as if it had been only a frolick he put Spurs to his Horse and rode out of sight As for his Guards they had no mistrust at first till at length that they saw he made so little hast to come back But it was too late to pursue him and as vain to stay till he return'd their Horses being quite tir'd with Galloping up and down for four hours and more together Besides the resolute Prisoner flew with all the speed that Whip and Spur could make and arriv'd at Ispahan where he met all his friends at the appointed Rendezvouz to the number of Fifty persons and went directly to the King's Gate When he drew near the Place where the King was sitting the General of the Slaves met him who was not a little surpriz'd to see him there sooner then he expected Nevertheless without making any shew of having kept any correspondence together he ask'd him his business who answer'd That he came to lay his Head at the King's Feet It is very well done replied the General of the Slaves I 'll go and beg the Kings leave for your admission But Hali-Kouli-Kaan instead of staying for the Kings Answer follow'd the General of the Slaves so close that he could hear the King as soon as he heard his Name and that he was come make answer aloud Kouh-Gheldy Safa-Gheldy Let him be welcome let him come in a good Hour and then commanding him to enter he repeated the same kind words with a Countenance that testifi'd his satisfaction and then caus'd him to sit down Within a Minute after the King call'd for him and order'd him to draw near him and when he was close by him Hali-Kouli-Kaan said he what brings thee hither and what is thy request To which the Lord made answer with a wonderful quickness of Wit I am come hither Benefactor of Mankind to serve your Majesty because Slaves and Dogs ought always to be within their Masters call This Answer highly pleas'd the Youthful Sovereign insomuch that after he had dismiss'd him he gave Order to the Prime Minister to give him a splendid Entertainment the next day to provide him a Palace and to furnish him with money and all other necessaries whatever In pursuance of which Command the Prime Minister assigned him the Palace where lodg'd the Embassadour from Aurang-Zeeb King of the Indians in the years 1664 and 1665. But this Lord so soon as he became Master of it pull'd it down to the ground and built it up again far more magnificently then ever as you may see in our Description of Ispahan The next day as he sate at Dinner with the Prime Minister and was telling the Story how he made his escape out of his Confinement he added That a mad Dog the more you keep him chain'd up the more mad and extravagant he grows which he therefore said in regard he had incurr'd the Kings displeasure by hair-brain'd and violent actions and full of a Transportment that truly savour'd of Extravagance A while after the King summon'd a Megelès or publick Assembly for his sake There out of a magnificent humour not usual but among Sovereign Princes he caus'd to be spread upon the ground in the Garden where this Lord was to pafs to the very Hall seventy Pieces of Zer-baffe which is a very rich sort of Persian Tissue as much as to say a Weaving of Silver For baffen signifies to Weave or make Tissue Every Piece of this Tissue might be worth eighteen Tomans about threescore or threescore and ten pound amounting in all to some twenty thousand Crowns Such persons as are thus honour'd by the King walk without their Shooes upon the Stuffs which the King afterwards sends them home to their house for a Present as he did to this Person to whom at the end of a sumptuous Banquet which he gave him he spoke these words Hali-Kouli-Kaan hearken what they are going to read Upon that the Principal Secretary read a Patent wherein the King nam'd him Governour of Corassin or the ancient Bactriana of which the Capital City is Metshed which is one of the chiefest Governments in Persia But whether this Lord had heard some report of an Invasion threaten'd those Parts he would by no means accept the honour or whether it were that he did not care to leave the Court or which was more probable because he thought it beneath him to accept of a meaner Employment then what he had before his Confinement For he had been formerly Generalissimo of all the Armies and therefore after he had return'd the King his most humble thanks Benefactor of Mankind said he I am old and broken with Age Grant me the favour at the end of my life that I may spend my days at the Gate of your Majesty Some few days after he offer'd him the Government of Armenia of which Erivan is the Capital City but with his most humble Thanks to his Majesty he refus'd that likewise and questionless for the same Reasons At length the King caus'd Letters Patents to be made him to be General of all his Forces and Governour of Media of which Tebris that which we call Tauris is the Capital City in regard that Government is always annex'd to that Employment But at the very time that he had receiv'd so great and extraordinary a favour from his Majesty he took the boldness to shew that he was not yet content but that he still desir'd something more To that purpose Benefactor to Mankind said he since your Majesty does me the favour to call me to so high a dignity I humbly implore your Majesty to add to my Government such and such Villages to the end I may maintain the splendour of that High Rank to which your Majesty has call'd me that when any Stranger comes to visit me I may be able to entertain him with a Plate of Pelo or Rice and Flesh the usual Food of the Persians that receiving this favour at my hands he may be more ready to joyn with me in praying for your Majesty To which when the King had condescended he flung himself prostrate at the Kings Feet and gave him Thanks As he was retiring out of the Kings presence the King having spi'd certain white Hairs in his Beard which he wore up to his Ears Hali-Kouli-Kaan said he Go to the Treasury and bid 'em in my name pay thee three hundred Tomans which is about Eleven hundred Guineys and buy thee some Paint to colour thy Beard and let me see no more grey hairs in thy Face Which immediately he did according to the Kings Order and carried away the Money And this was another Accumulation of Favour which his liberal Sovereign added to the rest which he had bestow'd upon him Thus was he made General of all the Persian Forces Governour of Media and in a word the first and most powerful person in Persia at which all the Grandees were not a little astonish'd and they all began to grow jealous of him
counterfeits himself to be the most faithful Subject and most passionate for his Countries welfare in the World He vow'd that he himself should be the Korban as they call it or the Sacrifice that would be offer'd for the safety of the People and that he would go himself to Kandaar and there expose his own Person to the first Assaults of his Enemies He also engages the General of the Army in this Intrigue who besides was willing enough of himself to return him like for like and to repay him for the kindness he had done him as we have already related The King therefore persuaded by these two Lords that were his Confidents the one the General of his Armies and the other General of his Slaves granted to the latter what he contended for with so much heat and gave him a Commission to raise men for Kandaar with hopes of the Government it self in a short time Which was no small joy to this same contriver of Wiles and Intrigues who thereby thought himself safe shelter'd from all those mischiefs which his turbulent spirit had brought upon him We have already told ye that this Lord was always look'd upon as a notorious Cheat and that in the Reign of Habas II. being supported by the favour of his Prince he had put a hundred tricks upon the Court that he took money at that time of all that offer'd it him promising to help 'em to the Offices and Employments for which they su'd but that when he had their money he presently forgot all his Promises that it was his pastime to sow discord and kindle the Coals of Dissention that he forg'd dangerous Calumnies and Accusations against his Competitors and with a brazen forehead utter'd 'em to the King for real Truths As to other things he was a comely well proportion'd Person a man of great Courage and Wit dextrously handl'd his Arms and liberal to Magnificence so that he might have pass'd for one of the bravest men in the World had it not been for that same black Malignity that infected all the rest of his Actions In a word there never was in one man a greater Medley of good and bad Qualities His good Qualities gain'd him the affection of his Masters his bad ones render'd him odious and formidable to his Equals and having gain'd the Affection of his Young Sovereign as he had won the favour of his Father he practis'd the same fooleries under the new Prince as before One of the first mischievous Pranks fell upon Mirza Ibrahim or Abraham Vazier or Royal Farmer of Azour-beyan or Media which is one of the richest in all Persia From this person he squeez'd four thousand pounds and withal brought him into so much trouble that he caus'd him to lose the greatest part of his Estate and to fall under that displeasure of his Prince that he could never since recover himself nor is it thought he ever will And thus it hapned The General of the Slaves having a design to get that Sum of four thousand pounds addresses himself to the Nephew of that rich Farmer for the Uncle was then at Tauris where his Employment lay This was a young Gentleman the Son of Mirza Sadek or just Lord Farmer also of the Province of Fars not inferiour to the other for profit And this Young Lord had also at Court the Employment of Erbaeb Tahuel or Chief Surveyour of the Kings Buildings and Houses in Ispahan To whom the General of the Slaves one day taking him aside thus delivers himself What makes thy Uncle Mirza-Ibrahim now at Tauris Why does he not come to Court Is there any more fit than he to supply the place of Prime Minister Mahomet Mekdy who enjoys it at present is a Bufflehead and a Changeling unfit to manage publick business I partly know the King intends to confer his Employment upon some body more worthy Nor can I tell where there is a person more fit for such an important Trust then Mirza Ibrahim And I believe I could with little trouble procure it for him by the help of some Presents which should not be very expensive neither If thou wilt give me a thousand Tomans or four thousand pounds I dare undertake instead of a Vazier of a Province to make him Grand Vizier of all Persia To this the young Lord repli'd that he would consider of it and no sooner had he left the General but he dispatches in all hast a Courrier to his Uncle to let him know what the General of the Slaves had propos'd to him Upon which the Vazier by the same Courrier sends an Order to his Nephew to pay the Money demanded which was done accordingly Soon after another Courrier arrives at Ispahan from Myrza Ibrahim For he assur'd himself of his advancement to the Chief Ministry and so much the rather because he conceiv'd himself fit for such a Dignity as indeed he was and therefore to facilitate his Preferment by the same Courrier he besought leave of his Majesty that he might come and kiss his Feet since it could be no prejudice to his Majesty in regard his Son was able to supply his Place The other Ministers who knew nothing of the Intrigue never imagin'd that such a permission could be any way prejudicial to their Interests or that it was only a pretence for the foundation of a more Important Design So that his Request was granted and an Order sign'd for him to come and kiss the Kings Feet leaving his Son to supply his Place While these two Courriers were coming and going a report that was only whisper'd about came to the Ears of Mirza Ibrahams Nephew that the General of the Slaves was ready to depart for Candaar Thereupon he labours more exactly to inform himself and understanding it was too true he bethought himself of the Thousand Tomans which he had paid him in his Uncles behalf which were like to be lost if he did not speedily look about him Thereupon he went and gave the General of the Slaves a Visit and civilly hinted to him to be mindful of the promise which he made to bring his Uncle into his Majesties favour and of the Money which he had paid him upon that consideration that he understood the General of the Slaves was going to leave the Court to the ruine of his Uncle's Interest or at least if the business should succeed it would not by his procurement and therefore besought him to return the four thousand pounds which he had paid him At which request the General of the Slaves did not seem to be in the least offended but made answer that 't was all the reason in the world and so appointed a certain time to repay the Sum. Which time being come he sent him away again with the same answer from one day to another Still Ibrahim's Nephew follow'd him close without letting any opportunity slip but still the young Lord was as careful to speak softly or when he was alone for fear of
