the Living they are busy in augmenting the Generations of Men Whilst others of as High Blood are gone to encrease the Number of the Dead being enroll'd amongst the Ghosts and made Denizons in the Region of Shadows The Empress of Germany died in the Fifth Moon The Duke of Braganza in the Ninth The Dutchess of Modena in the Eighth And a certain German Prince whose Name I have forgot died in the Moon of October Besides these Death has also Arrested Ossalmski the Great Chancellor of Poland Wrangel General of the Suedish Army Frederick the German Embassador at Rome Ferdinand Elector of Cologne and the Vice-Roy of Bohemia who was by his Enemies thrown out of a Window and had his Brains dash'd out So that tho' Mars may have seem'd to lie Dormant this Year yet his Companion in Mischief Old Saturn has been very Active as the Astrologers say who attribute all Events to the Influx of the Stars Some are also of Opinion that the Eclipses of the Sun and Moon this Year were Presages of the Death of these Great Persons They might as well plead That the Daily Rising and Setting of those Luminaries Portended all the Tragical Events that happen'd on Earth since it is not more Natural for them to continue Unalterably Moving from East to West than it is for them to be Obscur'd at certain determin'd Stations in their Journey by Interpositions which happen of Course We are Strangers to the Chronologies of the Chinese and Indian Gentiles Neither can any good Account be now given of the Ancient Egyptian and Assyrian Records They run many Ages back beyond the Common Epocha of the Beginning of the World But the whole System of Known History relates but Two Extraordinary or Preternatural Changes in the Course of the Sun during these Six Thousand Years One when that Luminary stood still in the Time of Jehoshua General of the Israelites to serve the Ends of Destiny and prolong the Light of the Day to a double Proportion till the Opposite Army was quite destroy'd and not one of the Vncircumcis'd could escape the Swords of the Victorious Sons of Jacob. That Day prov'd a long Night to their Antipodes They turn'd themselves in their Beds when they had out-slept the Usual Hours of Night and said in their Hearts Surely the Sun is fall'n Asleep or is Banqueting with the Gods of the Sea Perhaps Thetis detains him in her Embraces whilst the Tritons fasten his Slumbers with their softest Musick Or Neptune regales him in the Palaces of the Deep Thus the Disconsolate Nations argu'd in their Chambers They were alarm'd with Fears of Unknown Events Such as dwelt on the Borders of the Earth and were accustom'd to mark the constant Ebbing and Flowing of the Sea admir'd the Delay of the Usual Tides and ask'd What what was become of the Moon for that Planet also stood still with the Sun The Light of their Souls was Eclips'd and their Reason labour'd under a greater Darkness than that which troubl'd their Eyes They were Ignorant of the Works of God and knew not that the Celestial Orbs stood still at the Command of the Spirit which formed them even at the Word of the Prophet Inspir'd from Above So in the Days of Hezekiah King of the Jews the Sun went back in his Circuit and all the Frame of Heaven was Retrograde to confirm the Prophet's Good News when he told the Sick King That Fate had prolong'd his Life for Fifteen Years This was in the Days of Merodach Baladan the King of Babylon who sent Ambassadors to congratulate Hezekiah's Miraculous Recovery Besides these nothing has happen'd to the Sun or any of the Heavenly Bodies beyond the Ordinary Course of Nature A Man may as well Prognosticate from Cloudy Weather the Calamities of Emperors and Meaner Men as from the Eclipses of the Sun and Moon Since the One as well as the Other obscures the Light of mose Heavenly Bodies And the Former quite hides them from Us which is the greater Eclipse of the Two Let us pray Heaven to grant us the continual Use of our Senses and not to Eclipse the Light of our Reason and we need fear no Disasters from the Common Appearances of Nature Paris 7th of the Moon Chaban of the Year 1649. The End of the First Book LETTERS Writ by A Spy at PARIS VOL. IV. BOOK II. LETTER I. To Muhammed Eremit Inhabitant of the Prophetick Cave in Arabia the Happy PArdon my Importunity if I this once trouble thee with an Address of Scruples begging thy Counsel in the Affairs of my Soul I seem to my self as a Traveller lost in a Wilderness of Doubts and Uncertainties without Guide or Conduct Not that I question the Truth of our Holy Religion or mistrust the Authority of the Sent of God Certainly I revere the Book of Glory whose Sacred Versicles are transcribed on my Heart But there is wanting to every Man a particular Conduct in the Intricacies of this Life I have not the Art of applying the General Precepts of the Law to my Own Personal Occasions and Necessities Infinite Difficulties arise from my daily Affairs My Conversation with Infidels and the Duty I owe my Great Master entangle my Conscience I am embarassed on all Hands and whilst I study to conserve Purity I find my self still defiled I am no Heretick nor in the Number of those who are Predestinated to be Damned for the Injurious Love they bear to Hali Injurious I say because it derogates from the Honour they owe to Omar Osman and Ebubecher the True Successors of the Apostle of God As I firmly believe the Alcoran so I give an entire Faith to the Book of Assonah or the Agreement of the Wise with the Writings of the Four Principal Imaums Haniff Schasi Melechi and Hambeli And I am resigned to the Sentence of the Mufti as our Fathers were of Old to the Oraculous Determinations of the Babylonion Califfs I Curse the Kyzilbaschi with as much Devotion as I pray for the Health and Felicity of True Believers I spit at the Naming of them who deny the Chapter of the Covering and the Versicles brought down by the Squire of Gabriel in Honour of the Prophet's Wife I never lifted up my Hand against any who descended from the Divine Messenger And if in my Passion I have ever Curs'd a Mussulman I took of the Dust under his Feet and laid it on my Lips before the Shadow of the Sun had advanc'd a Hairs-Breadth and so I hindred the swift Recorder of our Words from Registring the Imprecation For that Dust I believe has Power to blot out the Memorials of our Evil Words and Works When I meet a Santone or one of those Divinely Mad I put in Practice the Lesson of Orchanes and honouring the Holy Frantick I fall down and Adore Vertue in that Contemptible Disguise I neglect none of the Purifications Commanded by Our Holy Lawgiver but rather add those that we Arabians have received by Tradition
