acquired in this mean Occupation His great Wealth made him find the Means of obtaining the Favour of the Ministers and Favourites of the Prince and his Highness himself honoured him with his Friendship gave him Offices and heap'd up Riches on him Thou shouldest know all I say but I am astonished thou shouldest write to me That this Wretch having been put out from the Government of Walachia by reason of his insupportable Pride and extream Covetousness should pretend to re-enter on this Office by means of Money trying in some sort to corrupt the Justice of Amurath Observe how many ways he draws on him the Prince's Indignation The Emperor must have been more covetous than Stridya had he favoured his Design but 't was the Decree of Heaven that Stridyâ— should be punished and that our Master should give a terrible Example of his Justice to terrifie those who use their Riches to commit all Sorts of Crimes and to purchase all manner of infamous Pleasures The News of the Fall of this Slave had in some sort mitigated the great Melancholy I felt when I received the Letter But the Death of Zagaribasci our common Friend does not a little afflict me as well as the Marriage of his Son Caragurli made the same Day does astonish me For I cannot comprehend how there could well be celebrated in the same Day and at the same House two such different Ceremonies as is a Funeral and a Wedding I find this Adventure very strange and though our Friend indeed was very old yet I bewail him as if he had dyed before his Time He was an honest Man of great Piety and moderately Rich and this is what makes Mortals Happy in this World and the other too But thou dost not inform me whether the excessive Joy he had to see his Son married to a Greek rich with the Goods of Fortune endued with great Vertue and a Mute has not caused his Death I rather think thou wilt say our Friend Zagarabasci is dead by some Excess than yield to what we contested about formerly I always found in this Friend great Marks of Honesty and Sobriety and he also appeared to me to have great Tenderness for his Son I cannot without offending thee accuse this old Gentleman of want of Moderation yet he is dead with a Transport of Joy Thou seest I affirm'd no impossible thing when I maintained in my Youth That an extraordinary and unfore seen Joy is more likely to kill than sudden Grief though never so violent Didst thou think it a Matter of small Satisfaction to a Father that is a wise and sober Man to obtain for his Son a Woman that is a Mure For what greater Pleasure can a Husband have than to have a Wife that is not talkative The Christians understand not the Wisdom of the Turks when they laugh at our Sultans who find the greatest parts of their Pleasures in the Conversation of Mutes Is there any thing more delightful than to hear a Man that does not speak and to see one reason on all Things that has no Tongue Thou knowest how many Things these Mutes of the Seraglio do give one to understand and what Eloquence there is in their Signs and Gestures Thou remembrest That when Amurath would give Thanks to the Sovereign Moderator of all the World in that he had escaped Death when the Lightning fell on his Bed and burnt to his very Shirt he seemed to offer him a great Sacrifice in putting a Mute out of the Seraglio which he dearly loved by reason of her Tricks and Gestures The Muses were one day ready to fall together a fighting because they would not receive amongst them a Tenth Companion sent them by a Mandamus from a King of Italy But when this Tenth Muse signified to them That she was Dumb all the Voices were for her Dear Melec 't is not without Reason I write thee this Thou art still young and designest for Matrimony Believe Mahmut There are few Women that are Wise and they say little that is good Think then what those say who know nothing and whose Number is infinite When they have talked a whole Day believe me they have said nothing If thou marriest follow my Counsel Take not a Mute for then thou wilt marry a Beast Neither chuse one that talketh for thou wilt be linked with a Monster As to our Friend he died by a particular Grace from Heaven Yet I cannot but think still of his Death How many more extraordinary Accidents wilt thou see if thou livest to old Age and especially if thou livest at Constantinople where are continually beheld strange Adventures and extraordinary Effects both of Life and Death Cruelty and Clemency as well as of good and bad Fortune Being in breath I could continue still to write to thee but I think it's time to end lest I prove tiresome And I end in praying Heaven to keep thee in Health where-ever thou art Paris 25th of the last Moon of the Year 1638. LETTER IX To the same PARIS where I live is a very healthful City and so are all the Places thereabouts free from Pestilential Airs and yet there oft happens sudden Deaths as well as at Constantinople and they die here likewise of Joy I will relate to thee what I have partly seen and not what I have heard to happen in London the most ancient and chiefest City of the Kingdom of England A rich old Man falling sick and lying on his Death-Bed sent to his only Son living at Paris where he spent