have those of the Gentry and Nobility themselves above two The lower Rooms are always furnish'd with Beds and Couches to lie down and sit upon by reason of the great Moisture of the Earth The Persons of Quality sit upon Carpets the meaner sort upon Forms But their Houses are very inconvenient and Nasty as having neither Chimneys nor Windows The Fire place is in the middle and the light comes in at the Door Their Houses are built upon no Foundations which is the reason that they are easily Rob'd For the Thieves dig a hole under the first Beam that lyes upon the Ground and supports all the rest of the Fabrick and so creep into the House And as soon as the People begin to stir they get out again with the same ease Which Inconvenience constrains the Country People to have no more then one Room for every Family Where they keep all that they have about 'em except their Corn and sometimes their Wine So that they lie all together and House their Cattel in the Night Mingrelia breeds very good Blood So that the Men are very well shap'd and the VVomen very handsome Those that are of any Quality carry always in their Countenances some certain Features and Graces that are very Charming I have seen some wonderfully well shap'd that have had a very Majestick Air with an Aspect and Proportion much to be admir'd Besides they have those Obliging Glances that win the Affections of all that behold 'em and seem as it were to command their Love They that are not so handsome or in years paint abominably Colouring their Eyebrows their Cheeks Foreheads Noses and Chins but the rest only paint their Eyebrows They dress themselves with all the curiosity they can Their Habit is like that of the Persians but their Head-Attire is much like that of the European Women ev'n to the curling of their Locks They wear a Vail that covers only the Top and Hinder part of the Head They are naturally very subtle and of clear and quick Apprehensions Extreamly Civil full of Ceremonies and Complements but otherwise the wickedest Women in the World Haughty Furious Perfidious Deceitful Cruel and Impudent So that there is no sort of VVickedness which they will not put in Execution to procure Lovers preserve their Affection or else to destroy ' em The Men are endu'd with all these Mischievous Qualities with some Addition There is no VVickedness to which their Inclinations do not naturally carry ' em But all addicted to Thievery That they make their study that they make their whole Imployment their Pastime and their Glory Assassination Murder and Lying are among them esteem'd to be noble and brave Actions But for Concubinage Adultery Bigamy Incest and all Vices of that Nature they are Vertues in Mingrelia They make nothing to take away one anothers Wives by force and they Marry their Aunts their Nieces and their Wives Sisters without any Scruple He that has a mind to two VVives at a time marries 'em without any more ado and many there are that will have Three Every Man keeps as many Concubines as they please the VVives never grudging their Husbands that convenience for there is seldome any such thing as Jealousie among ' em If a Man take his VVife in the act with her Gallant he has a Priviledge to compel him to pay him a Pig by way of satisfaction which they eat all Three together and generally that is all the revenge the Person injur'd takes But this is the greatest VVonder that this VVicked Nation should maintain that to have several VVives and Concubines is justifiable for say they they bring us many Children which we sell for ready Money or Exchange for necessary Conveniences VVhich is nothing to another most Inhuman Tenent of theirs that it is a piece of Charity to Murder Infants newly Born when they have not sufficient wherewith to maintain 'em or such as are Sick and past hopes of recovery And the reason they give is this that by so doing they put those Childern out of a great deal of Misery which they would undergo in a languishing Distemper which in the end must of necessity carry 'em off Such are the Arguments of these Barbarous People that have neither shame nor Humanity I am afraid to tell the Truth lest History should want belief in this particular or that the Truths which I recount should be look'd upon as the Exorbitances of Relation But I aver 'em to be really true as some actions which I shall recite will sufficiently justifie The Gentlemen of the Country have full Power over the Lives and Estates of their Tenants with whom they do what they please They seize upon 'em whether VVife or Children they sell 'em or dispose of 'em otherwise as they think fit Every Country-Man furnishes his Lord with so much Corn Cattel VVine and other Provisions as he is able So that their Wealth consists in the Number of their Vassals Besides every one is oblig'd to entertain his Lord Two or Three days in a Year at their own Expences VVhich is the reason that the Nobility so long as the Year lasts go from one place to another devouring their Tenants and sometimes the Tenants of other Men. The Prince himself leads the same Life so that 't is a hard matter every day to know where to find him VVhen the Vassals of several Lords are at difference their Masters decide the dispute but when the Lords are at variance among themselves force and main strength determine the Quarrel and the stoutest Arm gets the better There is not a Gentleman in Mingrelia but has some quarrel or other And therefore it is that they always go arm'd and as numerously attended as they can VVhen they ride they are arm'd at all Points and their followers also nor do they ever sleep without their Swords by their sides and when they go to Bed they sleep upon their Belleys laying their Swords under ' em Their Arms are a Lance Bow and Arrows a streight Sword a Mace and a Buckler but there are very few that carry Fire Arms. They are very good Souldiers sit a Horse very well and handle their Lances with an Extraordinary Dexterity Their Habit is peculiar and unless they be the Ecclesiastical Persons they wear but very little Beard They Shave all the Top of their Heads in a Circle suffering the rest of their Hair to grow down to their Eyes and then clip it round of an even length They cover their Heads with a light Cap of Felt very thin par'd and cut into several Half-Moons about the Edges In the VVinter they wear a furr'd Bonnet They are moreover so beggarly and so wretched that for fear of spoiling their Caps or their Bonnets in the Rain they will put 'em in their Pouches and go Bare-Headed Over their Bodies they wear little Shirts that fall down to their Knees and tuck into a streight Pantaloon Nor indeed is there any habit in the VVorld
his Childern in Hostage for his Fidelity and make a Present to the Basha Now the Present which Sabatar agreed to make was Ten Young Slaves of both Sexes and Three Hundred Crowns either in Silver or in Silk The First of October Sabatar return'd and brought along with him a Protection from the Turk for his Castle and for all his Lands All that night he bestirr'd himself to get ready the Present which he was to carry To which purpose he signifi'd to all that were fled for Refuge to his Castle or Fortress that the Turks had given him a Protection for Twenty Five Slaves and Eight Hundred Crowns which he must Levy upon those that were retir'd under his security So that from every Family that had Four Children he took one which was the most lamentable spectacle in the World to see little Childern torn from the Arms of their Mothers ty'd two and two together and carry'd away to the Turks For my own part I was tax'd at Twenty Crowns However Sabatar did not carry any more to the Basha's Lieutenant then what they two had agreed between themselves the rest he appropriated to himself Nor could his Wives his Childern and all the Castle forbear loud Cries of sorrow when they saw his Young Son carry'd away among the rest For those Childern which are given in Hostage to the Turk are no less his Slaves He never parts with 'em as being usually sent to Constantinople to encrease the Multitude of those handsome young Childern that are bred up in the Seraglio The Basha's Lieutenant receiv'd the Present and the Hostage and still detain'd Sabatar with him nevertheless He also summon'd the Dadian Three times to surrender but the Prince refus'd For his Fortress was well guarded by the Souanes which his Vizier had sent him and who were more the Masters of it then himself besides that the Vizier sent him word every Day that he should hold out and that he would be ready in a short time to pour down upon the Enemy At last the Turks after they had stay'd about Four Days before Rucks and got above Two Thousand Slaves and much Booty rais'd their Siege for they had no great Guns which was the reason they did not attack the Castle They also carry'd along with 'em all the Mingrelian Lords that came to surrender themselves and had sworn Allegiance to the new Prince The Catholicos was among the number of those that had tak'n the Oath Whom the Basha order'd to be made Vizier to the new Prince and that they should send in his Name to the Prince of the Abca's to demand the Princess his Daughter in Marriage It was thought that the coming of the Turk into Mingrelia would have resettl'd all things in order and restor'd Peace and Tranquillity by causing all Parties to lay down their Arms. But it did not so fall out they only came and plunder'd the Country but put it into more confusion then it was before For they divided it into two Parties of which the one was engag'd by Oath and Hostages to the new Prince the other stuck fast to their depos'd Soveraign Which Division made every one betake themselves to their Arms. Seeing therefore the Affairs of the Country in this miserable condition so far from any Accommodation I took a resolution to get into Georgia by any manner of way or whatever the hazard might be For I ran those Risco's every Day in Mingrelia that I expected nothing at length but to be utterly ruin'd Levan threatn'd Ruine and Destruction to the Castles Goods and Lands of the Lords who had surrender'd to the Turks Sabatar was still in Custody and his Sons that commanded in the Castle were the grearest Cut-throats and accomplish'd Rogues in the World I languish'd every Day with sorrow and want It was a Man's whole business to buy a handful of Grain and a Pound of Vittles and I suffer'd in my Oven all the Injuries of Weather as if I had been in the open Field the despair of my Servants went to my Heart in a word I was at the brink of Death Which was that which induc'd me to venture all hazards to get my self rid of Mingrelia while I had strength and Ability to do it To that purpose I sought every where for Guides promis'd entreated lay'd down my Money but nothing would do there was no body that would be my Conductor The Armies they said lay so thick upon the Roads of Imiretta the Country between Mingrelia and Georgia through which I was of necessity to pass that it was a meer folly to venture where a man was assur'd he could not escape being made a Slave And these were all the Answers they made me I propos'd the fetching a Compass either over Mount Caucasus or along the Sea Coast but no body would undertake the Journey 'T is an incredible thing to think how fearful the Mingrelians are of Death or of being undone there is no Reward can prevail with 'em to run the Risco of a known Danger how inconsiderable soever it be At length I was constrain'd to take the way by Sea and through Turkey that is to say to fetch a Compass of Seventy Leagues To that purpose I went to Anarghia a Village and small Sea-Port of which I have already spok'n There I found a Felouque of the Turks which I hir'd for Gonia so that when I had giv'n Earnest I return'd to the Theatins House and to Sabatar's Castle to prepare for my Voyage The Tenth of November early in the Morning I departed from the Castle having agreed with my Comrade what ways I would take to recover him out of Mingrelia if it pleas'd GOD to grant me a happy Voyage I carry'd along with me Eight Thousand Pounds in Jewels and Eight Hunderd Pistols in Gold with the few small Packs that were left me The Jewels were hid in a Saddle contriv'd for that purpose and in a Pillow and I took a Servant along with me the same whom I had redeem'd out of Slavery This was a conceal'd Rogue a Traytor whose Villany was not well discover'd by me I was advis'd not to take him along with me for fear of some Imposition or some wicked Trick that his very Countenance told 'em he would play me nor was I well resolv'd with my self to be troubl'd with him but my Fortune would have it so and I could not prevent it But the Reasons that prevail'd with me more then any other to take him was that he brook'd his bad Condition like one that was mad or in despair and I was afraid lest in one of his mad or drunk'n Fits to which he was subject he should discover us in Mingrelia Fryer Zampi the Superiour of the Theatins bore me Company as he had done all along And the Lay-Brother undertook to Conduct me to Anarghia The Superiour and I went afoot because we could not meet with more then one Horse to be hir'd for Money upon which I loaded my Goods