from the Herd which was grazing hard by and eat of the Consecrated Herbage Upon which Diomus the Priest mov'd with Zeal at the Reputed Sacrilege and snatching a Sword from one of those that were present kill'd the Bull. But when his Passion was over and he consider'd what a heinous Crime he had committed fearing also the Rage of the People he persuaded them That a God had appear'd to him and commanded him to Offer that Bull in Sacrifice by Burning his Flesh with Fire on the Altar as an Atonement for his devouring the Consecrated Fruits The Devout Multitude acquiesc'd to the Words of their Priest as to an Oracle And the Bull being flea'd and Fire laid on the Altar they all assisted at the New Sacrifice From which Time the Custom was Yearly observ'd among the Athenians to Sacrifice a Bull. And by them this Method of Religious Cruelty was taught not only to all Greece but to the Rest of the World In Process of Time a certain Priest in the Midst of his Bloody Sacrifice taking up a Piece of the Broiled Flesh which had fall'n from the Altar on the Ground and burning his Fingers therewith suddainly clapt them to his Mouth to mitigate the Pain But when he had once tasted the Sweetness of the Fat not only long'd for more of it but gave a Piece to his Assistant and he to others Who all pleased with the new-found Dainties fell to Eating of Flesh greedily And hence this Species of Gluttony was taught to other Mortals Neither is it Material what the Hebrew Doctors object against these Testimonies when they introduce the Son of Adam Sacrificing Living Creatures in the Infancy of the World since thou knowest many Errors are Inserted in the Written Law from whence they take this Story They say also That the First Goat that fell by the Hands of Men was kill'd in Revenge for the Injuries it had done the Owner of a Vineyard in browsing on his Vines such an Impious Deed having never been heard of before This is certain That the Egyptians the Wisest and most Ancient People in the World having receiv'd from the First Inhabitants of the Earth a Tradition forbidding Men To Kill any Living Creature to give the greater Force to this Primitive Law of Nature they Form'd the Images of their Gods in the Similitude of Beasts That so the Vulgar struck with Reverence at the Sacred Symbols might learn to abstain from Killing or so much as Hurting the Dumb Animals under whose Forms they Represented whatsoever among them was esteem'd Adorable Yet lest any in his Life-Time should by Accident or otherwise have transgress'd the Law of Abstinence they used a kind of Expiation for the Dead after this Manner The Priests took the Bowels out of the Belly of the Deceased and putting them in an Earthen Vessel they held it toward the Sun and calling Witnesses they made the following Speech in Behalf of the Dead O thou Sun whose Empire is Vniversal and all ye Other Powers who give Life to Men receive me into the Society of the Immortal Gods For so long as I lived in this World I Religiously persevered in the Worship of those Deities which were made known to me by my Ancestors I always Honour'd my Parents who begat my Body I never Kill'd any Man or Beast nor have been Guilty of any Black Crime But if whilst I liv'd I have trespass'd in Tasting any of those Things which are Forbidden it was not my Sin but the Fault of these Entrails which are here separated from the rest of my Body And having said this they cast the Vessel into the River on the Banks of which the Ceremony was perform'd Embalming the Rest of the Body as Pure and free from Sin After the same Manner the Persian Magi or Wise Men practised Abstinence And to imprint in their Disciples a Tenderness and Friendship toward the Beasts they called them according to their different Stations either Lyons Hyaena's Crows Eagles Hawks c. And their Garments were Painted all over with the Various Figures of Animals thereby insinuating the Doctrine of the Soul's Transmigration and inculcating this Mystery That the Spirit of Man enters successively into all Sorts of Bodies Which thou knowest is not remote from the Faith of True Believers It would not be amiss as a Testimony of the Practice of the Ancients to insert a Memorable Address which the Reformed Priests of Crete were wont to make before the Altar of Jupiter O Divine Governor of the Hundred Cities we have led a Holy Life from the Time that we were Initiated in thy Mysteries and forsook the Nocturnal Rites and Bloody Feasts of Bacchus We are now Purified and Clothe our selves in White Vestments the Emblems of our Innocence We shun the Society of polluted Mortals neither approach we to the Sepulchres of the Dead nor Taste of the Flesh of any Thing which has been endued with Life Such also was of Old and to this Day is the Abstinence of the Indians among whom the Brachmans perform the Office of Priesthood These the Ancient Grecians called Gymnosophists They are all of one Race neither will they admit a Stranger into their Order They live for the most Part near to Ganges or some other River for the Sake