his time in Pleasures to come over that he might with his Estate give him his Blessing Think what News this was to a Young Man to whom the Life of a Father was troublesome as being an Obstacle to his Liberty and who waited his Death to take his Swing of all the Pleasures which his corrupt Nature makes him respect as his Sovereign Good This Young Man intending to get upon Horseback to run where he was called found himself embarked for a Voyage which he did not design to make he fell dead on the Place and I saw him in the same Instant wherein he was living and healthful to expire Were I of the Sect of our Philosopher Muslaadin Saadi I would tell thee It matters not whether one dies suddenly or languish a long Time whether a Man dies in his Bed or at the Gallows But I being none of Zeno's Disciples and knowing no Peripatetick or Philosopher amongst so many Sects than were in Greece who disputed Whether Life or Death was to be preferred So expect not from me any Arguings on the Morals of those Greeks nor yet of the Persians But if Death be such a terrible Thing endeavour to live in such a Manner that it may never affright thee when it shall approach thee or when thou shalt see it invade others expecting it at all times and in all places Dost thou know by what Herb or by what secret Magick Charm I do not fear
were to relate I shall make known to thee on the first Opportunity whatever shall come to my Knowledg In the mean time the Creator of all thing direct thee in all thy Ways and prosper all thy undertakings Paris 15th of the 10th Moon of the Year 1640. LETTER XVI To Dgnet Oglou I Am in a manner raised from the Dead by reading thy Letter there is not a Line or Syllable but shews the Marks of a true Heart and a tender and real Sympathy with my Condition I pray Heaven we may do nothing either of us to lessen this Affection Thou informest me in thy Letter of the Departure of Isouf for Mecha I give thee a Thousand Thanks for the Mony thou hast given him for the offering of a Sacrifice in my Name on the Sacred Mountain and to distribute here below the Alms which I enjoyned him I admire thy Bounty and the Charitable Care thou hast had of the Salvation of thy Friend Mahmut in sending one of our Devotes to Medina to go the Pilgrimage and say the Prayers for me In a Word I see thy Kindness makes thee foresee and provide against all my Wants there is no Place or Time wherein I receive not Marks of thy Favour Seeing I am so dear to thee and loving thee so greatly as I do let not distance of Place Poverty Disgrace Imprisonment or any other Misfortune extinguish or so much as damp our mutual Affection I have in a manner stole the time I write to thee for I have nothing which is truly mine and I make thee a Present of a thing which I owed the Kaimakan for whom I ought to employ more time in writing But let us lay aside all these troublesom Affairs and entertain one another with an entire Confidence and Familiarity Thou wantest not Wit employ it in the Study of History after sufficient Instruction in the Matters which concern Religion If thou wilt be a Prince among other Men separate thy self from the Croud by thy application to good Authors read much and yet read little read ever good Books there being few of them and thus thou wilt read much If thou canst attain to the Knowledg of whatever is known of Men thou wilt be a kind of God amongst them whereas thou wilt be of the number of Beasts if thou failest of acquiring the Notices thou oughtest to have I wish thou wouldst mind more for thy Friends sake what passes in the Seraglio in the Divan and in the Prince's most secret Councils to know what is said there against me and for me Good and seasonable Advice does oftentimes hinder much Mischief and does a great deal of good Friendship makes those things which are otherwise hard very easie He that is not ready says an Holy Man amongst the Christians to suffer all things and to lose all and his very Will too for the sake of him that he loves deserves not the Name of a Friend Let us ever forget the Words mine and thine Thy good Fortune is mine even as thy Disgraces are If we thus establish our Friendship why may we not though Modern Turks compare our selves to those Antient Greeks who have given such glorious Marks to the World of their Friendship Why may we not be the Imitators of Pelopidas and Epaminondas who contracted so strict an Union that nothing could change it Although we were not born the same Day in the same Climat and in the same Town as Polistratus and Hypoclides who were born in the same House at the same Hour and lived always together and fell sick at the same Time and loved equally yet let us surpass them in Affection Love we one another more than Theseus and Piritohus more than Damon and Pithias the former of which contracted in Arms and the other in Studies that strict Amity that has rendred them so recommendable to Posterity If thou knowest any Secret whereby to restore my Appetite which I have lost send it me I am here Spectator of a Million of Mouths who eat four times a day and consume 15000 Oxen every Week and 15000 other Pieces of Animals besides Mutton Veal Hogs not to reckon all sorts of Fowl