him the charge of his Army with which he won Adrianople formerly called Orestias and ever since the Grand Signior hath continued to maintain that Office of Visier using that common appellation of Lala which signifies Tutor whensoever in familiar discourse he speaks to him There are besides the first commonly six other Visiers who are called Visiers of the Bench that have no power nor authority in the Government but only are grave men that have perhaps had Charges and Offices and are knowing in the Laws and sit together with the first Visier in the Divan or Court where causes are tryed but are mute and cannot give their sentence or opinion in any matter unless the first Visier please to demand their Councel or judgment in point of Law which he seldom does not to disparage his own reason and experience Their pay proceeds from the Grand Signiors Treasury and is not above 2000 Dollars a year any of these six can write the Grand Signiors Firme or Autogra upon all commands or decrees that are sent abroad and because their riches are but moderate and the Office they are in treats not much with the dangerous parts of State they live long without envy or emulation or being subject to that inconstancy of fortune and alteration to which greater degrees of place are exposed And yet when any great matter is in Consult and of considerable importance these six with the first Visier the Mufti and Caddeelescheers or Lords chief Justices are admitted into the Cabinet Councel and are often permitted freedom to deliver their opinions on the matter of question The state and greatness the Prime Visier lives in is agreeable to the honour of him whom he represents having commonly in his Court about 2000 Officers and Servants when he appears in any solemnity or publick show he carries on his Turbant before two Feathers as the Grand Signior wears three set on with a handle of Diamonds and other rich Stones and before him are carryed three horse tails called the tugh upon a long staffe upon the top of which is a gilded knob the like distinction of honour is permitted only to the three other principal Pashaes within their jurisdiction viz. the Pasha of Babylon of Cairo and of Buda the other inferiour Pashaes have only one horse tail carryed before them without other distinction or badge of Authority and these three forementioned Pashaes have a right to be Visiers of the Bench and can take their places in the Divan when the time of their Offices are expired and any of them found at the Court in entire grace and favour The Prime Visier as he is the representative of the Grand Signior so he is the head or mouth of the Law to him appeals may be made and any one may decline the ordinary course of justice to have his case decided by his determination unless the Visier through the multiplicity of his affairs and the small consideration of the case thinks fit to refer it to the Law And that he may evidence his care of the publick good he is alwayes present at the Divan four times a week that is Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday and the other dayes excepting Friday keeps Divan in his own house so diligent and watchful are these men to discharge the Acts of Justice and their own Office He is attended to the Divan which is a Chamber of the Seraglio by a great number of Chiauses and their Commanders in chief who are a sort of Pursevants and other Officers who only serve to attend him to the Divan called Muta faraca and may be termed Serjeants or Tipstaffes as he descends from his horse and enters the Divan or upon his return goes into his house he is with a loud voice of his Attendants prayed for and wished all happiness and long life not unlike the salutations the Roman Souldiers used to their Emperours Cum sub auspiciis Caesaris omnia prospera felicia precabantur When he is set upon the Bench all causes are brought before the Caddeelescheer who is Lord chief Justice and by him all judgments pass unless the Prime Visier shall think the cause proper for his cognisance or shall disapprove at any time the sentence of the judge and then by virtue of his unlimited power he can reverse the Verdict and determine as he pleases All officers in the Divan wear a strange sort of dress upon their heads called in Turkish Mugevezee which for the most lively description is here delineated before you A Turbant The Prime Visier hath his power as ample as his Master who gives it him except only that he cannot though he is the Elder Brother of all Pashaes take off any of their heads without the Imperial signature or immediate hand-writing of the Grand Signior nor can he punish a Spahee or Janizary or any other Souldier but by means of their Commanders the Militia having reserved themselves that priviledge which secures them from several oppressions in other matters he is wholly absolute and hath so great a power with the Grand Signior that whomsoever he shall think fit of all the Officers in the Empire to proscribe he can speedily obtain the Imperial hand to put it in execution Whatsoever petitions and