of their frequent Purifications Their Diet consists of Milk Curdl'd with sowre Herbs They feed also on Apples Rice and other Fruits of the Earth esteeming it the Height of Impiety to taste of any Thing that has Life They live in little Hutts or Cottages every one by himself avoiding Company and Discourse employing all their Time in Contemplation and the Service of the Temple They esteem this Life but a Necessary Dispensation of Nature which they Voluntarily undergo as a Penance ardently thirsting after the Dissolution of their Bodies and firmly believing That the Soul by Death is released from its Prison and launches forth into Immense Liberty and Happiness Therefore they are always chearfully disposed to Die bewailing those that are Alive and Celebrating the Funerals of the Dead with joyful Solemnities and Triumphs Among their Good Works it is accounted an Act of great Reputation and Virtue to build Hospitals for Beasts as well as Men And in every City there are great Numbers of such as spend all their Life in tending on Sick and Wounded Animals or such as have no Sustenance elsewhere And this is no Novel Institution but deliver'd down to them by Tradition from Immemorable Ages The Precepts also of Triptolemus and Draco the most Ancient Lawgivers of the Athenians are a Testimony of the Innocence and Sincerity of the First Ages For they comprehended all the whole System of Piety and Virtue in Practising these few Rules Let it be an Eternal Sanction to the Athenians To Adore the Immortal Gods To Reverence the Departed Hero's to Celebrate their Praises with Songs and the First Fruits of the Earth To Honour their Parents And neither to Kill Man or Beast I could relate to
Revolt of Normandy Gascoigne and Provence with many Eminent Cities were very prevailing Motives But that which was of greatest Force was the Want of Money and Men to carry on the War which could not be rais'd without vast Difficulty during these Publick Alienations Whatever were the Inducements a Peace was concluded about the latter End of the Third Moon at a Place call'd Ruel not far from Paris where the King has a House of Pleasure seated in the Midst of a little Paradise In one of my Letters to the Kaimacham I formerly describ'd the King's House and Garden at St. German en Lay. This is but a little Chiosc or Bower in Comparison of that Stately Palace Yet what is wanting in the Grandeur of the Fabrick is supply'd in its elegant Contrivance and the Richness of its Ornaments And as for the Garden it comes not far short of the other there being in it all Manner of curious Water-works Groves Solitudes Fountains Statues and whatsoever the Ingenuity of these Western Artists could suggest as proper to render this Place agreeable to the Melancholy Humour of the late Queen-Mother Mary de Medicis to whom it belong'd during her Life When you enter this delicious Eden your Eyes and Ears are presently deceiv'd by the Counterfeit Notes and Motions of all kinds of Birds which perpetually Sing as the Water tunes their Throats A little farther you see several old Gentile Statues adorning Two Fountains And among the rest a Crocodile big as the Life who by the Harmony he makes seems to have a Consort of Musick in his Belly as Regular and Sweet as that of the Italian Society at Constantinople which thou hast often heard As we depart from this full of Complacency and Admiration at the Exquisite Imitation of Nature in these Contrivances we fall insensibly into a Place exactly like what the Poets describe when they speak of Elysium It is a Grove the Tops of whose Trees are so thick interwoven that the Sun appears no otherwise through them than as if he were behind a Cloud or in an Eclipse So that the Darkness of this Place and solemn Murmur the Winds make on high among the Tops of the Trees fills it with a Kind of Sacred Horror Which has often made me think this Wilderness something like that which Historians describe when they speak of the Avenues to the Temple of Jupiter Ammon in Egypt For in the very Center of this Grove stands the House A Place one would think fitter for a Convent than a Prince's Court. At best it appears but like a Royal Hermitage a Cell consecrated to Kingly Melancholy I could not forbear making this Digression when I mention'd Ruel to be the Place where the Peace was concluded between the Court and the Parliament This Encomium is a Tribute which I ow'd for the Satisfaction and Pleasure I have often receiv'd in this Retirement Besides I thought an Idea of such a Garden would not be unwelcom to thee who art a Lover of Solitude The Coadjutor of Paris who is an Arch-Bishop is highly affronted that this Peace was concluded without him who had a chief Hand in beginning the War He labours to inflame the People again and reduce all to the old Confusion being an Irreconcileable Enemy of Cardinal Mazarini So that we expect another Insurrection in a short Time For the French cannot be long Idle Happy Minister I leave thee under the Wings of that Spirit which guards the Elect and bid thee Farewel Paris 15th of the 4th Moon of the Year 1649. LETTER X. To Dgnet Oglou SHall I tell thee I mourn for the Death of our Friend Egry Boinou whom thou sayest a Fever snatch'd from us the First Day of the Moon Regib That Fever it seems was the Effect of his continual and excessive Grief for the Loss of his Eyes so that we may say he has been dying ever since the Hour that Fatal Sentence was put in Execution And shall we grudge our Friend a Release from so lingring a Death At best it was but the Winter of Life wrapt up in Clouds and Darkness Now like the Serpent he has cast his Slough lifts up his Head with new Vigor sports himself in the Meadows of Paradise and basks in the Warmth of an Eternal Spring 'T will not therefore be a Mark of our Affection to him but only a Discovery of our Self-Love to