when the Janisaries return'd and told the Commander that the Person had made his escape Which made him vent his Rage upon the La quey who was in a strange Agony between Fear and Madness at what time he began to open his Eyes and to perceive that GOD had confounded his Malice by his missing your Comrade with all that he carry'd under his care Thereupon I gave an accompt to the Commander of all the Villanies and wicked Tricks which the Rascal had committed in your Service and how liberal and kind you had been to him nevertheless in paying him his Wages That Evening the Commander invited me to sup with him at his own Table for he understood I was a Physitian and presently fanci'd himself to be ill So that I made him up some Medecins as well for himself as for some of the Souldiers that were in the Fortress He order'd an Italian Renegado to be my Guards at what time your Lacquey would have had him laid me in Irons for fear I should make my escape For the Rascal study'd a Thousand Tricks to do me a Mischief But the next Day the Queen and Janatelle sent two Gentlemen to the Commander to demand my Freedom as being their Physitian and the King 's also and about Noon there came two Gentlemen more from a great Lord of the Country whose Wife lay sick and he had been inform'd that I was a Prisner in the Fortress for Debt Thereupon he sent to the Commander of the Fortress to release me and he would pay my Debt but alas there was nothing more clear then that I ow'd nothing However I must give Twenty Five Crowns to the Commander which being paid I was set at Liberty notwithstanding the Noise and Clamour of the Lacquey who press'd that I might not be releas'd and told the Commander That there would be a Thousand Crowns giv'n to purchase my Liberty rather then let me lie So soon as I was free they carry'd me to the Lords House to whom I was beholding for my Liberty from whence I sent to Chicaris to know what News by the return of which Message I understood that you were gone to Tefflis and your Comrade was return'd to Mingrelia Some few Days after Father Justin arriv'd at Chicaris and understanding there where I was he came to me and then having repaid the Twenty Five Crowns which the Lord had disburs'd for my Deliverance out of Prison we return'd to Chicaris Where in two Days your Comrade arriv'd with all that was left behind of yours in Mingrelia who told us what Road he had tak'n to miss Cotatis To which purpose he had Ferry'd over the Phasis six Leagues from that City at what time the Ferryman told him That the Rogue who had laid so many Snares for us had giv'n two Crowns to give him Intelligence of your Comrade's Passage and that the Villain was under the Guard of four Janisaries who had order not to let him escape for that the Commander was resolv'd to make him perform what he had promis'd him And thus you see said he that hitherto all things have luckily succeeded and that GOD has confounded that Villain in his Wickedness whose Justice questionless will not permit him to escape the Clutches of the Turkish Commander without receiving some Punishment It was now late nevertheless my Comrade and I could not go to Supper till we had discours'd of the happy Issue of our Labour and of all our Misfortunes of which what I have recounted is but a part of the Truth nor till we had breath'd out to GOD our Ardent Thanksgivings for his Infinite Goodness his Omnipotent and his Miraculous Deliverance For we expected no such thing when we were in Tribulation And indeed who could have hop'd to have sav'd all when we were in such imminent danger of losing all The next Day following we cast up the Accompts of our Losses in this Disastrous Journey and found that it did not amount to more then above one per Cent. of all that we had sav'd and fortunately brought to Tefflis without any thing being either broken or spoil'd GEORGIA I mean all the Country so call'd which is under the Persian Jurisdiction borders at this day to the East upon Circassia and Moscovy to the West upon Armenia the Less to the South upon Armenia the Greater to the North upon the Black-Sea and that part of Colchis which is call'd Imiretta which in my Opinion is all that Country which the Ancients nam'd Iberia Georgia extended formerly from Tauris and Erzerum to the River Tanais and was call'd Albania being bounded as I have describ'd it It is a Country very full of Wood and very Mountainous that enclose a greater Number of pleasant Plains that run out in length but are not proportionable in breadth only the middle of Georgia is more even and level then the rest And the River Kur which most Geographers call Cyrus runs through the midst of it It takes its rise in the Mountain Caucasus a Day and a half 's Journey from Akalzikè as has been said and empties it self into the Caspian Sea I have seen some old Persian Geographies that place Georgia in the Greater Armenia The Moderns make a particular Province of it which they call Gorgistan and divide into four parts Imiretta of which we have spoken the Country of Guriel wherein is comprehended all that is under the Government of Akalzikè the Kingdom of Caket which extends it self very far into Mount Caucasus and is properly the Ancient Iberia and Carthuel which is the Eastern Georgia and which the Ancient Geographers call the Asiatick Albania The Kingdoms of Caket and Carthuel are under the Persian Dominion and this is that which the Persians call Gurgistan but the Georgians give it no other Name then that of Carthueli Which is no new Name as being to be found in the Writings of several Ancient Authors although somewhat corrupted especially St Epiphanias who speaking of these People calls 'em Cardians It 's reported that the Grecians were the first who gave 'em the Name of Georgians from the word Georgoi which signifies Husbandmen Though others will have this Name to derive it self from that of St. George the Patron Saint of all the Christians of the Greek Church There are very few Cities in all Georgia as has been observ'd though there has been many more formerly in the Kingdom of Caket But now they lie all in Ruines unless one which is also call'd Kaket And I heard say while I stay'd at Tefflis that these Cities were very large and sumptuously Built as may be well enough conjectur'd as well by that which is not as yet altogether destroy'd as by the ruines themselves Now these Northern Inhabitants of Mount Caucasus those Alans Suans Huns and other Nations so greatly fam'd for their strength and Courage and by the Report of many People another Nation of the Amazons were they that continually harrass'd and ransackt this little Kingdom of Kaket
Rustan-Can having reconquer'd Georgia built the Fortress of Gery as is reported He restor'd Peace and good order to the Country and Govern'd with an exemplary mildness and Justice He Marry'd the Sister of Levan Dadian Prince of Mingrelia though she were a Christian and Marry'd already Her Husband being Prince of Guriel whom Levan had depriv'd both of his Principality and his Eyes for being in a Conspiracy against him and taking his Wife away from him Marry'd her to Rustan-Can neither the Ecclesiasticks of Mingrelia nor Georgia opposing that Monstrous Conjunction if I may presume to call it so The Name of this Princess was Mary of whom we have already spoken in our Recital of the last Revolutions of Imiretta She is now the Wife of Shanavas-Can Governor of Georgia Rustan-Can Dy'd in the Year 1640. and his Body was carry'd to Com where it was enterr'd At what time Taimuras's Kinsman was Governor and Grand Provost of Ispahan Him Rustan-Can having no Children adopted and sent him to the Court beseeching the King to look upon him as his Son and to ratifie the Adoption His Majesty approv'd his Choice caus'd the Young Prince to be Circumciz'd and bestow'd upon him the Government of the City and this is he who is at Present Viceroy of Georgia being Fourscore Years of Age yet very Strong and Lusty So soon as Rustan-Can was Dead the Princess Mary his Wife had private Intelligence that upon the advantageous reports of her Beauty that had been made to the King of Persia he had commanded her to be sent to Court Thereupon she was adviz'd to fly into Mingrelia or to hide her self But she took a quite contrary course for being well assur'd that there was no place within the Empire of Persia where the King would not discover her she went and lockt her self up for Three Days together in the Fortress of Tefflis which was indeed to deliver her self up to the Mercy of him that sought her All which time she shew'd her self every Day to the Commander's Wives and then sending for him to her Apartiment she told him that upon the credit of his Wives that had seen her he might write to the King that she was no such Amiable Beauty to be so ardently desir'd that she was far gone in Years and besides that she was a little misshapen and therefore that she conjur'd his Majesty to let her end her Days in her own Country At the same time she sent the King a Magnificent Present of Gold and Silver and Four Young Damsels of an Extraordinary Beauty And so soon as she had sent her present she retir'd from the World not suffering her self to be seen by any Body she betook her self wholly to her Devotions giving great Alms to the Poor to the end they might Pray to GOD for her Souls Health But at the end of Three Months there came an order from the King for Shanavas-Can to Marry her Who was over joy'd at the receipt of the Order for Mary was Rich so that he Marry'd her though he had then another Wife of his own and he has a very great Value for her by reason of her great Estate Her first Husband the Prince of Guriel is still alive residing in Georgia but very Old and very Decrepit Nevertheless the Princess was so kind to send him one of her Damsels to comfort him for his loss of her and she allows him wherewithal to maintain himself but at a very sorry rate However she seems still to have some kind of Affection for him insomuch that being upon the Frontiers of Imiretta some Years since she sent for him and kept him with her eight Days At which when Shanavas-Can seem'd to be Jealous the Princess fell a laughing at him and ask'd Whether he were not asham'd to be Jealous of a poor old blind miserable Creature and altogether as impotent as himself The greatest part of the Georgian Lords are outwardly Mahometans some professing that Religion to obtain Preferment at Court and Pensions of State Others that they may have the Honour to Marry their Daughters to the King and sometimes meerly to get 'em in to wait upon the Kings Wives For which the usual Recompence is a Pension or an Imployment As a forerunner to which the Mahometan Religion is always first of all embrac'd The Pension is according to the Quality of the Persons but most commonly not above Two Thousand Crowns Upon which account there fell out a very lamentable Accident while I staid at Tefflis A Georgian Lord had giv'n the King to understand that he had a Niece of an extraordinary Beauty His Majesty commanded her to be brought to his Palace And who should be so wicked and base as to carry the Order and serve it but the Lord himself Thereupon he came to his Sister who was a Widow and told her That the King of Persia had a desire to Marry her Daughter and that therefore she must perswade her to give her consent Thereupon the Mother having made known to the Young Virgin the force that was upon her she was almost at her Wits end For she had rather have had a Young Lord that was her Neighbor by a Person whom she was extreamly belov'd Thereupon they took a Resolution to make him a Sharer in their Misfortune and to that purpose sent him the News by one of their Domestick Servants Away comes the Lord Post and arriving at Midnight found the Mother and the Daughter with mutual Tears and a condolling Grief bewailing their hard Fortune Presently the Lord threw himself at their Feet and told 'em That for his part he fear'd nothing so much as the loss of his Mistress and that all the Anger of the King of Persia was nothing to him in respect of such a fatal Calamity That there was but one way for him to disingage himself out of this Noose which was to be Marry'd immediately and the next Day to tell her Perfidious Uncle That the Lady by him demanded was no Virgin This was agreed upon and the Mother being retir'd the Marriage was Consummated in a Trice But the Uncle discovering the Plot gave notice of it to the King At which the King was so enrag'd that he gave Order to send for the Mother the Daughter and the Husband who thereupon hid themselves and skulk'd up and down for some Months But at length finding themselves too hotly pursu'd beyond all likelyhood of escaping they fled to Akalzikè the Basha of which place has tak'n 'em into his Protection The fear which they have in Georgia of Accidents of the like Nature obliges those that have handsom Daughters to Marry 'em as soon as they can and sometimes in their Infancy The poor People Marry theirs betimes and sometimes in the very Cradle To the end the Lords whose Vassals they are should not take 'em away by force either to sell 'em or make 'em their Concubines For certain it is they have a very great respect for Marry'd Persons