addresses are made in what business soever ought first to pass through the hands of the Visier but yet when a party hath suffered some notorious injury in which the Visier is combined or hath refused him justice he hath liberty then to appeal to the Grand Signior himself which is permitted by an ancient custom the aggrieved person putting fire on his head enters the Seraglio runs in haste and can be stopt by no body until he comes to the presence of the Grand Signior to whom he hath license to declare his wrong The like was done by Sir Thomas Bendysh when Embassadour at Constantinople putting pots of fire at the Yard arms of some English Ships then in Port and came to Anchor near the Seraglio The reason thereof was the violent seizure of the Merchants goods as soon as arrived in Port for the service of the Grand Signior without bargain or account of them which being taken up by those Officers and great Persons who were out of the reach of Law forced the worthy Embassadour at that time Resident to represent his grievances with much resolution signifying them to the Grand Signior by fire on the Yards of eleven English Ships then in Port which were drawn off from the scale where they usually lay to the side of the Seraglio which coming to be discovered first to the Visier before the grand Signior had notice thereof he immediately extinguished those fires by a fair accommodation before they burst into a more dangerous flame by the knowledge of the Grand Signior who might justly destroy him for suffering such notorious injustice to run to that publick and known extremity The Persians in like cases put on a Vest of White Paper signifying the aggravation of their
Oeconomy or Policy from external appearances or effects but from the fundamental and original Constitutions so that your Lordship will conclude that a People as the Turks are men of the same composition with us cannot be so savage and rude as they are generally described for ignorance and grossness is the effect of Poverty not incident to happy men whose spirits are elevated with Spoils and Trophies of so many Nations Knowing My Lord that this work which I have undertaken is liable to common censure I have chosen to shrowd my name under the patronage of your Lordship to protect me from the ill-understanding and mis-conceptions of our Countrymen both at home and abroad against which I doubt not but to be sufficiently armed in all parts where I travel when the countenance your Lordship affords me is joined to the authority of his Excellency the Earl of Winchilsea his Majesties Embassador Extraordinary now actually resident at Constantinople my ever honoured Lord to whom I read a long time before publish'd to the World the greatest part of this following Treatise and as I received his favourable approbation and assent to the verity of most matters herein contained so I must ingenuously confess to have been beholding to that quick and refined Genius of his who often rectified my mistakes supplyed me with matter and remembred me of many material points which I might otherwise have most unadvisedly omitted And his Excellency knowing that in his absence this Book might want a favourable Patron left me to my self to seek out one who might concur with him in the same innocent defence And as My Lord you are a publick person and under our Gracious Sovereign are one of those generous spirits which have espoused the common interest of the Nation so I presume on this present occasion not to want your protection also in a single capacity for which excess of favours I shall ever pray for the exaltation of the greater glory of your Lordship and for ever acknowledge my self My Lord Your Lordships most humble most faithful and most devoted Servant PAUL Rycaut THE EPISTLE TO THE READER Courteous Reader I Present thee here with a true Systeme or Model of theTurkish Government and Religion not in the same manner as certain ingenious Travellers have done who have set down their Observations as they have obvionsly occurred in their Journeys which being collected for the most part from Relations and Discourses of such who casually intervene in company of Passengers are consequently subject to many errours and mistakes But having been an Inhabitant my self at the Imperial City for the space of five years and assisted by the advantage of considerable Journeys I have made through divers parts of Turky and qualified by the Office I hold of Secretary to the Earl of Winchilsea Lord Embassador I had opportunity by the constant access and practice with the Chief Ministers of State and variety of Negotiations which passed through my hands in the Turkish Court to penetrate farther into the Mysteries of this Politie which appear so strange and barbarous to us than hasty Travellers could do who are forced to content themselves with a superficial knowledge The Computations I have made of the value of their Offices of the strength and number of their Souldiery according as every City and Country is rated are deduced from their own Registers and Records The