condole the Occasion of His Happiness because it has lessen'd Ours by robbing us of his beloved Company and Friendship Besides we know not but that he may still continue to be our Friend even in that Invisible State and either manage our Interests Above or at least protect us from Dangers here Below We are ignorant of the Laws and Constitution of that Kingdom of Spirits and for ought we know the Souls of just Men after Death may become the Tutelar Genii or Guardian Angels of their Surviving Friends and Relations Let it be how it will doubtless Egry is Immortal and Happy and 't will be Envy in us to repine at it Rather let us congratulate the Time of his Decease as the Day of his Nativity and leave Mourning to the Crowd of Mortals who do a Thousand Things without ever thinking what they are about They tread in the Steps of their Fathers never examining whether they be Right or Wrong Custom and Education have almost banish'd Reason from the Earth Is it not a pleasant Spectacle to see the Kindred of an Old Rich Miser for whose Death they had long waited like Harpies for their Prey now flock about his Lifeless Carcase howling out a Thousand forc'd Lamentations whilst in the mean Time their Blood dances in their Veins for Joy Yet however this carries a Shew of Civiliz'd Manners and is better than the Barbarous Custom of the Scythians and Massagetes who when their Old Men grew Useless and Troublesome were wont to Sacrifice them and make a Banquet with their Flesh or the Thebarenes who threw their Aged Friends alive down Precipices These were Salvages But much more so were the Hircanians and Bactrians who cast their Aged Parents yet living to be devour'd by Dogs Which Inhumanity when Stasanor the Deputy of Alexander the Great endeavour'd to suppress they had like to have Depos'd him from the Government So prevalent is the Force of a Receiv'd Custom on the Minds of the Unthinking Herd Let thou and I therefore not supinely take up with Common Practices but like Men of Reason let us adjust the Last Offices we owe to our Friend whilst we pour forth some Devout Oraisons for the Health of his Soul without disturbing his and our own Repose with fruitless Lamentations And since we are bereav'd of his Society on Earth let us prepare to follow him and render our selves agreeable Company at our next Rendezvous in Heaven It was an Unjustifiable Rigor in Sultan Ibrahim to deprive him of his Eyes because he had only cast 'em unhappily on one of the Sultana's as she
enter'd the Garden This Jealousy is the peculiar Vice of the East Yet they are more severe in Persia where 't is present Death to be within Two Leagues of the King's Women when they travel the Road. But I never knew that Eunuchs were thus punish'd Or is there such a Difference between a White and a Black Eunuch That the One deserves to lose his Eyes for beholding that by Chance which the Other is honourably rewarded for having Access to and seldom being out of their Sight This was the worst Punishment that Seleucus the Law-Giver of the Locrians impos'd on them that were Actually caught in Adultery Which puts me in Mind of a Notable Instance of this Man's Justice For when his own Son was accus'd and prov'd Guilty of this Crime at once to shew the Tenderness of a Father and the Incorruptible Severity of a Judge he first caus'd One of his own Eyes to be put out and then One of his Sons Thus taking on himself Half the Penalty that so the Law might be satisfy'd in the Whole and yet his Son not be Totally depriv'd of his Sight Thou tellest me no News of our Armies nor what Alterations have been made amongst the Ministers of the Port since the Death of Sultan Ibrahim We have various Reports here and some say that the New Vizir Azem will be no long-liv'd Man I desire thee to write often to me and send me what Intelligence thou can'st Let nothing slip the Knot which has fast'ned us so many Years together in an entire Friendship But let us carry that Magnet with us to our Graves that at what Distance soever we may be buried our Souls may by the Force of that Attractive find one another out and converse together in that Region of Silence and Shadows Paris 9th of the 5th Moon of the Year 1649. LETTER XI To the Captain Bassa I Know not where this Letter will find thee on the Shore or at Sea If thou art in the Watry Wilderness I have no Art to trace thee There are no certain Roads in that Inconstant Element It is a mighty Plain without Path or Track And though there be certain Stages in it yet thy Arrival at them is tim'd at the Pleasure of the Winds and Waves which will not obey even the Orders thou hast received from the Grand Signior Lord of the Four Seas Perhaps thou art in pursuit of some Venetian Ships or other Christian Vessels the Corsairs of the Mediterranean Or thou mayst be Careening thy Fleet in the securer Retreats of the Archipelago Thou may'st be within a Minute of a Wreck or just entring a Harbor Wherever thou art may Heaven preserve thee from the Dangers which always threaten such as trust their Lives to a piece of Wood For there will be great Need of thee if our Intelligence be true in these Parts It is reported here That the Cossacks Circassians Mingrelians and other People who Border on the Black Sea and Obey not the Law brought down from Heaven are entred into a League against the Blessed Port and have covered those Seas with a Mighty Fleet while the Prince of Georgia rushes down from his Mountains with an Army of Forty Thousand Armenians Persians and Borderers of Mount Caucasus That the Former have taken a Thousand of our Trading Saicks and are advanc'd as far as the Ferry of the Bull which thou knowest is but Six Hours Sail from the Imperial City That the Latter have made Incursions into the Territories of the Grand Signior put all to the Sword who resisted 'em as they march'd along burnt and