and Fruits produced by the Earth and the Fishes from the Seas and Rivers I am forced to dye with Hunger with my Meat in my Hands and in a Town where there is an Abundance of all sorts of things I want all things Bread which is so pleasant to the Eye and so savoury in the Tast to all other People is nauseated by me Wine only because 't is forbidden by our Law rejoyces the sight of me and stirs up a desire of drinking Let me hear oft from thee let thy Letters be instructive and be levelled against my melancholy Temper The God of Mahmut keep thee ever in Health and make thee love me as thou dost continually Paris 15th of the 10th Moon of the Year 1640. LETTER XVII To Adonai the Jew at Genoa THou art as lazy in writing as inconsiderable in thy Judgment of things Thou hast written to the Grand Vizir That this Republick is disposed to joyn its Forces to that of Venice for its Assistance in the War against the Port but what Ground hast thou for this Advice And if the Grand Vizir should oblige thee to give a Reason for this how canst thou satisfie his Curiosity and hinder him from accusing thee of great Lightness I now receiv'd a Copy of the Letter thou didst write to Constantinople for which I thank thee 'T would have been better I had received the Original for I would not have sent it There 's no likelyhood that a Republick so desirous of establishing a Peace in her Dominions will disturb her own Quiet for the Service of a State with which she is always at War Had the Genoeses any Cause of Complaint against Amurath they would want neither Soldiers nor Arms nor Vessels nor Mony to raise Enemies against him But at present whilst their Affairs are in a full Calm both Abroad and at Home they make with greater Prudence than the Venetians War in the Spanish Indies with their Registers and Arithmetick and they have always the Advantage in this kind of Combat wherein there is no Example they ever lost Let this Nation alone in Peace Write rather to the Port That the Genoeses condemned by Nature to dwell in the Rocks and Desart Mountains have found the means of making these the most dilicious Abodes in Europe Tell the Grand Vizir That so many extravagant Philosohers who continually search for what they will never find have at length shewed That there is no other Place where are more perfect Chymists to be found having converted into Gold almost all the Stones of their Country changed the Horror of their Desarts into most pleasant Gardens and the Cottages of the ancient Ligurians are transformed into Pallaces enriched with Marble and Porphyry with so great Magnificence and Propriety that no Houses are comparable to theirs To
hear no more from me believe Mahmut is dead Pardon likewise the Offences I have given thee which yet have been against my Will Adieu we shall see one another in God with God and in the Bosom of God Paris 12th of the 5th Moon of the Year 1639. LETTER IX To Ocumiche his Mother at Scios PArdon me my dear Mother if I write last to thee pardon me moreover if I have not written to thee to pay thee the marks of my Duty whilst I was in Health and let me seek after thee when perhaps in seeking for me thou wilt no longer find me I am ready to dye afflict not thy self if God calls me to him though I am amongst Infidels yet Death holds his Empire here as in other places The worst News I can tell thee is That commonly those who desire to live longest are soonest taken away and I am not ashamed to tell thee I am one of that Number I cannot willingly as yet leave this lower World O unhappy Life O unwelcom Death What Apprehensions have I not And with what Terrors am I not struck since I have lived amongst the Christians They preach against our Alcoran and we declaim against their Gospel They affirm that Mahomet was a great Impostor and we worship him They believe they only know the Truth that they be the only Saints the Elect and chosen of God what then will become of us if we be wedded to Errors and our Alcoran be only a parcel of Lyes I have neither good nor bad News of thee no more than of thy new Spouse God grant the merry Greek thou art married to have the Vices of thy first Husband my Father Thou knowest my meaning He called himself Vicious because he hated the Vertues of the Vulgar I thank thee not for my Life for that is what thou least thought of when thou becamest big with me But if thou expectest some Recompense for suckling me at thy own Breasts expect only Words of Thanks from a poor Slave who possesses nothing Love and Hate all the Time of thy Life this is the greatest Inheritance can be expected from a Son who is just a dying Engrave these Words in thy Heart Love ever what is honest and hate always what is contrary to it Thus will these different Passions be setled on their proper Objects If my Brother Pesteli be still alive give him my Love with an innocent Kiss and a Touch in the Hand Our Great Prophet protect and sustain thy Age with the Staff of Mount Liban and obtain for thee from the Mercy of the most High That thou mayst enjoy thy Senses to the last Hour of thy Life Adieu LETTER X. To Pestelihali his Brother BElieving my Life is near its End I therefore with all imaginable Eagerness write