Observations I have made of their Politie are either Maxims received from the Mouth and Argument of confiderable Ministers or Conclusions arising from my own Experience and Considerations The Articles of their Faith and Constitutions of Religion I have set down as pronounced from the mouth of some of the most learned Doctors and Preachers of their Law with whom for Money or Presents I gained a familiarity and appearance of friendship The Relation of the Seraglio and Education of their Youth with divers other matters of Custom and Rule were transmitted to me by several sober Persons trained up with the best Education of the Turkish Learning and particularly by an understanding Polonian who had spent nineteen years in the Ottoman Court. If Reader the superstition vanity and ill foundation of the Mahometan Religion seem fabulous as a Dream or the fancies of a distracted and wild Brain thank God that thou wert born a Christian and within the Pale of an Holy and an Orthodox Church If the Tyranny Oppression and Cruelty of that State wherein Reason stands in no competition with the pride and lust of an unreasonable Minister seem strange to thy Liberty and Happiness thank God that thou art born in a Country the most free and just in all the World and a Subject to the most indulgent the most gracious of all the Princes of the Universe That thy Wife thy Children and the fruits of thy labour can be called thine own and protected by the valiant Arm of thy fortunate King And thus learn to know and prize thy own Freedom by comparison with Forreign Servitude that thou mayst ever bless God and thy King and make thy Happiness breed thy Content without degenerating into wantonness or desire of revolution Farewell THE CONTENTS Of the several CHAPTERS The First Book CHAP. I. THE Constitution of the Turkish Government being different from most others in the world hath need of peculiar Maxims and Rules whereon to establish and confirm it self Page 1 CHAP. II. The absoluteness of the Emperour is a great support of the Turkish Empire 2 CHAP. III The Lesson of Obedience to their Emperour is taught by the Turks as a Principle of Religion rather than of State 8 CHAP. IV. The History of Kiosem or the Queen-Mother 11 CHAP. V. The Education of Young Men in the Seraglio out of which those who are to discharge the great Offices of the Empire are elected it being a Maxim of the Turkish Politie To have the Prince served by such whom he can raise without envy and destroy without danger 25 CHAP. VI. Of the Method in the Turkish Studies and Learning in the Seraglio 30 CHAP. VII Of the Platonick affection and Friendship the Pages in the Seraglio bear each to other 33 CHAP. VIII Of the Mutes and Dwarfs 34 CHAP. IX Of the Eunuchs 35 Of the Black Eunuchs and Appartments of the Women 37 CHAP. X. Of the Agiamoglans 40 CHAP. XI Of the Vizier Azem or Prime Vizier his Office the other six Viziers of the Bench and of the Divan or place of Judicature 43 CHAP. XII Of the Offices Dignities and several Governments of the Empire 51 CHAP. XIII In what manner the Tartar Han depends on the Turk 57 CHAP. XIV Of the Tributary Princes to the Turks viz. the Moldavians Valachians Transilvanians Raguseans c. 60 CHAP. XV. The desolation and ruine which the Turks make of their own Country in Asia and the Parts most remote from the Imperial Seat esteemed one cause of the conservation of the Empire 67 CHAP. XVI All Hereditary Succession in Government as also the
with the like shout These preparations were not only in the Seraglio but likewise without for the Visier had given order to all the Pashaws and Beglerbegs and other his Friends that without delay they should repair to the Seraglio with all the force they could make bringing with them three days provisions obliging them under pain of Death to this Duty In a short space so great was this concourse that all the Gardens of the Seraglio the outward Courts and all the adjoyning streets were filled with armed men from Galata and Tophana came Boats and Barges loaden with Powder and Ammunition and other necessaries so that in the Morning by Break of day appeared such an Army of Horse and Foot in the Streets and Ships and Gallies on the Sea as administred no small terrour to the Janizaries of which being advised and seeing the concourse of the people run to the assistance of the King they thought it high time to bestir themselves and therefore armed a great Company of Albaneses Greeks and other Christians to whom they offered Money and the Titles and Priviledges of Janizaries promising to free them from Harach or Impositions paid by the Christians which Arguments were so prevalent that most taking Arms you might see the Court and City divided and ready to enter into a most dreadful confusion of a Civil War In the Seraglio all things were in good order the Morning Devotions being finished the Baltagees who are a Guard that carry Poleaxes called to the Pages to joyn with them and accompany them to the Presence Chamber These Baltagees were in number about 200 strong of large stature and of