laid waste the Country And that all the Greeks and Armenians flock to them threatning an Universal Defection from the Ottoman Empire As to the Truth of these Reports I can ascertain Nothing but am inclin'd to believe the Cossacks are troublesome at Sea and that they may have drawn some of their Neighbours into a League those Pilfering Nations who live by Rapine and Spoil on both Elements Our small Vessels trading on the Black Sea full of Riches and empty of Arms must needs be a Temptation to those Pirates who are the most dextrous at a Robbery and the boldest Fellows in the World The Merchants of these Parts who have had some Traffick at Caffa and other Towns on the Banks of the Black Sea give a frightful Description of those Tempestuous Waters and no Good Character of the People that Border on them The Cossacks they say are Valiant and Mercenary the Circassians Hardy and Bold the Mingrelians Sly and Crafty and the Georgians of an Astral Complexion capable of all Virtues and Vices The First seldom act unless encourag'd by the King of Poland or the Czar of Moscovy and then they are content with their Pay and the Lawful Plunder of War The Second are never Idle when there is hope of Prey whether they fight their own Cause or are employ'd by others and fear neither Hunger Cold nor any other Extremity for the Sake of a Prize The Third are Good at a Stratagem and would steal a Man's Teeth out of his Gums if he be not wary Great Cowards yet desperate in their own Defence when they see no Medium between Fighting and Death As for the Fourth they seem to be a kind of Mungrels a Medly Race whose Character is compounded of the Other Three They are Stout and Witty Dext'rous at a Cheat and no Bunglers at an Ingenious Theft Great Liars full of Compliments and External Civilities but Perfidious and Implacable in their Revenges Yet after all I cannot believe the Prince of this Country who is a Tributary to the King of Persia would venture his Government at Two such desperate Stakes by breaking the Peace concluded by his Sovereign with the Grand Signior and so drawing upon himself the Vengeance of them both Therefore he is either secretly abetted by that Monarch or else the News is false Wouldst thou know how this Country came to be Subject to the Crown of Persia It was Conquer'd by Ismael Sophi to whom the Persian Historians in Flattery give the Epithet of Great He was the First of that Name and of the Persian Kings that refus'd to obey the Orthodox Successors of the Sent of God This Prince was Valiant in the Field and no Coward at Wine if we may believe one of his Courtiers who wrote Memoirs of his Life He Records Sixteen Battles wherein he always got the Victory and Twice that Number of Royal Debauches when he shew'd the Strength of his Brain in the Company of Foreign Ambassadors with whom he would always Carouse before they departed his Court that he might sound the Depth of their Instructions for none were able to cope with him at the Juice of the Grape And he always esteem'd that Liquor a Friend to Truth If he suspected his Ministers of State or any of the Governors of Provinces he us'd to invite them to a Banquet where in the Midst of his Drinking he unravell'd their
Malice against me At length he found it to be only the Practices of Ikingi who took Advantage of Solyman's Temper equally Loyal and Flexible insinuated into his Youthful Mind Monstrous Idea's of me and in fine set him a railing at me with a fierce kind of Liberty wherever he came The wise Bassa soon open'd my Kinsman's Eyes brought him to his Sense and the Issue of all was that Solyman writ me a Letter of Apology But since this the Master of the Pages has laid new Trains for me and drawn a great many more to his Party He has corrupted Mustapha Guir an Eunuch and Page to the Old Queen with whom I once held a Correspondence and as I thought had contracted a Familiarity and Friendship But it seems it was only an Appearance without Reality I could give thee a long List of those whom this Academick has taught to slander Mahmut But I will not appear so Revengeful Besides this is not the only Grievance of which I complain Shall I remonstrate to thee most Excellent and Serene Bassa the true Cause of my Uneasiness I am weary of living among Infidels Favour me with thy Assistance and Intercession that I may have leave to retire from this Place and vindicate my self before the Faces of my Enemies And having had that Honour rend'ring also a just Account of the Affairs wherewith I am entrusted I may visit my Native Country and spend the Residue of my Days in Arabia the Scene of all our Prophet's Great Actions the Place where I first drew my Breath I languish for the Aromatick Air of Admoim the Crystal Fountains and Cooler Shades of that Happy Province I long to see the Groves which encompass the Village of my Nativity the Turrets of thy Father's House and the Mosque of Hasen the Prophet For tho' I took no Notice of these Things in my Infancy yet having once seen 'em in my Riper Years when I were able to make more lasting Reflections I shall never forget these delightful Objects so long as I live If this be an Infirmity pardon it Illustrious Arab since it is Natural to all Men. Thou thy self hast enjoy'd the Pleasure of revisiting that sweet Region Pity Mahmut who burns with Desire to taste the same Or if this shall be thought too great an Indulgence to the poor Exil'd Mahmut yet it will be easy for thee who art a Favourite to obtain of the Grand Signior that I may at least be recall'd from this Employment and some body else substituted in my Place There are those among my Enemies who are Ambitious of the Fatigue and Ikingi my Old Friend would exchange all the Honours he is possess'd of in the Seraglio for this Obscure yet Hazardous Post 'T is Pity but such a Man's Thirst of Perils should be gratify'd