the Bodies of St. Andrew and St. Matthew were found there and that the Scull of the Evangelist is still preserv'd in the Church belonging to the Monastery When I came to Erivan I alighted at the House of an Armenian of my Acquaintance whose Name was Azarias He was a Person extreamly persecuted by those of his own Nation because he had been at Rome to turn Roman Catholick and Disciple to the Colledge for the Propagation of the Faith and for endeavouring to settle the Capuchins at Erivan I found him indispos'd and in Bed However he rose to give Notice of my Arrival fearing to come into trouble if he deferr'd it till the next Morning To which purpose he went to Court but could not see the Governor who was retir'd into the Apartment of the Princess his Wife Nevertheless an Eunuch did his Message The Eighth the Governor sent a Person to give me a Visit and to tell me I was Welcom Whereupon Mr. Azarias undertook to go in my behalf and return him my humble Thanks and withal to let him know who I was Upon which the Governor shew'd an earnest desire to see me as soon as I could and some part of the Jewels I had brought along with me Afterwards he ask'd how many Servants I had and order'd Mr. Azarias to inform him whether I had rather Lodge in the Fortress or in the Inn which he had built and to bring him word speedily For my part I made choice of the Inn as well for the Security of the Place as for that a Man shall never there want Company because of the great resort of Merchants thither besides that Travellers alighted there every day Thereupon the Governor order'd me one of the best Apartments The Ninth I went thither betimes in the Morning and spent all that day in setling my self in my Lodging About Noon one of the Governors Officers brought me an Order from the Steward to send for from the Office Bread Wine Meat Trouts Fruit Rice Butter Wood and other Necessary Provisions as much as would suffice six Persons The Quantity of every thing is regulated never augmented nor abated but the Proportion allow'd for one Person is so large that two may well be satisfy'd with it The 10th the Governor sent so earnestly for me to come to him and bring him part of my Jewels that I could no longer defer it I found him in a very large Cabinet or Study very Decent and very Light There was also with him the Head Surveyor of all the Mints of Persia who at that time was come to Erivan and four other Lords He receiv'd me with an Extraordinary Civility three times told me I was welcome and set before me Sweet Meats and Aqua Vitae of Moscovy Presently I presented him with the Kings Patent and that of the Grand Master already mention'd Of both which he made great accompt and spent an Hour in Enquiries after European News as well concerning the late Wars and the present Estate of Christendom as about Arts and Sciences and what new Discoveries had been made therein Another Hour he spent in considering and viewing the Pretious Stones and Jewels which I shew'd him He gave me to understand that among the Persian Poets Emraulds of the old Rock were call'd Emraulds of Egypt of which they believ'd there had been a Mine in Egypt which was now lost and at length after he had lay'd by what he lik'd himself and what he thought would please the Princess his Wife he stay'd me to dine with him Dinner being ended he honour'd me the other half Hour with his Company and then dismiss'd me commanding an Officer in my hearing to go to the Caravanserai and charge the Inn-Keeper to be careful as well for my security as to give me all Content And he was moreover so kind as to tell the Officer farther that he made him my Memander who is as it were a Gentleman-Waiter and such as are appointed to attend upon all Persons of Quality to take care of their Persons and the same Evening he sent me besides a Present of Moscovy Aqua Vitae This Governor bears the Title of Becler-Beg or Lord of Lords For so they call the Deputy Lieutenants of large Governments to distinguish 'em from those meaner Governours whom they call Can's He has also the Title of Serdar or General of the Army So that he is one of the Principal Lords of Persia and one of the most Judicious and most refin'd Politicians in the Kingdom He is call'd by the Name of Sephi-Couli-Can or the Duke the Slave of Sephi He enjoy'd one of the most Noble Governments of the Empire in the Reign of the Deceas'd King but through some Intreague among the Women he fell into disgrace three Years before the Death of that Prince The Wife which he has Marry'd is of the Blood Royal by the Mothers side And this Princess it was who at the beginning of the present Kings Reign restor'd her Husband to his Majesties Favour from whom in a little time he obtain'd the Government of Erivan the most considerable in the Kingdom and which yields him the fairest Revenue no less then Two and Thirty Thousand Tomans a Year which are above a Hundred and Twelve Thousand Pounds Sterling The Fines Presents and indirect ways to enrich himself are worth him Fifty Thousand Pounds more And doubtless this Lord is the most wealthy and most Fortunate of all the Kingdom The King loves him the Court has a Veneration for him and his two Sons are the Kings only Favourites the People under his Government Love and respect him because of his Popularity his doing Justice and for that he is not so oppressive and given to extortion as others So that he deserves the good Fortune he enjoys for besides these good Qualities he is Learned and a great Lover of Arts and Sciences The 11th this Lord sent to invite me to the Nuptials of his Stewards Brother where he was I found him pleasant and in a very good Humour For he had receiv'd at the opening of the Gate an order from the King by a Coolom-Sha who came from Ispahan in Thirteen Days This Order related to an affair of great Importance For several Sultans who are Lords of Countrys and Governours of strong Holds having refus'd to obey his Orders and having made great complaints against him to the King and his Ministers He on the other side had justifi'd his own Rights and Prerogatives upon which his Majesty had given Sentence in his behalf and had sent him an order to Command Obedience Which Order the Coolom-Sha was to see Executed and to cause Satisfaction to be giv'n to the Governour Coolom-Sha signifies the Kings Slave Not but that they who bear this Title are as free as other the Kings Natural Subjects but they take it as a Mark of their perfect Devotion to their Soveraign as being that to which they were bred up altogether in their Infancy For the Imployment of
of the Virgin that they may sufficiently judge by their Report whether the Original will please or whether she be a fit Match or no. Besides when they are Girls tho the Greatest Lords Daughters they are not so close lockt up till they come to be above Seven or Eight Years of Age. Till which time they appear up and down the House to the end they may be publickly seen and taken notice of so that sometimes it happens that a Man may have seen the Maid propos'd him for a Wife especially when she was little The Mahometan Religion holds Divorce to be Lawful however it be done or whatever the Occasion may be 'T is sufficient that one of the Parties dislikes the other and that they resolve to unmarry themselves for then tho otherwise the most prudent and civil People in the World they presently divorce Which Act of Separation is pass'd either before a Judge or before a Church-man This Act is called Talaac or a Bill of Divorce which being granted the Parties are at Liberty to marry again where they please themselves Upon the dissolution of the Marriage the Man is oblig'd to return the Woman her Dowry if it be he that sues out the Divorce but if it be the Woman that seeks the Separation then she loses her Portion The Mahometans also hold for lawful the Renewing of Marriages dissolv'd and that they may dissolve and renew and dissolve Three times but if it happen that after a Divorce the third time the Man and the Woman desire to come together a fourth time they cannot do it but upon this strange Condition that before the Woman marry another Husband she shall dwell with him forty days and then be divorc'd from him The Persians to speak in general rarely make use of this excessive License to unmarry one another The Citizens and Tradesmen sometimes make their Advantages of it But Persons of Quality will rather choose to dye then repudiate their Wives and you may as soon take away their Lives as force 'em to consent to a Divorce The poorer sort never use it for they are too silly and clott-pated to unmarry one another besides that it would cost 'em too dear in regard they must return the Portion they had upon the Repudiation Which however occasions a more crying piece of Injustice to be committed among the viler sort For they when they would be rid of their Wives without returning their Portions misuse the woman in that terrible and inhumane manner that she is forc'd to sue for a Divorce and sacrifice all to her Liberty Besides the Courts of Judicature rarely know the Differences that happen between Man and Wife the mischeivous Tricks that they play one another and the Reasons that move 'em to separate The Place where the Women are shut up is sacred especially among Persons of Condition And it is a Crime for any Person whatever to be enquiring what passes within those Walls The Husband has there an absolute Authority without being oblig'd to give any accompt of his Actions And 't is said that there are most bloody doings in those places sometimes and that Poyson dispatches a World of People which are thought to dye a natural Death The 12. I dismiss'd the Officer of the Can of Georgia who conducted me to Irrivan I made him a present of about Six Guines and gave him a Letter for Father Raphael of Parma wherein I let him know how diligently the Officers had serv'd me and desir'd him to give the Prince an Account of it and to return him my humble Thanks For it is the custome to give such Letters of Commendation to those sort of Officers Without which should they return to their Masters it would be a fault for which they would not fail to be punish'd The 13. I stay'd at the Palace some part of the day and din'd with the Governor The 14 and 15. I din'd there likewise He was extreamly civil to me to the end I should let him have what he had a mind to at a cheap Rate For 't is not to be imagin'd how these Persian Lords will debase themselves when they are dealing for their own Interest with People over whom they have no Authority They are not asham'd to beg for what they have a desire to They flatter they praise they promise there is nothing so mean which they will not make use of to attain their Ends and when they have once attain'd 'em they have done with those People Which Inequality of Temper they that have business in Persia shall have every day occasion to make Tryal of The 16. I went to visit the Patriarch of Armenia whose name was James an Ancient Man all over hairy and venerable for his Presence and Aspect but of a fickle and inconstant Disposition and whose Behaviour justify'd the Accusations which his Nation laid upon him which were that he wanted Judgment but was very Ambitious He lodg'd at the Episcopal Mansion and was confin'd within the Walls of the City A misfortune that for some Pranks which he had play'd he had drawn upon himself And as for that he then lay under the occasion was this of which he made me a long Rehearsal himself The Armenian Clergy is very much addicted to Symony as well as that of the Eastern Sects But that which they sell most dear is the holy Oyl which they call Myrone The most part of the Eastern Christians believe it to be a Balsom and a Remedy that physically Cures all the Distempers of the Soul Nay there are whole Societies of Christians who believe that the Grace of Regeneration and Remission of Sins is imparted by the use of this Oyl Saying that in Baptism for Example 't is the Oyl and not the Water which is the Matter prescrib'd And the Clergy keep the People in this pernicious Error because of the Advantages which they get by it selling at a dear rate the Unction of this Oyl Which the Patriarch has the only right to Consecrate and he sells it to the Bishops and Priests Now about twelve Years since the Persian Patriarch began to project how he might prevent the Armenian Ecclesiasticks over all the East from furnishing themselves with this Holy Oyl from any other Person but himself Those of Turky bought it of the Armenian Patriarch residing at Jerusalem and who is the Chief over all the Armenian Christians within the Empire James pretended that it was not lawful for the Armenians of Turky to go for Holy Oyl to Jerusalem but at a time when the War between the Turk and the Persian hinder'd 'em from coming to his See and he was of opinion for a sum of Money well expended at the Ottoman Court he might obtain an Order from the Port by vertue of which the Ecclesiastical Armenians of that Empire should be oblig'd to fetch their Holy Oyl from Persia as formerly But first he must have the consent of the Persian King to undertake an Affair of that