admirable agility at whose beck the Pages ran with all alacrity to the door of the Chamber where they at first received a repulse from the Master of the Chamber who was an Eunuch and one faithful to the Old Queens interest who to yield all possible furtherance towards the protection of her Person reproved the insolence of the Rout in coming so boisterously to the Royal Lodgings to which they unanimously answered that they would speak to His Majesty and that it was their desire to have the Old Queen Enemy to the King and the Mahometane Faith put to Death at which words he being enraged and relying on his Authority reproved them with terms of Rebels and Traitors to their Master What have you to do with the Queen said he Are you worthy to open your mouths against her Serene Name He reiterating these and the like words one of this Rabble said Kill that Cuckold for he also is an Enemy of the Faith and whilst one lifted up his hand to strike him he fled by the way of the Tarras into the Garden whither being pursued by five or six of them he was overtaken and catching him by the coller would have cut his throat but that at his earnest entreaty they gave him so much liberty as first to cast himself at the feet of the Sultan whither being dragged he delivered to the King a Seal and a Key of Secret Treasure and being about to say somthing in his own behalf and defence of his life a bold youth of these Baltagees called Jalch-Leferli struck him on the head with his axe and cleft it into two pieces the others seeing this first blow given him fell on him with their Symitters and cut him to pieces his blood and brains were dashed on the rich Carpets which moved fear in many who were secretly of the Conspiracy with the Old Queen The Young King himself ignorant of the good intentions of his Servants at the sight of blood-shed being yet tender-hearted cryed and closely embraced the Selihtar who then held him in his arms but upon the removal of the Corps out of his sight and some smooth words as that it was a sacrifice of love to him and the like his childish tears were soon wiped away In this interim the new created Mufti and Kenan Pasha one of the Visiers of the Bench and Balyzade Efendi who was formerly Lord Chief Justice and well affected to the Spahees party entring the Hazoda or Presence Chamber perceiving a tumult in His Majesties Presence with different voices and languages for some cryed in Georgian others Albanian Bosnian Mengrelian Turkish and Italian remained in great confusion how to proceed with order and reason in this important affair For the Mufti and others were of opinion that the sentence against the Old Queen was not rashly to be pronounced and so the matter might calmly be debated and if possible an expedient might be found for saving her life and securing the Sultan But the Rabble impatient of delay cryed out defer not the sentence for otherwise we shall esteem thee as one of her adherents By this time news was come to the Young Queen that there had been a fight in the Streets who as yet doubtful of the success and fearing if the Janizaries should gain the advantage Bectas would revenge the blood of the Old Queen by her death came covered with a Vail into the Presence Chamber saying as she passed Is this the Reverence you owe to the King your Lord Do you know the place where you are What would you have of a Woman Why do you busie your selves in the Kings Affairs Some presently apprehended that this was only a Plot of the Young Queen to make the World believe she would rather assist the Grand-Mother than contrive against her which made the Pages the more importunately to persist with the Mufti for the Fetfa or sentence against her But one of the Pages suspecting that this Woman so veiled might be the old Queen her self cryed out This is she you seek for she is in your hands take your Revenge upon her at which some bestirring themselves to seize her she ran to the feet of her Son and laying hold on him cried out No no I am not the GrandMother I am the Mother of this His Majesty and wiping the tears from the eyes of her Son with her handkerchief made signs to keep back which restrained the forwardness of some who pressed to lay violent hands upon her The Mufti who observed the carriage of the Rout and their earnest desires which could not be resisted feared if he gave not his concurrence he himself should be killed and the rather because he overheard the old Kenan Pasha discourse with the Visier to the like effect So that after some pause and Consultation with the other chief Ministers it was resolved to supplicate His Majesty for his consent which was done in these words Sir The will of God is that you consign your Grand-Mother into the hands of Justice if you would have these Mutinies appeased a little mischief is better than a great one there is no other Remedy God willing the end shall be prosperous Pen and Ink being brought the Mufti wrote the sentence and the Grand Signior subscribed it which was that the Old Queen should be strangled but neither cut with