But if after all that I have said my Superiours shall think it expedient to continue me here I am resign'd Only desiring that from henceforth my Slanderers may be suspected as Men ill affected to the Sublime Port for traducing a Man that has waded through a Thousand Difficulties Temptations and Perils and serv'd the Ottoman Empire in this Station fourteen Years without making a false Step or Transgressing the least Point of his Instructions I hear that Chusaein Bassa is made Vizir Azem The French have a very great Opinion of his Valour They are generally Impartial Criticks in Martial Affairs scorning to deny a Brave Enemy his Due Character We are at present barren of other News save a New Arrest of Parliament against Cardinal Mazarini and all his Kindred and Creatures whereby they are declared Enemies to the State and charg'd with a long Catalogue of Crimes whereof perhaps they were never Guilty Here are also some flying Reports of the Cardinal's Death who they say has poyson'd himself for Grief of his ill Success in this Court But I esteem this only as the Froth of his Enemies Malice who really wish him Dead and to discourage his Friends give it out that he is so Serene Bassa I commit my Affairs to thy Protection beseeching thee to do the Office of a Countryman and a Friend to the betray'd for God Paris 26th of the 5th Moon of the Year 1651. LETTER XVI To Chusaein Bassa the Magnanimous Vizir Azem and Invincible General of the Ottoman Forces in Candia I Am not much above Forty Three Years Old yet have seen Great Changes in the World mighty Revolutions in Kingdoms and States and the Death of many Sovereign Monarchs Illustrious Generals and Wise Statesmen Doubtless all Sublunary Things are subject to Vicissitude There appears Nothing Constant and Settled but the Heavens and Stars They indeed persevere in their Immutable Courses never change their Orbs nor start from their Eternal Posts The Sun rises and sets at his accustom'd Hours and the Moon exactly observes the determin'd Periods of her Encrease and Wane These vary only as the Seasons of the Year with Exquisite Regularity and Constant Returns But here below there is an Universal Transmigration and Metempsychosis of States and Forms of Things A Perpetual Flux and Reflux of Human Events Men die hourly and others are hourly born to supply their Places One Age treads close upon the Heels of another And we who live at present as we walk in the Steps of our Fathers so shall we follow them down to the Grave where our Flesh by a new Metamorphosis shall be turn'd into the Bodies of Worms Insects and Serpents And what shall become of our Souls is Uncertain I was born in the Reign of Sultan Achmet from whom our present Sovereign is the Sixth Emperour that has ascended the Glorious Throne of the Ottomans May God grant him a Long Life and a Series of Years bless'd with Continual Health and Victory over his Enemies I pray Heaven also to perpetuate thy New Office to the last Period of the Sultan's Life and in wishing this I say all that can be expected But when I reflect on the frequent and bloody Tragedies that have been acted in the Seraglio since I can remember and the many Sacrifices that have been made of Sultan's Vizir's Bassa's and Principal Ministers of State besides the Massacres and Butcheries of Meaner Persons It makes me melancholy amidst the Joys I conceive for thy late Exaltation and fills me with Fears lest my good Wishes to the Grand Signior and Thee who art his Right Hand shou'd by some sinister Decree of Fate be almost as soon disannull'd as pronounc'd I pray Heaven avert my melancholy Presages The Death of the Old Queen the News of which is lately arriv'd at this Court does but revive and encrease my Apprehension of Greater Tragedies to come Because one Act of Cruelty still propagates another Revenge is Prolifick and Mischief is never at a Stand. 'T is true indeed as it is not decent to insult o'er the Ashes of Illustrious Persons so neither has a Loyal Mussulman any great Reason to mourn for the Fall of a Woman by whose
Connivance her Royal Son and our late Great Master Sultan Ibrahim fell a Sacrifice to the Mufti 's Indignation 'T was an Unnatural Part in a Mother And we may say the Divine Justice has overtaken her in making her Grandson sign the Warrant for her Death with the Consent of that very Mufti at whose Instigation she had consented to the Murder of his Father Yet after all may not she have left behind her a Party in the Seraglio or at least in the State who will study to revenge her Fall or however do some Mischief to prevent their own Let me not seem to contradict my own Arguments and whilst I plead against Revenge and Cruelty appear an Advocate for those Inhuman Passions I do not mention the surviving Creatures of this Unhappy Queen to excite in thee false Sentiments of Justice suspicious Chimaera's of a possible Conspiracy and so stimulate thee to punish them by Anticipation for Crimes of which perhaps they never will be Guilty I rather suggest these Things that after so many Tragedies in the Royal Family a Stop may be now put to future Mischiefs lest whilst Men pursue a particular and self-Interess'd Revenge the Contagion shou'd spread and Cruelty become Universal and Infinite Let it suffice that no less than Three of our Sultans have been Depos'd and Strangl'd within these Thirty Years Not to mention the Deluge of Royal Blood that has overflow'd the Private Chambers of the Seraglio the Prisons of the Ottoman Princes Brothers or Sons to the Emperours formerly Reigning These were Barbarous Cures of untimely Jealousies and it is Pity that such Royal Massacres shou'd ever be repeated again Why shou'd the Posterity of Ottoman be in this Regard the only Vnfortunate Princes on Earth Were it not much more Noble and equally Wise to take the Measures of Aethiopian Policy where