesses Slave and thâ— Servant Mahmut Paris 12th of the Fourth Moon of the Year 1639. LETTER XIII To Isouf his Kinsman Notwithstanding my Weakness I force my self to write thee this Letter to thee with whom 〈◊〉 am engaged by Interest as well as by Blood My Distemper lies so heavy upon me that there remains only the time to speak two Words of Devoâ—ion to thee Isouf thou oughtst towards the End of â—he Moon in May to go to Mecha carry me along with thee though I am at this distance I entreat â—hee when thou shalt arrive with the Caravan of Pilgrims at the Mountain of Arafat to offer there 〈◊〉 Sacrifice in my Name immolate a Sheep in commemoration of Abraham And if thou arâ—ivest in Health at the Holy Mosque and in full â—trength offer devoutly my Prayers to our Great Prophet I ask not Honours of Mahomet no more â—han Riches I only beg that Heaven would reâ—tore me what I have lost 't is Health I desire whereby I may serve our great Emperor and live more Holy than I have done But before thy Departure distribute a good Dole to the Poor and if â—hou wantest Mony go and find Dgnet Oglou borrow of him in my Name seven hundred and fifty Aspers which thou shalt immediately deal out to those that have most need Thou knowest how greatly the Works of Charity are recommended to us they multiply the Bedictions of Heaven and encrease our Wealth I neither do nor can do this in the infidels Country thou knowest my Inability speedily succor me in the Necessity I am of doing Good and let nothing hinder thee no Argument of good Husbandry nor Superstition If thou neglect my Prayer the Shame of the Fault will lye at thy Door and thou alone shalt bear the Iniquity if thou executest not the Will of a dying Man especially having the Power I forgot what I had of greatest Importance to tell thee and which is the most Holy and aimed at to obtain with the greatest Earnestness Endeavour to get for me a little Piece of the Cloth wherewith the Temple of Mecha is every year hung and which the Pilgrims tear in pieces to have each of them a part and send as soon as thou canst this Holy Relick in a little Silver Box to Carcoa at Vienna who will take care I receive it If thou beest a good Mussulman give speedy Help to a Disciple of the same Law and if thou beest a real Kinsman assist me love me and take on thee my Defence when necessary I embrace thee with all my Heart and Strength and though I believe my self very near Death yet I wish thee a long and happy Life Paris 12th of the 4th Moon of the Year 1639. LETTER XIV To the Invincible Vizir Azem at Constantinople IF thou beest the same that commanded the Army of the true Believers before Babylon I write to thee without congratulating thy Resurrection Thâ— People at Paris have kill'd thee by their Discourses because they wisht thy Death and 't is generally said thou wast strangled by four Mutes But if 〈◊〉 write to another raised to the chief Dignity of thâ— Empire I pray the Great God who will one daâ— judge all Men that he will long continue thee in Amurath's Service ever happy and always attended with Victory and give thee better Fortune than all the other Vizirs who have governed in the vast Empire of the Mussulmen I have been sick during the space of Eighteen Moons and my Health is not yet fully restored I have lived all that time in continual expectation of Death and so many odd things have hapned in my Sickness that I should fall into it again shouldst thou oblige me to make the Recital of them The Charity of the Christian Dervices has been very great towards me having neglected nothing which might be any ways serviceable to my happy Departure The gravest of them have often attended me with Discourses of the Immortality of the Soul of Hell their Purgatory Paradice and the Merits and Indulgences of the Church Several Physicians have come to see me and used their utmost Skill to keep me alive and imagin I owe my Life to them but if it be so they have paid themselves for their Care by drawing so much Blood out of me having I think quite emptyed my Veins to resist said they the several Distempers which assaulted me and to take from me the Turkish Fever which I nourished for I assuredly brought it from Constantinople The greatest Sin I committed during the Course of so long a Sickness was the pretending to
having like David numbred the People which dwell in the Countries subject to him to make known to all Nations the Greatness of his Power 'T is certain this Monarch reckoned as far as 750 Cities erected into Bishopricks therein comprehending 60 Arch-bishopricks that he had Abbies 11400 Chapters 9230 as many Collegiate Cathedrals Parish-Churches 127000 Hospitals 4000 Confraternities 23000 Congregations of Seculars 2300 Houses of Entertainment for Pilgrims 3000 46000 Convents of Religious People and of Virgins 13500 with 15200 Chapels wherein Mass is said as well as in publick Churches as particular Houses and Prisons And after an exact search this King found that to serve so great a number of Churches Monasteries Convents Hospitals and Chapels there were 12900 Religious Monks Priests or Clerks amongst whom there might be found 12400 Priests which celebrate what the Christians call the Mass And to maintain so many People 't was computed that the Revenue for this amounted to 3000000 of Roman Crowns without reckoning the Alms which were distributed every day which amount to the Summ of 4000000 of Gold The curiosity of this Prince went farther he would know the Number of all his Royal Officers