to thee in the third place although indeed thou holdest the first in my Heart We shall see one another Dear Pesteli in that World where every one receives according to his Deserts When I arrived in this great Town I was astonished at the Confusion I met there but I received no other Hurt Altho the Weather be very inconstant yet the Air is good and Provisions are wholsom and agreeable to the Tast the Water of the Seine is sweet and clear the Men are good Company and the Women have done me no Harm the King has not ill used me Cardinal Richlieu his chief Minister does not hinder me from living after my own Fashion our Great Emperor is not displeased with me yet my Distemper is impetuous a sad Faintness has seized my Heart and I begin to fall into such a languishing Condition as makes me despair of Health If thou still conservest any Affection for me read this Letter with Compassion Forget the ill Offices I may have done thee and if I parted without discovering to thee the Occasion give God Thanks for the Ability he has given me of sacrificing the Tenderness which I have for so good a Brother to the Obedience which I owe to the Emperors Commands Our Mother will salute thee as from me in giving thee a Kiss receive it as coming from me Keep thy Gravity and be honest in Asia as well as Europe and if thou goest to Africa suffer not thy self to be corrupted by ill Examples 'T is not without Tears I write thee this Letter but lament not if I dye neither rejoyce if I escape for I shall be thereby no less mortal and that Tribute which I do not pay to day we both shall pay with all other Men on a certain time Prepare to part willingly study more how thou shalt dye than how thou shalt live and if thou wouldst live till thou art Old live as if thou were to dye when thou art Young The Great God preserve thee in the perfect Use of thy Understanding and guide thee into all Truth and if thou desirest to be the best Captain and Commander in the World learn to conquer thy self Adieu Paris 12th of the 5th Moon of the Year 1639. LETTER XI To Dgnet Oglou SHould I tell thee I am in Health I shall write an untruth for I am really out of order and expect a Fit of Sickness which I wish 't were in my Power to avoid though it may prove short and mortal An Hectic Fever puts me oft in mind how frail and brittle a thing is Man and that he ought in Multiplicity of Business in Times of Prosperity as well as Adversity to think of dislodging hence The Bread I eat has no Relish Solitude appears dismal to me and Company wearies me for I cannot attend to what 's discoursed and yet I do not like they should say nothing there 's nothing pleases me but Drink yet all the Sea will not quench my Thirst I am restless in Bed and find my self more tired thereby than if I sat up and that which I loved Yesterday I hate to day Thou knowest how I loved Books this Humour is quite changed If the Sun shines into my Chamber I as soon shut my Windows being not able to endure it and having remained a Minute in Obscurity I am impatient for the Light Paris where one may say Strangers come from all parts to see the Varieties and Diversions there to be met with appears to me now an Hospital of Fools I long for nothing more than Constantinople and to be with my Friends imagining I shall find ease in their Company And this is the unhappy Condition of thy Friend without hope of seeing any more Turbans and Musselmen I loth as much the sight of an ignorant Physician as the Emperor Severus did a corrupt Judge and I look on a little Valet that serves me as a necessary Evil Yet I 'll a little divert thee maugre the Illness which has seiz'd me 'T is not above Six Months since I entertained this Enemy in my House which is a French Valet who makes himself a Fool of a Pigmy's Stature yet a Gyant in Roguery he is clad
confess my self to a Captain Dervis as the Christians do in the principal Feasts and when they are ready to dye I used this Ceremony but once and I do not think I have committed Sacrilege for I have told no Truth and if I may speak freely to thee Invincible Vizir hear what a pleasant Penance was enjoyned me for an imaginary Crime of which I accused my self I confessed I hindred by an Apology I had made a Mahometan from embracing the Law of Jesus and the Dervis said to me in a Passion You are not then a Catholick I am answered I and only disswaded this Barbarian on Account I had observed it seldom happened That a Turk whâ—â— changed his Law came to a good End and that those who cease to be Musselmen seldom prove any otherâ— but bad Christians Your Reasoning is also as false replyed sharply the Monk as the Design you have had is bad for you never ought to hinder any thing which is good for the fear you may have that in the End it may cease to be so And I enjoyn you for Pâ—nance to scrape out with such Exactness all the Characters of your Apology that there remain no mark of it so that the Paper become as clean and fair as if there had been nothing written on it that so black and detestable a Discourse be entirely defaced by the Painâ— which you shall take to hinder the remaining of any Trace or Mark After which you shall pray to God as long as you live that