since at this City and is now going in all hast to the Palace which is the a Refuge of the Universe You must of necessity fully and exactly b inform your self of his designs and what Petitions he has to make to the most High Court and when you rightly understand ' em see that you use your best Endeavour that they may be favourably answer'd We shall be very desirous to know what Effect and Success our Recommendation shall have and after what Manner this Hlustrious Friend shall be receiv'd and entertain'd We also desire you to send us the good Tydings of his Health We pray to God that he may have the favour and the happiness to be well receiv'd of our Great King To whom I wish that c all the World may pay Homage and that he may prosper in all his Undertakings The Eternal God grant ye long life a The Persian word which I have translated the Refuge of the World is Alempenha Alem signifies the whole entire World or Universal Nature Penha a Retreat a Haven a Place of Security and to which a Man may have recourse b In the Original it is that they inform themselves For the Eastern People addressing themselves to Persons of Quality to denote the Person make use of the Third Person Plural and when they mean themselves speak in the Third Person Singular Which is also the Proper Idiom of the Holy Language c In the Persian it is That all Souls may serve his Name his Name Repetition is a Figure very frequent in the Oriental Languages and questionless borrow'd from the Sacred Language Of which there are a Thousand Examples in the Original Bibles as in the 68. Psalm v. 13. They are fled they are fled That is They are absolutely fled And Psalm 8. 7. v5 The man the man That is the Perfect Man Afterwards I went and took leave of the Principal Lords of the Court and among the Rest of the General of the Mint This Lord who was call'd Mahamed Shefi perswaded me to go to Ispahan by the way of Ardevil assuring me that I should not fail to sell in that City Thereupon I promis'd him so to do and took along with me a Letter of Recommendation to the Governor of that City who was his near Kinsman Which I thus Translated into French GOD Thrice High and Potent Lord Glorious Majesty worthy to be call'd Celestial Elect of the Governors Deputy Lieutenants and Happy Men Fountain of Grace Honour and Civility Exemplar of Purity Model of Generosity and Manificence Heart Sincere Real and Faithful Protector of his Intimate Friends and Kindred My most Excellent Lord and Master I beseech the most High God to preserve your Health and prolong your Life Having paid you my due Respects and Homage These are to let you understand Great Sir whose Wit is Clear and Glistering like the Sun That Mr. Chardin the Flower of European Merchants intending to go through Casbin to the Magnificent Palace which is the Refuge of the Universe I who am your Real Friend perswaded him out of a desire to serve you to go through the Sacred Ardevil He carries with him certain Commodities of an Extraordinary value which he will shew in the presence of your thrice a Noble Person I am certain you will buy if you meet with any thing that is worth your having and I am assur'd your Highness will command your People to take care of this Noble Stranger I am preparing to go for Tifflis with God's Assistance toward the end of the next Month Zilhage If I can serve your Excellency in that Country you will do me a great Honour to let me know it I beseech ye to believe that a richer Present cannot be made me then to bring me Tydings of your good Health God through his favour preserve your Illustrious Person till the Day of Judgement I am the true Friend of the Thrice High and Thrice Illustrious Lords Geonbec Hiaiabec and Mahamed-bec I am apt to believe for my own Repose the Continuation of their Health The Seal contain'd a Verse or Sentence of which this was the Meaning I have wholly left my Destiny to God I Mahamed Shefi his Creature Upon the outside of the Letter at one Corner was written in a small Character God preserve the happy Condition of my Friend While I stay'd at the Camp there arriv'd a Courier from the King who brought his Majesties Answer touching the Patriarch's Business And I understood at the Governours that the Contents were That the Chief Ministers were of Opinion that the Treasure at Ecsmiazin should be sold with all the Ornaments and all the Wealth belonging to the Church and Convent and that the Money that was made of it should go to the payment of the Patriarch's Debts And that this Resolution had been taken except Opposition had been made by the Armenians by representing that all that Money would nothing near satisfie the Patriarch's Concerns and that if they took away from Ecsmiazin its Treasure and its Ornaments they would ruine a place that drew a world of Company into Persia and which yearly paid a very great Rent occasion'd by the Devotion and Concourse of the Eastern Christians That upon that the King had decreed That the Money should be levy'd in Armenia upon all the Christian Villages to satisfie the Customer of Constantinople whom there was a necessity to see paid The Patriarch was over-joy'd at the News and made a Present to him that brought it but it displeas'd all the honest People in the City who were vex'd to the Souls to see the Prelate so insensible of the Violence they were going to offer to thousands of Poor Christians to pay for the Expences of his irregular Ambition The 8. an hour before day I parted from Erivan and travell'd four Leagues over the little Hills and through Valleys the Country which I cross'd being full of Villages In one of which that was a very fair and large one I lodg'd call'd by the name of Daivin The 9. we travell'd five Leagues through a Country that was very level and fertile That which they call the Mountain of Noah lying upon the Right Hand We directed our Course South-West and lay at a Village call'd Kainer The 10. we continu'd the same Road and travell'd eight Leagues Upon the left hand after we got half the way we left a great Town call'd Sederec Which is as it were the Capital of the Province of Armenia call'd Charour The Sultan of which Province resides in that Town That Night we had but a very bad Lodging in an old ruin'd Inn near to a Village call'd Nouratchin The 11. We travell'd four Leagues upon the same Road and through a very fair Country but not so level nor smooth as being stony and full of little Hills We also ferry'd over a River call'd Harpasony that waters all the Neighbouring Lands It separates the Government of that part of Armenia of which Erivan is the Capital from that
Twenty Sultans who altogether maintain eleven Thousand Horse more I lodg'd at the Capuchins Inn who were arriv'd before me They were no more then two whom I desir'd to keep my Arrival private for about fifteen days Which I did to put my self into an Equipage and my Things in the same Order as they were before my misfortunes in Mingrelia as also to methodize those things which I had brought for the King to the end I might shew 'em to the best advantage at Court But my arrival could not be concealed For Mirzathaer Son of the Treasurer and Receiver-General of the Province and admitted by way of Survivor-ship understood that there were Strangers at the Capuchins Inn. And therefore he sent the 22d to tell the Superior that he wonder'd at his neglect in not coming to give him notice of the Arrival and Quality of the Europeans which he entertain'd in his House To whom the Father excus'd himself and farther told the Messenger that for my part I had not fail'd to wait upon him had I not been ill disposed but in a few days I would attend and pay him my Respects The 23. the same Lord whom I had the honour to know in my first Travels made me a Visit together with the Son of the Can of Guenjé and shew'd me great Civilities He sate two hours in my Chamber while I gave him an account of the affairs of Europe particularly concerning Arts and Sciences After which he was so kind as to tell me the good fortune that had befall'n his Family and his Brothers Employments He was the eldest of three young Lords all in good Credit and advanc'd to Places both of Honour and Profit His Father is Treasurer as I said before and Receiver-General of all the Kings Demeans over all the Province of Azerbeyan This is that Mirza Ibrahim of whom so many Accidents are related in the Story of Soleiman's Coronation He was not then at Tauris in regard his Employments kept him at Shirvan a City near the Caspian Sea whose place this Mirzathaer suppli'd in his absence He is very well read in the Arabick Persian and Turkish Languages and besides a Capuchin taught him for several years the Philosophy of the Schools and all our Sciences He is a very Learned Personage a Man of ripe Wit and extreamly civil After two hours discourse he press'd me to shew him some Jewels and Watches To which I had no desire as not being then in a Condition for the Reasons already mention'd But he importun'd me so earnestly and with an assability so becoming that I could not refuse him So that I shew'd him several Jewels which I had of a low value of which he carry'd away several along with him In the Evening Tahmas-Bec who supplyes the place of Governor of Azerbeyan in the stead of Mansour Can his Father who is always at Court sent his Goldsmith to me to tell me I should oblige him by coming to him the next Morning and bringing along with me some Jewels and Rarities of small value To which I answer'd that I would not fail him and accordingly I went the same day and to Mirzathaer also The 25. we heard while we stay'd with those Lords the Confirmation and full Relation of a Robbery reported a month before and committed the December preceding upon the Great Caravan that goes from Ispahan to the Indies by land This Caravan sets out once a Year in August and goes through Candabar which is in Bactriana The Robbery was very considerable as well for the Number of Persons for the vast wealth that was in the Caravan as also for the Consequences that ensu'd It was committed three days journey from the Frontiers of India by the Agvan a sort of People much like the Tartars but tributary to the Persian They had intelligence which way the Caravan march'd and surpriz'd it in a very advantageous place for such a design They were in all five hundred Men all well Mounted and well Resolv'd The Caravan had a Convoy of about two hunderd and consisted of about two thousand Persons for the most part Indians The Convoy made no Resistance but betook themselves to Flight and the most part of the Caravan following the Example of those that should have defended 'em shifted every one for themselves So that there were but eleven kill'd so small was the Resistence made Nor was it a thing to be wonder'd at For the Caravan's and particularly those of the Indians are compos'd of Armenians and Indians people that for the most part will be Scar'd with a stick And they that had any Courage were left alone and abandon'd by those that should have assisted 'em So that every Man strove to save one and happy he that could shift for himself The Robbery was valu'd at several hundred thousands of Pounds but the true and just account could never be known the Merchants upon such occasions usually disguising the Truth some because they are afraid of loosing their Credit others for fear it should be discover'd that they conceal a part of what they send to save Customs and Toll The Inventory which was given into the King sign'd by above sixty Persons concern'd amounted to no less then three hundred thousand Toman's or a million four hundred thousand Pound sterling yet we were assur'd it was but the half of the Loss The Governor of Candabar was accus'd to have been accessory to the Robbery The King therefore sent for to have him apprehended and brought to Ispahan upon a Camel chain'd about the Neck with one Servant which he had the Liberty to make choice of It was affirm'd that they who comitted the Robbery themselves were a sort of People so ignorant that they understood not what belong'd either to Gold or Precious Stones They divided the Coyn'd Money one among another Gold and Silver intermix'd together by weight without any distinction of Mettal and jumbled the true Pearls with the false ones without making any Difference I must confess I could hardly believe this nor had I reported it if it had not been universally and constantly avow'd by all the People I discours'd with upon this occasion The first of May the Deputy-Governor sent to the Superior of the Capuchins to know if he had no news of the Arrival of the Patriarch of Armenia and where he had conceal'd himself 'T is true we all knew well enough but we had no mind to tell knowing wherefore they sought for him which was for no other reason then to apprehend him and carry him Prisoner to Erivan He had made his escape six days before vex'd to the very Soul to find that while the Governor pretended to take so much care to pay his debts he minded nothing more then how to squeeze a good Sum of Money for himself For the Governor according to the foremention'd Order from the Court had sent to several Persons about Irivan to Levy the money for payment of the Patriarch's debts upon the Armenian