Governours of Provinces Towns Castles and Cittadels and in fine of all Officers as well of Sea as Land Judges Justiciaries of all kinds and of all those who had Patents from him or his Viceroys And he found they were 83000 who were employed under Letters sealed with his Hand and 360000 who had them signed under his principal Ministers He would not know the Number of Persons that lived in his States lest he should become too proud and to prevent his fall said he into the Sin of David Which he yet could not avoid in his own Person as I have already said God having spared his Subjects who had otherwise sufficiently suffered One may now say that this puissant Monarchy begins to be dismembred by the loss of so many Provinces Kingdoms and Places and that Philip II. knew not the full Extent of his Power Philip III. knew not the Greatness of his Forces nor the Riches which he possesses because his Ministers governed him and Philip IV. not seeing when he might see could not see at last when he would I think I have said enough to thee to be understood Do now what thou can'st to make thy self understood by Persons to whom these Advices may be agreeable or profitable And if thou believest the Knowledge of these things may be acceptable to the Invincible Vizir who is one of the Lights of the World Endeavour to procure the Favour of this great Man who governs all the Faithful and to whom the Divine Alcoran serves for a Law I embrace thee and cordially kiss thee with the Lips of my Soul if a man may so express himself Adieu Paris 4th of 7th Moon of the Year 1641. LETTER V. To the Invincible Vizir Azem THe Posts which came some few days past here have brought ill News One of the King's Armies has been defeated by an Army composed of Forreigners at the Head of whom was a Prince of France and several Malecontent Lords who followed him This Loss has much afflicted the Court and Paris â—â—â—ms to be Thunder-struck The People discourse and argue hereupon according to their different Humours most making the Loss greater than ' t was But those who have lost their Kinsfolks threaten Revenge and only those that have heard of the Death of their Friends are silent because their Grief is above Expression But all in general appear in such Consternation as would make a man imagine this Stroak is irreparable so true is it that Losses are insufferable to those that are not accustomed to lose One would think to hear the French talk that the Spaniards are already at the Walls of Paris and that these rebellious Princes are ready to give an Assault to this great Town They have retired into a place which they say is impregnable and which belongs to a French Lord which Place is called Sedan and 't is not far hence where this Bloody Battle was fought wherein the King's Party were worsted but the Malecontents are much afflicted at the loss of their General who was kill'd in the heat of the Fight Some say he dyed by Treachery others by the Enemy and there are who affirm That Cardinal Richlieu got rid of him by means of an Assassin whom he entertained in his Troops others also say he killed himself by lifting up the Visir of his Helmet with his Pistol which discharged it self however there is dead in the Person of this Prince a Prince of great Valour I shall make thee a Recital of this Adventure I shall learn thee Motives of this War inform thee who were the Malecontents and their Qualities and in fine by what Cabals this Tempest is raised that thou mayest know great and principal Prop of the Ottaman Empire that Ambition and Jealousie cause Disorders in France as well as in other Countries Lewis de Bourbon Count de Soissons was a Prince of the Bloud he had such a fierceness in his Youth as drove away all from him who once came near him but having got over this Humour which disobliged every body he became popular and so courteous that he was now followed as much as he was shun'd before He used the Nobility as became their Quality had acquired the Friendship of other Princes and those of inferiour Rank could not enough admire him He was adored by the Soldiery beloved and esteemed by the People and he had in a word so behaved himself that he had gotten the general Applause Cardinal Richlieu has a Niece named Madam de Combalet who having been married to a Gentleman aspired to an higher Match seeing all things to give place and humble themselves before her Uncle The Cardinal designed by the Marriage of this Neece to procure himself such a puissant Prop that nothing should be able to overthrow his Fortune or oppose his Authority He pretended also his Life would be more in safety and that such an Alliance with those he already had would put him out of a Capacity of being ever attackt by any Enemies secret or declared whose Number encreased as fast as his Authority Several Affirm this Priest had Ambition enough to give an Heir who might one day ascend the Throne when it appeared by the Queen's Barrenness the King could have no Child to succeed him But the State of Affairs being changed he took other measures and thinking of having the Count in his Alliance he caused the Proposals of this Marriage of his Neece to be offered the Prince by one of his most intimate Confidents who offered him at the same time considerable Summs of Money and Dignities to make him Heir of all his vast Estates and to procure him the greatest Office in the Kingdom which is that of Constable The Count of Soisson's Answer to him that made the Proposal was a Box on the Ear being in an