to prevent Sedition and Discords about Succession the Princes of the Blood are confin'd indeed but to a very Pleasing Liberty Whilst they have Palaces Parks and Large Fields at Command are serv'd by a Princely Train and deny'd no Lawful Pleasures within the Pale of their Restraint For there is an exceeding high Mountain in the Country the Top of which is very Spacious containing large Tracts of Ground many beautiful Seraglio's furnish'd with whatsoever can contribute to the Enjoyment of these Princes or at least to compensate for their Want of greater Liberty This Mountain is environ'd with a high and strong Wall having but one Entrance and that guarded by Soldiers so that no Man can go in or out who has not the Emperor's Warrant or at least a Permission from the Prime Minister of State For he upon the Death of the Emperor immediately calls a Council of the Supreme Officers who from among these Imprison'd Princes chuse him whom they think most worthy to succeed The rest who never felt the Appetite to Reign for they are carry'd to this Place in their Infancy and kept in perpetual Ignorance of State-Affairs pass away their Time without Envy or repining at the Exaltation of their Brother Addicting themselves wholly to the Innocent Delights of that Rural Life or to the Study of Books whereof they have great Plenty in their Libraries and those altogether treating of Matters of Divine or Natural Speculation Whereby though they know nothing of State-Artifices and Intrigues of Courts yet they become able Philosophers and vers'd in all the Liberal Sciences Wou'd to God our Ottoman Princes I mean the Younger Brothers had but half this Liberty granted them Then the Infidels wou'd have no reason to call the Exalted Port a Nest of Vulturs But we must not find Fault with the Actions of our Sovereigns though they tend to the Scandal and Ruine of the Mussulman Empire Yet I know to whom I write these Things having often heard thee declaim against this Barbarous Custom of shutting up the Royal Off-spring in a Dungeon without Light or Comfort during their Lives which many Times are also Cruelly shorten'd by the Hands of the Executioner But turning our Eyes from the Tragedies of the East let us fix 'em on the Affairs of the Nazarenes in the West The chief Discourse at present is about a Marriage lately solemniz'd between the Emperour of Germany and the Dutchess of Mantua She is his Third Wife successively for Polygamy is not allow'd even to the Sovereigns in these Parts where the Priests bear all the Sway. The Posts from Sueden inform us of the Death of General Torstenson of whose Exploits in Germany thou hast often heard That Empire is very Unfortunate spending its Time and Vitals in Unprofitable Assemblies and Consults whilst her Active Enemies take whole Provinces from her with Ease But this need not grieve Us. Great Atlas of the Mussulman Empire I wish thee the Continence of Scipio the Fortune of Alexander and the Temperance of Cato who when he was marching through the Sands of Lybia with his Army all ready to expire with Thirst and one of his Soldiers brought him his Helmet full of Water as a rare present in that General Distress gratify'd the Soldier for his Gift but spilt the Water on the Ground saying That since there was not enough to satisfy the Whole Army he wou'd not taste a Drop and that he was Unworthy to be a General who wou'd not endure as much Hardship as the meanest Soldier Paris 26th of the 5th Moon of the Year 1651. LETTER XVII To Nassuf Bassa of Natolia PRaise be to God Lord of the Seven Heavens and of all that is within their Circumference These Western Nazarenes are always a quarrelling They are resolved to do their Parts toward the fulfilling the Mussulman Predictions and those of their own Prophets It makes me smile to see these Infidels employing their Arms against each other contending about Petty Rights and Possessions whilst they neglect the General Conservation and Defence of Christendom from the Impetuous Torrents of our Invincible Armies The Elector of Brandenburgh is enter'd into the Dutchy of Mons with considerable Forces pretending to adjust I know not what Differences between those whom they call Catholicks and Protestants 'T would be too tedious for a Letter to run back to the First Original of this War and trace it down from above a Hundred Years ago to the present Time Besides 't is of no Import to a Mussulman to hear a long Story of the Marriages Deaths Heirs and Law-Disputes of these Petty Infidel-Princes Yet that thou may'st know something of it I will relate the whole Business as briefly as I can In the Year 1546. William Duke of Mons Juliers and Cleves marry'd Mary the Daughter of Ferdinand I. Emperour of Germany and by this March obtain'd of the Emperour whom they call Caesar as they did the Ancient Emperours of Rome whose Successor he pretends to be some Privileges touching the Succession of his Children and their Right to his Dominions and particularly that this vast Estate should not be Divided but rest in