Airy And the Persians speaking of their deceased Kings usually make use of the words Krel-coldachion that is to say whose nest is in Heaven b It is in the Persian that I would send to the Service Which is a Phrase in the Persian Language to send a Man to the service of a great Personage signifying to recommend him so earnestly that the other should take that care of his Business as if he were his Domestic servant c The Persians instead of saying to have the Honour use the word to be ennobl'd d We have already spok'n of this Rhetorical Figure whereby the Persians mean the Lord himself when they say the Slaves of the Lord. The 18. I took my leave of the Deputy Governor and Mirzathaer being at that time both together and both the one and the other offer'd me the savour of a Guide for which I return'd 'em my humble thanks and told 'em withall that if they thought it requisite for my security that I desir'd they would be so kind as to let me have a Guide They answered that the King's Passports which I had were a sufficient Convoy in regard that upon shewing 'em I might command as many men as I pleas'd when or where ever I should have occasion that I was in a Country where there was no danger and that the offer which they made me was only to shew how ready they were to assist me in my Journey So that being also inform'd by several Persons of Quality at the same time that I had no need of any company I only requested Mirzathaer to grant me a Passport to the Officers of the Toll from Himself that I might not be always troubled to pull out the King 's Which he caus'd to be forth with dispatch'd in the most civil terms that could be as may appear by the following translation GOD. This Day being the second day of the Month Sefer the victorious in the year 1084 Monsieur Chardin Merchant the Flower of Merchants and of Europeans sets forward for the Court He carrys along with him a wonderful quantity of Costly Jewels and other Rareties worthy the Lord of the World which he had Order to buy in his own Country and to bring to the feet of the Throne which is the true Seat of a Gods Vicar We therefore give notice to all Inferior Officers Regents Kings Lieutenants Judges both Civil and Criminal Provosts of Cities and High wayes Receivers of Duties and Tools to the end they may know that this Person is a Person of High Quality and that in pursuance of an Order which he has in his Hand that they are to furnish him where ever he goes with all things requisite and give him all reasonable succour and assistance which he shall demand and take care that he arrive not only without any misfortune or disgust but also with all satisfastion and Honour at the Palace of the most High They are likewise to take care they give him no occasion to perceive in any manner whatever that they have any pretence to exact any Duties or Tolls from him and they shall be certain to give an account and be answerable as well for his Person and for what he carrys as for the least disgusts and provocations they shall offer him The Seal was fix'd to the Margin the Inscription of which was a Passage out of the Alcoran signifying My confession of Faith is in the name of God who is my Refuge and of Mahumed the Apostle of God a The word which I have translated Vicar is Calife and properly signifies a Successor Nor had the first successors of Mahomet any other Title and now because the People that follow'd his Laws always believ'd that God had establish'd him Universal King and Prophet had created him his Vicar and Lieutenant and had giv'n him a Right to govern all the World both in Spirituals and Temporals his Successors have constantly retain'd these pompous Titles and made people believe that they belong to 'em by right of Succession Now in regard the Race of the Kings of Persia that have reign'd for these 250. years pretend to derive their descent from Ali Mahomets successor and Son in Law they attribute to themselves all his vain both Qualities and Prerogatives which is the reason the Persians give to their Kings that Epithet of God's Vicar The 20 Mirzathaer sent me one of his Domestics to know of me whether I intended to set forward the next day with my own Servants and withal to advise me to stay for more Company that there was danger in going alone especially being a stranger and having such a great Charge about me because now the Season was come that the Curds Sara-neshin and Turcomans and other Shepherds that live in the Fields in Tents and who are most part great Thieves quit the Plains by reason of the great Heat of the Sun and with their Herds and their Houses retire to the Mountains for Shade and Pasture True it is that I resolv'd to have set forward the next day but reflecting upon this good Advice I thought it not worth my while to run so great a hazard for the gaining of eight or ten days time I had also a kind of Surmise the Lord was unwilling to run himself into any premunire and thereby seem'd to intimate that since he had caution'd me he would not be answerable for any misfortune that should befall me And besides some other fears possess'd my mind which ma deme put off my Journey The 26. he sent me word that the Brother of the Provost of Merchants would set out in two days that he was a very honest Gentleman and that if I pleas'd to have his Company he would cordially recommend me to his Acquaintance I returned him a thousand Thanks for his Care and Affection and told him withal that he could not do me a greater Kindness then to put me into such safe hands And in the Evening I understood that he had bin to the full as good as his word And I was the more glad of his diligent care because it rid me of the trouble of those Reflections I had made upon what he sent me but two days before The 28. I set forward from Tauris with the Provost of Merchants Brother He was one of the Kings Slaves of whom we have spoken already attended by ten Servants with fourteen Horses We travel'd through a lovely and even Country between Mountains directing our Course Southward We lodg'd at Vaspinge a great Borough consisting of Six hundred Houses water'd with a great number of pleasant Rivulet's that with their winding Streams enfertiliz'd the neighbouring parts on every side It is surrounded with Gardens and groves of Poplers and Tylets which they plant to serve 'em for building their Houses The 29. we travell'd five leagues crossing over a little Hill at first but afterwards over Plains that were wonderful pleasant fertil and cover'd with Villages that where we lodg'd being call'd Agi-agach These Plains
Revenue is employ'd to keep the Places clean and neat to repair the Decays of time in the Building and Moveables for the buying of Lights and maintaining several Churchmen and a great number of Regents and Governors of Students and poor People They distribute Victuals every day to all that come and to people that are hir'd And of all these Legacies and Revenues three Great Lords of Persia have the Superintendency every one being appointed his Chappel He that at present takes Care of the she-Saints Chappel is an illustrious Ancient Person who has been Courtshi Bashi or Collonel of the Courtches which is a great Body of the Militia consisting of thirty Thousand Men. And the same Person is also Governor of Com. This City contains also several other Edifices very beautiful and sumptuous It is a very pleasant Place but for the Heat which is very excessive In the Summer the River that passes by it is no bigger then a small Rivulet but the Winter Thaws swell it to that degree with the Water that falls from the Mountains that it not only fills its own Channel which is as broad as the Seine at Paris but overflows a great part of the City They call it generally the River of Com but the true Name of it is Joubad-gan This City lies in 85. deg 48. min. of Longitude and 34. deg 30. min. of Latitude The Air is wholsom but extremely hot as I said before for it scalds in the Summer there being no place in all Persia where the Sun scorches more violently It abounds in all manner of Victuals and Fruits particularly in Pistachios The people also are very courteous and civil The most part of Topographers will have Com to be the same place which Ptolomy calls Gauna or Guriana And his Translator asserts it to be the same with Choama tho others will have it to be Arbacte or Hecatompyle Several Histories of Persia likewise relate this City to be very Ancient and that it was built by Tahmas when the Sun entred into Gemini that it was twelve thousand Cubits in compass and as big as Babylon I must confess there is no doubt but it was very large for there are many Ruins and Footsteps of Habitations to be seen round about it but it is much to be question'd whether it were so Ancient as the Reign of Tahmas Other Persian Histories deduce its Original from the first Age of Mahumetism and affirm that in the time of Mahomet there were in that place seven large Villages and that in the 83 Year of the Hegyra Abdalla Saydon Califfe coming into that Country with an Army joyn'd those seven Villages together with new Buildings enclos'd 'em with a Wall and made 'em one City and that afterwards this City encreas'd to that degree that it became twice as large as Constantinople For Mousa the Son of that Abdalla came from Basra to Com and brought with him the Opinions of Haly which they call the Religion of Shia or Imamism which was always profess'd in that place even to Martyrdom nor would the People suffer any other and therefore Temur-leng being of a contrary Belief utterly destroy'd the City Nevertheless by degrees they repair'd one part of it again but it did not begin to reflourish until this last Age and since that Sephy was there interr'd Abas the Second his Son and Successor banish'd thither such Persons as were fallen from his Favour to the end they might pray to God for his person and give thanks to heaven for their Lives which he had spar'd ' em Soliman at present reigning had made use of it to the same purpose sending thither all those whom he thought convenient to punish with Exile and the great number of exil'd persons of Quality it was that has restor'd the City to that Splendor wherein now it stands In the Year 1634. an Inundation of Waters ruin'd a thousand Houses and it is but three Years since that an Accident of the same nature had like to have ruin'd it all together For two thousand Houses and all the Ancient Houses were laid level with the Earth The Name is pronounc'd with a double m as if we should write the word Komm It is also call'd Darel mouveheldin that is to say The Habitation of pious People The Governor bears the Title of Darogué or Mayor Kachan Kachan The 17. we travell'd five Leagues cross the Plain We found it all the way cover'd with a moving Sand dry without either Villages or Water We lodg'd in a place call'd Abshirin or Sweet Water because there is in that place a Fountain of fair Water and Cisterns in the midst of six Carevanserais The 18. our Journey reach'd to Cashan where we arriv'd after we had travell'd seven Leagues steering toward the South over the Plain already mention'd and at the end of two Leagues we found the Soyl delightful and fertile stor'd with large Villages We pass'd through several and about half the way left upon the left hand at a near distance a little City call'd Sarou seated at the foot of a Mountain The City of Cashan is seated in a large Plain near a high Mountain It is a League in length and a quarter of a League in breadth extending it self in length from East to West When you see it afar off it resembles a half Moon the Corners of which look toward both those Parts of the Heavens The Draught is no true Representation either of the Bigness or the Figure as having been taken without a true Prospect And the reason was the Indisposition of my Painter who being extremely tir'd with the former days Travel was not able to stir out of the Inn where we lay All that he could do was to get upon the Terrass and take the Draught from thence There is no River that runs by the City only several Canals convey'd under Ground with many deep Springs and Cisterns as there are at Com. It is encompass'd with a double Wall flank'd with round Towers after the Ancient Fashion to which there belong five Gates One to the East call'd the Royal Gate as being near the Royal Palace that stands without the Walls Another call'd the Gate of Fieu because it leads directly to a great Village which bears that name Another between the West and North call'd the Gate of the House of Melic as being near to a Garden of Pleasure which was planted by a Lord of that Name The two other Gates are opposite to the South-East and North-East The one call'd Com Gate and the other Ispahan Gate be cause they lead to those Cities The City and the Suburbs which are more beautiful then the City contain six thousand five hundred Houses as the People assure us forty Mosques three Colleges and about two hundred Sepulchres of the Descendants of Aly. The Principal Mosque stands right against the great Market Place having one Tower that serves for a Steeple built of Free Stone Both the Mosque and the Tower are the