singular Modesty and respect in the presence of their Master So that when a Pascha Aga or Spahee travels he is alwayes attended with a comely equipage followed by flourishing Youths well clothed and mounted in great Numbers that one may guess at the greatness of this Empire by the retinue pomp and number of Servants which accompany Persons of Quality in their journeys whereas in the parts of Christendom where I have travelled I have not observed no not in attendance of Princes such ostentation in Servants as is amongst the Turks which is the life and Ornament of a Court. And this was alwayes the custom in the Eastern Countreys as Q. Curtius reports Lib. 6. Quippe omnibus barbar is in corporum Majestate veneratio est magnorumque operum non alios capaces putant quam quos eximiâ specie donare natura dignata est But these Youths before they are admitted are presented before the Grand Signior whom according to his pleasure he disposes in his Seraglio at Pera or Adrianople or his great Seraglio at Constantinople which is accounted the Imperial Seat of the Ottoman Emperours For these are the three Schools or Colledges of Education Those that are preferr'd to the last named are commonly marked out by special designation and are a nearer step to degrees of Preferment and are delivered to the charge of the Capa Aga or chief of the White Eunuchs The Eunuchs have the care of these Scholars committed unto them whom they treat with an extraordinay severitry for these being the Censores morum punish every slight omission or fault with extream rigour For Eunuchs are naturally cruel whether it be out of envy to the Masculine Sex which is perfect and intire or that they decline to the disposition of Women which is many times more cruel and revengeful then that of men they will not let slip the smallest Peccadillo without its due chastisement either by blows on the soals of the feet or long fastings watchings or other penance so that he who hath run through the several Schools Orders and degrees of the Seraglio must needs be an extraordinary mortified man patient of all labours services and injunctions which are imposed on him with a strictness beyond the discipline that religious novices are acquainted with in Monastries or the severity of Capuchins or holy Votaries But yet methinks these men that have been used all their lives to servitude and subjection should have their spirits abased and when licensed from the Seraglio to places of Trust and Government should be so acquainted how to obey as to be ignorant how to Rule and be dazled with the light of liberty and overjoyed with the sence of their present condition and past sufferings passing from one extream to another that they should lose their reasons and forget themselves and others But in answer hereunto the Turks affirm that none know so well how to govern as those who have learned how to obey though at first the sence of their freedom may distract them yet afterwards the discipline lectures and morality in their younger years will begin to operate and recollect their scattered sences into their due and natural places But to return from whence we have a little digressed These young men before they are disposed into their Schools which are called Oda their Names Age Country and Parents are Registred in a Book with their allowance from the Grand Signior of four or five Aspers a day the Copy of this book is sent to the Tefterdar or Lord Treasurer that so quarterly they may receive their pension Being thus admitted they are entered into one of the two Schools that is to say into the Bojuck Oda or the Cuchuck Oda which is the great Chamber or the less the former commonly contains 400 and the other about 200 or 250. these two Schools may be said to be of the same form or rank and what is taught in one is likewise in the other neither of them hath the precedency all of them equally near to preferment their first lessons are silence reverence humble and modest behaviour holding their heads downwards and their hands across before them their Masters the Hogias instruct them in all the rights discipline and superstition of the Mahometan Religion and to say their prayers and understand them in the Arabick language and to speak read and write Turkish perfectly Afterwards having made proficiency in the former they proceed in the study of the Persian and Arabick tongues which may be of benefit to them if their lot chance to call them to the Government of the Eastern parts and is a help to the improvement of their knowledge in the Turkish which being of it self barren is beholding to those tongues for its copiousness and enrichment Their Cloathing is good English Cloth and Linnen neither fine nor coorse their Diet is chiefly Rice and other wholsome Meats which become the Table of Scholars where there is nothing of superfluity as there is nothing of want Their manners and behaviour are strictly watched by the Eunuchs their careful Guardians so as they cannot be familiar one with another at any time without modesty and respect to the presence they are in if they