he would destroy the Temple at Mecha so famous by the Impieties committed there and enlighten the Eyes of the blind Mahometans But I am constrained to stop here being so feeble and indisposed that I have not the Strength to write that I am now recovering The Mars which has made Germany tremble I mean the Duke of Wimar is in fine dead at 36 Years of Age and buried in the same Field wherein he gathered his last Lawrels that is to say at Brizac I shall distinctly inform the Kaimakan of whatever has hapned during my Sickness that I may not give thee the trouble to read the Relation of several Adventures which have been already published in the World whilst thou art employed in the great Affairs of the Empire As soon as I am able I shall if possible do with greater Diligence the Offices of my Place and henceforward punctually advertise thee of the Cabals Intrigues and Designs of the Nazareens that thou mayst not be unprovided against all the Attempts of the Infidels I entreat the Being of Beings to accompany thy Life with all the Happiness thou canst desire on Earth and that thou mayst never undertake any thing for the good of the Empire and its Religion without Success Paris 15th of the 10th Moon of the Year 1640. LETTER XV. To the Kaimakan THou wert but little mistaken when thou thoughtest I was dead I have been so near the Grave that I may have received four of thy Letters without being able to read them so far was I from the power of answering them I have been sick a whole year and six months out of the Commerce of the Living and without receiving any Consolation from any one abandoned to Physic and become the Prey of the Physicians and in short out of hope of ever recovering but the day wherein I am to be judged is not yet come I am in fine still alive and shall soon I hope be well again if thou to o'rewhelm me chargest not my long Malady as a Crime upon me and suspectest me not guilty of Infidelty I have informed my self within these few days of several Events which have hapned during the Course of several Moons which I shall relate to thee if I can in this Letter to make amends for the time I have lost But in so few words as will occasion thee to think I am still sick for which thou must not blame me seeing thou lovest Brevity France during the time I have not writ to thee has given me marks of its Power and Policy Fouâ— places have been besieged in the year 1639. whosâ— Success have not been equal The French have me with disadvantage before Thionville by the Valouâ— and Conduct of Picolomini one of the Emperoâ— Generals who was born in Italy and brought up from a Child in the Trade of Arms 'T is said he has attackt and vanquisht his Masters Enemies with such speed that one may compare his Action with that of Claudius Nero when he defeated Asdrubâ—â— who had entred Italy He has broken the Enemieâ— Army routed the Horse took the Canon kill'â— the French General and immediatly rais'd the Siege but in revenge the same French who werâ— beaten before Thionville have made themselveâ— Masters of Hedin Salins and Salse which last was taken by the Young Prince of Conde who giver the marks of an extraordinary Valour but the Spaniards have re taken these Places which have cost them dear 'T is said that the Governor left by the Prince of Condeâ— here being prest by the Spaniards to surrender the Place threw out to 'em an hot white Loaf saying That those who eat of this Bread would not surrender themselves before the Enemies came to the time wherein they might eat Ice Yet the Place was surrendred before the Spring time was come to change the Face of the Earth so far were they from holding out till 't was cover'd with Snow or Ice This King immediately appeased the Insurrections which were made in Normandy But what wilt thou say of Casimir the King of Poland's Brother who being return'd a second time into France alone and disguised was discovered and carried Prisoner to the Castle in the Wood of Vincennes near Paris where he is carefully guarded The War has been very cruel in Italy between the three Parties who are extreamly animated against one another Prince Thomas of the House of Savoy drove out by surprize the French from Turin but thou wilt soon understand that our Capital Enemies the Spaniards have been beaten and entirely defeated under Cazal by the Count Harcourt of the House of Lorrain The Spaniards and Dutch have made a great Noise in the Ocean with their Fleets the former came with Fourscore Vessels of War to land Fifteen Thousand Men in Flanders but having been met by Van Tromp a Commander of great Courage and Experience there was a bloody Battel fought which lasted long but at length ended in the Defeat of the Spaniards The Dutch have taken Thirteen Ships and about Twenty of them have been driven by the Weather on the Coasts of England where they are lost and eight others have had the good Fortune to get into Dunkirk The Victory of the Dutch is compleat having lost but one Ship in the whole Engagement against so puissant an Enemy and whose Subjects they were formerly Bear with me Illustrious and happy Kaimakan wanting strength to contine on writing though it were the Victories of Amurath which I