the Footstool to the Throne because his Authority extends over all the Porters Ushers Guards Masters of the Ceremonies and other Officers of the like nature belonging to the Court But because he performs the Office of Chief Gentleman Usher night and day in the Kings Presence he has no Seat in the publick Assemblies notwithstanding his Authority be very great and renders him more considerable than many that have right to sit Nor do I find that any other Lords than these were present at this Grand Assembly The chief Minister was the first that spoke and declared at the same time what the High Chamberlain had informed him concerning the Kings Death and which had been confirmed to him by the two chief Physicians and then proceeding he told him That he made no question but the same Information had already reached their Ears and that they were not ignorant how that their deceased Monarch was departed this Life without declaring either in writing or by word of Mouth to which of his two Sons he had bequeatched his Scepter and that therefore it was their duty to proceed to an Election with all the speed imaginable not only because it was not fit that the Prince to whom Providence had destined the Crown should remain in a Private Condition any longer but also for the security of the Kingdom which was always in jeopardy so long as it wanted a Governour since it was with Monarchies as with living Bodies that cease to live when deprived of the Head For the preventing therefore of so great a Misfortune it behoved them before they brake up to make choice of some glorious Scien of the Imamic Race to sit upon the Throne which Habas the II. had quitted for a more blessed Mansion in Heaven That that great Monarch of victorious Memory had left two Sons as he was assured that none of all the Assembly had any reason to question in the least Sephie-Mirza who was about twenty years of Age and had been left in the Palace of Grandeur under the Tuition of Aga-Nazir and Hamzeh-Mirza about seven Years of Age who was there among them at Court under the care of Aga-Mubarek present in their Assembly That of these two after they had invoked the most High God they were to choose him that the well King had in a manner deputed to be Lieutenant to the glorious Successor in Expectation By Successor in Expectation the Persians mean the last of the Imaans who according to their Religion is their hoped for Messia whose return to Earth they expect every hour Now the Prime Minister having pronounced these words with all the Demonstrations of a profound sorrow and an Aspect full of Majesty which from his Aged Countenance shot both Awe and Reverence made a sudden stop expecting that some other of the Assembly should speak and give his Advice But observing that the whole Assembly out of a particular deference and respect to his Dignity and high Place applauded his beginning and by their frequent repetitions of Bisin Allah ' or so be it in the name of God seemed desirous that he should proceed the aged Minister modestly resumed his Place and beholding the Grandees one after another told them further That considering the Necessity and the Resolution which they had taken to Elect one of those two Princes it was his Opinion That they were to the Rigorous but positive necessity to which they were reduced and which constrained them to prefer Hamzeh Mirza tho the younger and to fix him in the Throne tho to the Privation of his elder Brother The reason was because it was well known to all the World how severe Habas had been always toward him so that it was to be feared that the young Prince had been deprived of his sight Of which the Report had ran very hot ever since the deceased Monarch at his departure from Ispahan displayed such a dismal dissatisfaction in his Countenance that portended nothing but fatal and which they had more reason to believe because the King at the beginning of his sickness had sent in great hast without imparting his design to any of his Council an Eunuch with private Orders to the same City Which Orders could be no other than either to take off the Head or pluck out the Eyes of the young Prince to the end he might be uncapable of succeeding to the Crown after his death For in all other things the King never failed to communicate his Secrets to some one of his Council and particularly to the Prime Minister who was always accustomed to seal with his own Seal all such Commands and Orders to which the King affix'd his Signet which if it were so they could not Elect him without running themselves into a great Confusion if he should be already either Dead or Blind For you know said he that the sacred Laws of the Elect of God not permiting any person under that unfortunate Circumstance to be our Sovereign Monarch we should be constrained after all to apply our selves to Hamzeh Mirza And what thanks I would fain know will he then give us for our Election Will he not have reason to tax us with our want of Affection for choosing him at a force put when we knew there was no possibility for his Brother to govern Will it please him do you think to accept a Crown at our hands which we have offered to another Will he think himself beholden to us for our suffrages which we did not give him out of Kindness or Affection to his person but merely out of invincible Necessity And God grant he may stop there with being only satisfied that he ows us nothing Who knows but that he may study Revenge and whether our Coldness may not kindle in his Brest a Fire that will not be quenched without our Ruin and the destruction of our Families But this is not all that we are to consider when the Welfare of the Kingdom lies at stake particular Interests must give way Mind therefore my Lords what I have observed at the Beginning of my Discourse It behoves us to avoid the Dangers of an Interregnum which will continue long while time is wasted in Messages to and fro from hence to the Capital City But Providence hath put into our Hands Hamzeh-Mirza What remains then but to follow the Commands of Providence and forthwith to advance the Favoured of Heaven to the Sacred Throne of Prince of the World The Prime Minister having thus delivered himself gave no small occasion to the rest of the Lords to muse from whence this Opinion of his should proceed But in regard he was a Person that had always lived in high Reputation for his Integrity and for that his being striken in years and his long experience in Affairs rendered him greatly considerable they never suspected the Advice which he had given had been the Effect of self-interest more especially because there was nothing propounded but what the whole Assembly believed to be
which some Europeans in Ispahan valued one single Diamond in the middle at eighteen and the rest at four and twenty thousand pound sterling If the Royal Diadem had any more than one Heron-Tuft of that Value or if that Ruby were upon it which by the express Command of the deceased King the Eunuch that had the charge of the Treasury shewed me at Mazanderan which be of an Oval form weighed as the said Eunuch told me a hundred and sixty Caratts the Chains or Strings with the Sword and Dagger being proportionable in value the three Pieces might well amount to a hundred thousand Tomans But notwithstanding all this to tell you my opinion sincerely I could never judge them to be worth above three parts of the money These three Pieces were laid near the Stool and covered with a rich Toilet Presently his Majesty appeared coming out of the Bath and arrayed himself in his usual Habit tho more sumptuous than he was wont to wear after that being entered into the Room of State he sate down in the Place that was prepared for him and at the same time they who were appointed to assist at the Coronation ascended the Talaar and ranged themselves in this Order Upon the Right side of his Majesty at a little distance behind him stood the Aga-Nazir Eunuch who at that Ceremony performed the Office of High Chamberlain carrying to that purpose at his Girdle a little Box of Gold glittering with Precious Stones wherein were a good Number of Handkerchiefs and Perfumes for his Majesties service when he had a mind to make use of them A little behind him appeared six Georgian Children from fifteen to sixteen years of Age who had been made Eunuchs extremely beautiful as are most of the young Children of that Country They were so placed as to make a half Circle about the King standing upright without so much as stirring their hands which they held across upon their Breasts being sumptuously habited in Linnen whose ground was Silver heightned with Gold in the same Order and as far behind the Children as they stood behind the King appeared a great number of old black Eunuchs every one holding a long Musquet in his hand of which the Stock was garnished with Gold and Precious Stones Upon the Left hand of the King which is esteemed the most Honourable among the Persians sate first the Commissioner that represented Dlahammed-Mehdi the Prime Minister Next to him the second Commissioner that represented Gemchid-Kaan General of a Body of the Army Next to him the Person that supplied the Place of Mazsoud-Bek Superintendant General of the Kings Demeans In the fourth Seat the Person Commissioned by Mirza-sedreel-din Principal Secretary of the Empire Hemireh-Hamzeh-Mirzah-Daroga Grand Provost of Ispahan and its Dependencies took the fifth place And Mirza-Refiè esteemed one of the most Learned among the Persians took the next Upon his Majesties Right Hand in the second Place for the first was left void in honour of Boadaak-Sultan General of the Musquetteers who was present but standing upright near the Prince sate the Person deputed by Mahammed-Kouli-Kaan Lord Chief Justice Below him two Places were left void for the chief Astrologer and his Colleague who were retired to observe the Lucky Hour The fifth Place was filled by the most learned and wittiest person that was in all that great Kingdom by the judgment of all men being the Brother of the Prime Minister and great Uncle to the new Monarch by his Wife His name was Mirza-Hali-Riza and his Title Cheik-el-Islaam or Ancient of the Law For by the word Islaam which properly signifies the Reverence which we pay to the divine Commands by the submission of our Mind and Will they mean Religion which they call the Law by way of Excellence For at this day as formerly among the Hebrews all their Politicks depend upon Religion and it is the Ancient of the Law who holds the Ballance of Affairs in his Hand which cannot be determined without his Approbation In the sixth Place sate Mirza-Moumen-Vazier or Receiver General for his Majesty in Ispahan and its Dependencies I could never hear of any other Grandees but these that sate True it is that the Halls on both sides were full of Officers that stood some to authorize the Solemnity of the Coronation some to be ready to execute the King's Commands as they should receive them from the General of the Musquetteers who for that day supplied the Place of Lord High Steward of the Houshold carrying in his hand as a Badge of his Office a large Truncheon of Gold all set with Precious Stones and a round Ball at one End and standing at the left hand of the King from whom he received Orders or to say better to whom he gave directions For the new King who had never seen any such sight before neither did nor said any thing but what was dictated to him About ten a clock at night the Chief of the Astrologers and his Companion having been long observing the Position of the Stars and Conjunctions of the Planets returned at length to give notice that the Fortunate Hour for the Coronation of the King would be within twenty Minutes Thereupon his Majesty ordered the General as he had been taught before to lead them both to their Places In the mean time he whispered with the General who gave him Instructions how to behave himself upon all the several changes of the Solemnity which the young Prince failed not to follow exactly for fear of committing any Irregularity for want of experience in an Action of so publick and weighty a Concernment When the twenty Minutes were almost expired the Grand Astrologer having winked upon the General to let him know that he might proceed he told the King who thereupon immediately according to his Instructions rose up and then all the rest rose up likewise At what time the General threw himself at his Majesties Feet bowing to the very Ground then rising upon his Knees he drew out of the Bosom of his Garment the Bag wherein was the Letter which the Assembly had sent to the New Monarch Presently he opened the Bag took out the Letter kissed it laid it to his Forehead presented it to his Majesty and then rose up The Prince having received it returned it to him again and commanded him to break it open and read it which he did aloud very distinctly and leisurely to the end that all who were present at the Ceremony might hear the Contents and understand that the Grandees of the Kingdom had unanimously elected the present Prince for King of Persia that they acknowledged him for such and were ready to attest it if there were occasion When he had done reading the King commanded him to send for the Ancient of the Law which he did at what time the Lord Ancient approaching his Majesty threw himself at his Feet and after the usual Prostrations he rose up again took the Letter out of the Generals hand to