go to perform the necessary offices of nature or to the Bath they are never out of the eye of an Eunuch who will admit none of their nearest relations to speak with them or see them unless special License be obtained from the Capa Aga or chief of the Eunuchs Their Bed-chambers are long Chambers where all night Lamps are kept burning their Beds are laid in ranks one by another upon Safrawes or Bords raised from the ground and between every five or six lies an Eunuch so as conveniently to see or over-hear if there be any wanton or lewd behaviour or discourse amongst them When they are arrived to some proficiency and almost to Mans estate and strength of body fit for manly exercises they are trained up in handling the lance throwing the Iron Bar drawing the Bow and throwing the Gerit or Dart. In all these Exercises they spend many hours being constant in all or some of them and are severely corrected by their Eunuchs if they seem to be remiss or negligent therein many of them spend much time principally in drawing the Bow in which they proceed from a weaker to one more strong and by continual exercise and use come at last to draw Bows of an incredible strength more by art and custom then of pure force and thus by constant bodily exercise they become men of great strength health and agility fit for the Wars and all active employments amongst their other exercises Horsemanship is a principal Lesson both to sit in a handsome posture and to manage their Horse with dexterity to draw the Bow on Horse-back forwards backwards and on either side which they learn with that agility and pliantness of their joynts in the full career or speed
the one hath already had his period and the other is of late beginning and at present flourishes and those are the Common-wealths in Egypt under the Mamalukes and the other in our days in the Dominions of Algier The first not only deposed the whole Family of their Prince from having power in the Government and from all succession but also made it an immutable law that the Sons of the Mamalukes might succeed their Fathers in the inheritance of their estates as lands and goods but could not assume the title or Government of a Mamaluke nor not only so but that all that were born in the Mahometan or Jewish Faith were uncapable ipso facto of the Order of a Mamaluke and only such preferred thereunto who had been Sons of Christians and become Slaves instructed and educated in the Mahometan superstition or else men of maturer age who having abjured God and their Country were come thither to seek preferment in that Kingdom of darkness And this slavish and strange constitution of Government flourished for the space of 267. years until overthrown in the year of 〈◊〉 Lord 1517. by the arms of Selymus that victorious Emperour of the Turks The present Government of Algier is but of a few years the first original of which was by one Barbarose a famous Pyrate and afterwards by the accession of great quantities of Turks out of the Levant the protection of the Grand Signior was craved and a Pashaw received from the Port but now the Pashaw remains without any power the whole Government being transferred to the scum of the people who fearing lest the power should at last become subject to the Natives have made it a law that no Sons of a Turk born in that Country whom they call Cololies can be capable of an office in their Common-wealth but only such who having been born Christians are perverted to the Turkish sect or else such who come from parts of the Turkish Dominions to be members of their Republique And thus much shall serve to have declared how much the Turks are jealous of all successions in office and authority which may prejudice the absolute Monarchy of their great Sultan CHAP. XVII The frequent exchange of Officers viz. the setting up of one and degrading another a rule always practised as wholesome and conducing to the welfare of the Turkish State HE that is an eye-witness and strict observer of the various changes and chances in greatness honours and riches of the Turks hath a lively Embleme of contemplation before him of the unconstancy and mutability of humane affairs fortune so strangely sports with this people that a Comedy or Tragedy on the Stage with all its Scenes is scarce sooner opened and ended then the fate of divers great men who in the day-time being exhaled to high sublimity by the powerful rayes of the Sultans favour in the night fall or vanish like a Meteor The reason hereof if duly considered may be of great use as things stand here that is to the power of the Grand Signior for in this constitution the health and benefit of the Emperour is consulted before the welfare of the people And the power of the Emperour is in no action more exercised and evidenced then by withdrawing and conferring his favours for by these means having many whom he hath educated and prepared for offices and stand candidates to receive them his power would seem to be at a Nonplus and appear like an inconsiderate Father who had spent more mony in the breeding of his