the Terrestrial Paradise if we may give Credit to the Tradition of the Ancients They tell us that for a Time Adam dwelt there with his Second Wife and that the particular Place of his Abode was an Island encompass'd with the Rivers Euphrates Tygris Pison and Gihon From whence it was call'd Mesopotamia by the Greeks Which signifies A Region environ'd with Rivers All the West of Asia have a profound Respect for this Country And the Jews relate strange Stories of a Tree in Dierbekir which grew Five Hundred Miles high in the Days of Adam which they say was cut down by an Angel lest Man should climb to Heaven by it before his Time For it seems Ambition was a Vice early as our Nature and Adam was no sooner sensible that he was a Man but he aspir'd to be a God or something like One So great a Charm there is in Honour and Authority They say also that Abraham was born in this Region However 't is certain if there be any Certainty in Records and Histories that he resided there a considerable Time But thou knowest best what Traditions thy Subjects have of these Things The Chinese and Indians laugh at all this as a Romance of Later Date than their Chronicles which make those Extremities of the East to be the Stage of the first Mortals Instead of Adam and Eve or Alileth they assert the Names of the Original Parents of Mankind to be Panzon and Panzona Whose Off-spring they say continu'd Ten Millions of Years but at length were all destroy'd from the Earth by a Tempest from Heaven After whom they tell us God created Lontizam a Man with Two Horns each as big and tall as a Tree in that Country which they call the Plant of God being the Largest and First of all Vegetables This Man's Horns being Prolifick according to their Tradition out of the Right sprang a Thousand Men every Day for a Hundred Years and as many Women out of the Left in the same Space From whom descended all Mortals of both Sexes to this Day tho' we are much diminish'd in Bulk through the General Decay of Human Nature For these People affirm That the First Race of Men were all Gyants But that through Intemperance and other Vices their Off-spring shrunk by degrees into smaller Dimensions till at Length they arriv'd at the present Stature and appear'd like Pigmies in Comparison of the Primitive Sons of Loutizam In Confirmation of this the Indians shew to Travellers some of their Temples hewn out of vast Rocks with the Images of those Gigantick Men who they say were employ'd in the Work These they honour as Hero's or Demi-Gods I do not relate this for Truth but only to divert thee in representing the different Opinions of Men. God only knows how to separate the Truth from Falshood in Histories But to return to Dierbekir This Country is Famous for the Tower of Babel built by Nimrod and his Followers at what Time the Languages were confounded as Moses relates 'T is Remarkable also for the Battel fought between the Parthians and Romans at Harran and for the Death of Caracalla the Son of Severus Emperour of Rome who was Murdered by Macrinus the Roman General These Emperors were all call'd Caesars as the Kings of Egypt were call'd Pharaoh's and Ptolomies It seems the Word Caesar was first apply'd to Julius the Roman Dictator for that his Mother dying under the Pains which were to give him Life her Belly was ript up and he drawn forth from her Womb by the Hands of a Surgeon In Memory of which he and all his Successors were call'd Caesars that Word signifying drawn forth by Violence But whatsoever the Manner of his Birth was this is Certain that he and Forty of his Successors were hurri'd out of the World by untimely Death For they either laid Violent Hands on themselves or were Murder'd by Traytors If thou wou'dst have any News out of these Parts the Chief Discourse at Present is of a great Victory obtain'd by the Polanders against the Cossacks and Tartars And I cou'd wish this were all But the Nazarenes are continually made joyful with the Success of the Venetians against the Arms of the Invincible Empire They beat us by Sea and baffle all our Attempts by Land We have not got an Inch of Ground in Candia during the last Campaigne but lost many Thousands of Men and brought the Name of the Sublime Port and Victorious Mussulmans into Contempt and Scorn Where the Fault lies God knows 'T is too Melancholy a Theme to insist on Particulars Don Juan of Austria has also besieged Barcelona by Sea and Land Several Arrests of Parliament are here publish'd against the Prince of Conde and his Adherents and 't is reported the King will recall Cardinal Mazarini from his Banishment Illustrious Prince and Governour of a Happy Region I beg thy favourable Construction of this Address And thus in Reverence I desist full of Dutiful and Affectionate Vows for thy Prosperity Paris 19th of the 12th Moon of the Year 1651. The End of the Second Book LETTERS Writ by A Spy at PARIS VOL. IV. BOOK III. LETTER I. To Abdel Melech Muli Omar President of the College of Sciences at Fez. THou hast formerly received a Letter from me wherein I mentioned the Tenets of a certain French Philosopher who maintains That the Earth moves like the Rest of the Planets and the Sun stands still being the Center of this our World For he asserts that there are Many The Name of this Sage is Des Cartes Renowned throughout the World for his Learning and Knowledge Hâ— lays as a Basis of all his Philosophy this short Position and Inference I THINK THEREFORE I AM. In this alone he is Dogmatical allowing a Lawful Scepticism in all the Uncertain Deductions which may be drawn from it Pardon me Oraculous Sage if I expose before thee my Infirmities I am Naturally distrustful of all Things This Temper puts me upon Perpetual Thinking And that very Act convinces me of the Truth of my Being according to the Method of this Philosopher But What I am I know not Sometimes I Phancy my self no more than a Dream or Idea of all those other Things which Men commonly believe do Really Exist A mere Imagination of Possibilities And that all which we call the World is but One Grand Chimaera or Nothing in Masquerade At other Times when these wild Thoughts are vanished and my Spirits tired in the Pursuit of such Abstracted Whimsies begin to flag and that my Lower Sence awak'd by some present Pain or Pleasure rouzes my sleeping Appetites When I am touch'd with Hunger Thirst or Cold or Heat and find experimentally I am Something that cannot be a mere Thought or Dream but of a Composition which stands in Need of Meat Drink Garments and other Necessaries Then rather than fret my self with Vain and Endless Scrutinies I tamely conclude I am that which they call a Man I lay the Sceptick aside