Sons then the Patrimony amounted to he had to bestow upon them and therefore the Grand Signior to imitate the Sun benights some parts of the world to enlighten others that so by a general influence and communication of his Beams he may be acknowledged the common Parent of them all And this course doth not only evidence the power of the Grand Signior but likewise increases it for none are advanced in these times to office but pay the Grand Signior vast sums of mony for it according to the riches and expectations of profit from the charge some pay as the Pashaws of Grand Cairo and Babylon 3 or 4 hundred thousand Dollars upon passing the Commission others one others two hundred thousand some fifty thousand as their places are more or less considerable and this mony is most commonly taken up at Interest at 40 〈◊〉 50 per cent for the year and sometimes at double when they are constrained to become debtors to the covetous Eunuchs of the 〈◊〉 so that every one upon his first entrance into office looks on himself as indeed he is greatly indebted and obliged by justice or injustice right or wrong speedily to disburthen himself of the debts and improve his own principal in the world and this design must not be long in performance lest the hasty edict overtake him before his work is done and call him to account for the improvement of his Talent Think then taking all circumstances together of the covetous disposition of a Turk the cruelty and narrowness of soul in those men commonly that are born and educated in want what oppression what rapine and violence must be exercised to satisfie the appetite of these men who come famished with immense desires and strange considerations to satisfie Diu sordidus repente dives mutationem fortunae male regit accensis egestate longa cupidinibus immoderatus Tac. lib. 1. Hist. So that Justice in its common course is set to sale and it is very rare when any Law-suit is in hand but bargains are made for the sentence and he hath most right who hath most mony to make him rectus in Curia and advance his cause And it is the common course for both parties at difference before they appear together in presence of the Judge to apply themselves singly to him and try whose donative and present hath the most in it of temptation and it is no wonder if corrupt men exercise this kind of Trade in Traffiquing with Justice for having before bought the Office of consequence they must sell the Fruit. Vendere jure potest emerat ille prius Add hereunto a strange kinde of facility in the Truks for a trifle or small hire to give false witness in any case especially and that with a word when the controversie happens between a Christian and a Turk and then the pretence is for the Mussulmanleek as they call it the cause is religious hallows all falseness and forgery in the testimony so that I believe in no part of the world can Justice run more out of the current and stream then in Turky where such Maximes and considerations corrupt both the Judge and Witnesses Turcae magnae pietatis loco ducunt dicere falsum testimonium adversus hominem Christianum non expectant ut rogentur injussi adsunt seque ultro ingerunt This consideration and practice made an English Embassadour upon renewing the Capitulations to insert an Article of caution against the
stature and stomachs they speak big talk of nothing but killing and adventurous exploits but in reality their heart and courage is not esteemed proportionable to their bulk and bodies in the City they march before the Vizier on foot and make way for him to the Divan on journeys they are too heavy and lazy not to be well mounted they have a Captain over them called the Delibaschi their Arms are a Lance after the Hungarian fashion a Sword and Pole-Axe and some of them carry a Pistol at their Girdle This sort of People being naturally more faithful than the Turks and more inclinable to the Vizier Kupriuli for being of the same Country he maintained 2000 of them for his Guard which was so great a curb to the Janizaries and the other Militia that they were never able to execute any Conspiracy against him The same course his Son the present Vizier follows and is doubtless next the Grand Signiors favour his principal security Of the Segbans and Sarigias It is not to be omitted that the Beglerbegs and Pashaws maintain always a Miltia called Segbans to whose custody the charge of the baggage belonging to the Horse is committed and a select number called Sarigias to whose care the baggage of the Infantry is entrusted these serve on foot with Muskets like Janizaries and the others on Horse-back like Dragoons in Christendom their pay besides their meat is 3 or 4 Dollars a month The Beglerbegs have oftentimes on occasions of their Rebellions enrolled many of this sort of Militia to encounter the Janizaries the which was practised in these late times by Ipchir Pashaw Hasan Pashaw and Murteza Pashaw who having listed great numbers to fight under this denomination the Vizier Kupriuli for terrour and more easie destruction of this people proclaimed through all Asia that strict inquisition should be made after the Segbans and Sarigias and that it might be lawful for any one to kill and destroy them without mercy by which means many were butchered in several places and 30000 of them revolted to the Sofi of Persia. The Muhlagi and Besli Are the servants of Beglerbegs and Pashaws the first make profession of a principal art in good Horsemanship and exercise themselves in throwing the Gilid which is a Dart much used amongst the Turks in the true management of which there is great dexterity and because there are considerable rewards bestowed on those who are expert herein the Turks practise it on Horse-back as their only exercise and study very much delight herein the Grand Signiors have always taken and to be spectators of the Combats between the servants of several Pashaws born in different Countries and Nations who from a principle of honour to their Nation and hopes of preferment contend with that heat and malice one against the other as surpass the cruelty of the ancient Gladiators and not only limbs or eyes are lost in this skirmish but oftentimes sacrifice their blood and life for the pastime of their Prince Such as are observed to be bold active and dexterous at his Game are preferred to the degree and benefit of a Zaim or Timariot The Beslees are footmen who for their great abilities in walking and running attain oftentimes to be made Janizaries And thus we have now with as much brevity as may be run through the several Degrees Numbers Institutions Laws and Discipline of the Turkish Militia by Land whose farther progress into Christendom and damage to the Christian Cause may the Almighty Providence so disappoint that his Church corrected and grown more pious by this chastisement may at length be relieved from the Rod and Yoke of this great Oppressor CHAP. XI Certain Observations on the Turkish Camp and the Success of the last Battel against the Christians IN the year of our Lord 1665. the Earl of Winchelsea our Lord Embassador for certain Affairs of His Majesty and the Company or Merchants having commanded me to meet the Great Visier in his return from the Wars in Hungary through ill or rather uncertain information of the Visiers motion I was forced to proceed as far as Belgrade in Servia on the Confines of Hungary 23 days journey from Constantinople where finding a good part of the Turkish Army encamped neer that City for better convenience and expedition of my business I entred within the Quarters of the Spabees and pitched my Tent as neer the Visiers and the other principal Officers as consisted with due respect 〈◊〉 which place I remained seven days untill the Army removed towards Adrianople and not having fully compleated my business there I marched and remained other 13 days together with the Army in which time I had leisure to make some reflections on the Order of the Turkish Camp In the front of the Camp are Quarter'd the Janizaries and all others destin'd to Foot-service whose Tents encompass their Aga or General In the body of the Camp are erected the stately Pavilions of the Visier of his Kahija or chief Steward or Councellor the Reis Effendi or Lord Chancellor the Tefterdar Pascha or Lord Treasurer and the Kapisler Kahiasee or Master of the Ceremonies which five Pavilions take up a large extent of ground leaving a spacious Field in the midst in the centre of which is raised a lofty Canopy under which Offendors are corrected or executed aud serves to shelter from the Sun or Rain such as attend the Divan or other business with the Officers of State Within the same space of ground also is the Hasna or Treasury in small Chests one piled on the other in form of a circle for guard of which 15 Spahees every night keep a Watch with their Arms in their hands Neer these Quarters are the Tents of Pashaws Beghs Agaes and Persons of Quality who with their Retinue solely make up a considerable part of the Turkish Army In the Reer are the Quarters of the Spahees and others that attend the Horse-service as Segbans Sarigias and others On the 〈◊〉 hand of the Visier without the Camp are placed the Artillery and Ammunition which in the time I was there was inconsiderable the great Cannon remaining in Buda and in the City of Belgrade only 40 or 45 small Field-pieces of Brass as I reckoned them each drawn by four Horses marched with the Visier more at that time for State and Ostentation than for real Service The Pavilions of the Great Visier and other Persons of principal Office and Quality may rather be called Palaces than Tents being of a large extent richly wrought within adorned beyond their Houses accommodated with stately Furniture with all the convenience of the City and Country and in my opinion far exceed the magnificences the best of their Buildings for being but for few years continuance the maintenance of them is beyond the expence of Marble and Porphery or the perpetual Edifices of Italy durable to many Olympiads and Myriads of years With these Houses and movable Habitations which with the Posts that support them are