present Monarch of the Persians for his Health for the establishment of his Throne and the increase of his Conquests That since this illustrious Branch of the Imaanic Race is according to the true Law become the Lieutenant of the Monarch of all the Earth and lawful Lord of the World that therefore his Dominions may extend from the one to the other Pole That his Majesty may always appear surrounded with glory like the Sun That his Word may have a constraining Power That all his Wishes and Desires may be accomplished and that all things may succeed in a more glorious manner than ever in favour of King SEPHIE Which last word the Orator pronounced in a louder Tone than he had pronounced all the rest to the end that all the Throng might hear him distinctly And here it is to be observed that he rose on purpose at the end of his Oration in regard that till then during all the Ceremony that Name had not been uttered before But at the same Instant that they heard the Name of SEPHIE pronounced all the whole Assembly strove which should send forth loudest acclamations of joy by repeating the usual Intch-Alla or God grant it which every one repeated five or six times After which the Cheik-el-Islaam or Ancient of the Law was the first that fell upon his Knees before the King and bowing his Forhead three times to his Majesties Feet pronounced a second Benediction in few words which he concluded with zealous wishes of Prosperity and that he might so Reign as to extend the Frontiers of his Dominion and render his Subjects happy He made three Bows more at the Conclusion of his Harangue which he uttered with a great deal of Eloquence as they assured me tho he had had no time to prepare himself as having been hurried half asleep out of his Bed to assist at the Solemnity After him all the Grandees according to their Dignity and the rest who were of any Quality came and paid their respects to the Monarch with the three customary Prostrations This done his Majesty rose from his Seat of Gold and returned to his former Place as did all the rest where they sate before For during the Ceremony they all stood there being none that sate but the King In this manner was Sephiè the Second Crown'd his Grandfather being the first of that Name among all the Persian Monarchs True it is that the first Founder of this Race was of the same Name but he is not numbred among the Persian Kings because he was never put into the Catalogue His Modesty would not suffer him to accept the Title For as the Historians tell us he always look'd upon the Throne to be an Illustrious Torment which under the vain appearances of happiness concealed continual pain and trouble This name of Sephiè has several significations which amount to the same sense and meaning for sometimes it signifies a Friend sometimes elected sometimes pure or purified Which I have said turn all to the same sense for Friends are but persons selected from others and purified which is the most usual signification and is not much remote from the other two As for example when the Persians call as they often do the first man Adam Safiè Alla we may translate it the Man the Friend or the Elect or the Purified of God Which three Epithites agree very well in their signification For the friends of God are his Elect Nor can they be his Elect before he hath purified them And therefore it is according as the word is placed that sometimes it signifies one thing sometimes another As here for example speaking of the New King of the Persians I should rather chuse to translate Chae Safiè the King Elect than the King purified True it is that they who would have Safiè to signifie purified depend upon the Etymology For that the Root from whence Safiè is derived is Saf which properly signifies Purity But let this suffice fot playing the Grammarian The subject of my discourse will not permit me to stop any longer upon these Trifles but only to observe by the way that it was from the word Safiè that the Greeks borrowed the word Sophos It will be more to the purpose to observe the mistake of our Writers upon the word Safiè For they would have all the Kings of Persia to be called Sophies I cannot but laugh when I find in their Writings the Grand Sophy the Sophy of Persia and the Sovereign Sophy For the Kings of Persia are neither called Sophies in general nor in particular Could the Kings of Persia read our European Characters and should see upon the Letters that are written to them from some parts of Europe the Title which is given them of Sophy questionless they would spit upon them and take it for an affront Therefore I would have those that speak when occasion offers of Persia or whether they be the Ministers of Princes to be careful how they commit this mistake in their Dispatches to that Court or whether they be those Writers who profess to give a faithful Relation of a Country where they profess themselves to have been and pretend to tell us what they have seen with their Eyes yet vent a thousand Lies and Stories and over-confidently impose upon their Readers I say I would have such persons content themselves with only giving us the false names of things but that the things themselves should be really true Nevertheless I find that in those things they make very gross mistakes and therefore lest people may think I decry others to gain the more credit to my own Relations and to free my self from the lash of the Proverb That two of a Trade can never agree I shall for proof of what I assert bring an Example relating to this very Story it self which I shall not take out of any Book of Travels for it is not my Intention hereto attack any one of them but from the Audir of Address wherein there is a relation of the Death of the late King of Persia and of the Coronation of the present King fol. 523. I cannot conclude without imparting to you the news which we have received from the Court of Persia by Letters from Legorn the fifth of this Month. They tell us by an Express dispatched from Ispahan to the English Merchants residing in Legorn that the Sophie after a debauch of drinking fell sick at Khur in his return from Casbin and died four days after That after his Death was known in the City of Ispahan his Eldest Son about twenty years of Age was Proclaimed by the Principal Minister and other Officers by the name of Grandfather Sha-Sophy That the next day the Governour of Ispahan and the chief Lords of the Court who accompanied the Body of the deceased King being arrived and having paid their Homage to the Prince he shewed himself in publick to his Subjects who testified their joy by their loud Acclamations and that
of his advancement to the Throne That thereupon he had resolved not to leave the Kingdom before he had had the honour to kiss his Majesties Feet and to appear before him with that humility which became him And that he had not any Presents worthy his acceptance because he had made an offering of all that he brought along with him to the deceased King of glorious Memory to whom his most Illustrious Majesty was now Successour and his Prime Ministers of State and therefore he hoped his Majesty would be so indulgent as to excuse him and permit him the honour which he with all humility requested Lastly That he should beseech the General of the Musquetteers to use his Interest to obtain leave for him with the soonest that he could to the end he might present himself at the feet of the new Monarch and be favoured with a quick dispatch In regard the death of the Director his Predecessour and several other weighty Affairs called him away in haste to the Port of Habas That if he would give himself the trouble to procure that Audience the next day he would promise him a becoming Acknowledgment assuring him that the Company would always be ready to remunerate his favour and be for ever obliged to his kindness With these Instructions the Interpreter went to the General of the Musquetteers and having the opportunity to speak to him in private by himself laid before him all his specious Arguments according to his directions But while he had no other discourse but plausible pretences and excuses they made no Impression upon the covetous Warriour who pretending ignorance or perhaps because he was really ignorant of those affairs made answer that he could determine nothing positive in those matters and therefore he must be content to stay till the Court returned to Ispahan But when the Interpreter began to add to his Reasons the Promise of a becoming Acknowledgment the Lustre of Gold cast such a powerful reflection upon his Lordly senses that he presently found himself inspired with a new access of knowledge and understanding so that there was not any one scruple that interrupted his performance He condescended to the Embassadours Request and knew so well how to manage his business that in the Evening he sent for the same Interpreter and gave him Order to promise his Master in his Majesties Name that he should be admitted to morrow about ten in the Morning to kiss his Majesties Feet The same day at the time appointed the Dutch Embassadour with two more of the Company the chief Factor of Ispahan and the Secretary of the Embassie together with the Interpreter attended at the Palace in an Apartment next to that where the King was Crowned Where he had staid but a few Minutes before he had notice to advance forward to the Place where the King tarried whither so soon as he was come with all his Train the General of the Musquetteers who supplied the Office of Grand Porter or Master of the Ceremonies conducted him from the Door of the great Hall before his Majesty at the distance of two Paces from whom the Embassadour and the two other Persons with him made their Obeysances according to the Custom of the Persians which is to kiss the ground three times before his Majesties Feet When they had made their Reverence and were permitted to sit the Embassadour by his Interpreter began with the Prayers and Wishes of Governour General of Batavia for the honour and prosperity of his Majesty upon his happy coming to the Crown For which the King returned him Thanks and added at the Conclusion My Lord Embassadour is welcome and if he have any favour to request let him only make it known Thereupon the Dutch Embassadour took an occasion to proceed and gave the King to understand in few words the Priviledges which his Ancestors had all along granted to the Company from the first time that they came to reside in Persia till that day requesting the same Protection from his Majesty an Authentick Confirmation of all the Agreements and Decrees already made in favour of the Company and a continuation of the same Kindnesses His Majesty replied My Lord Embassadour I take you for my Guest and Friend as also all of your Nation and I will redouble the favours and kindnesses which my Ancestors of glorious memory have done your Company Upon which the Dutch Embassadour made a profound Reverence as did also the other two that accompanied him and replied to the King 's obliging words in this manner We will no farther doubt it than from the Grace and Generosity of so great a Prince On the other side if We or the Company may be any way serviceable to serve your Majesty your Majesty shall no sooner Command but be obeyed In the mean time we humbly beg of Your Majesty that we may have leave to retire to the Port of Habas there to look after our Affairs to which Importunate Necessity calls Us. Thereupon the General of the Musquetteers declaring the Kings pleasure for he performs the same Office in Grandeur near his Majesty which the Embassadours Interpreter supplies out of necessity His Majesty said he desires to know wherefore my Lord Embassadour discovers so much eagerness to be gone He would have him to stay till all the Lords of the Court are come to Town for that then he intends to receive him with greater Pomp and give him more signal Marks of his Esteem To which the Dutch replied as they had done already bowing their Heads and their Bodies with a profound Humility and returning his Majesty their most hearty Thanks beseeching him withal to have the same gracious Opinion as before but that for the present the greatest Favour he could receive at their hands was his Royal License to return to their principal Factory whither Affairs of Concernment called them The King thereupon with a Nod of his Head condescended to their Request and withal ordered this farther Complement to be put upon them That he would not stay them any longer but that they might go in the Name of God desiring to assure the Company of his Affection and that whatever they had for the future to demand they should but ask and have Those last words included his last leave which they also took with most submissive Obeysances after the European manner the most respectful that could be imagined And thus they retired after an Audience of three quarters of an Hour About Four in the Afternoon they sent their Interpreter to the General of the Musquetteers to return him Thanks for the Trouble he had given himself in procuring them so favourable an Audience and for the continuance of his kindness they besought him to accept as a pledge of their farther acknowledgment a Silver Watch and fifty Ducats of Gold The English Agent in Persia Sir Stephen Flowre understanding that the Dutch had had Audience of his Majesty was not a little surprised but much more vexed
of her most glorious Ornaments in a sumptuous Mosque built all of Marble and Jasper embellished with Gold In this Mosque are to be seen the Tombs of the two forementioned Monarchs The Porphyry of which they are built is overlaid with Plates of Gold as if the Builders had striven to be profuse in the wast of that rich Metal We shall give you the description of it in our Persian Geography Now the Persians made choice of Kom Kachan Metched and Ardevil rather than of any other Cities for the interment of their Kings because they believe those Cities claim to themselves a secret and peculiar Sanctity above any of the rest by reason that the Martyrs and Men famous in their Religion have lived and been buried there For they hold that Kom and Kachan were always two safe Retreats for all the true faithful in their Law whom in the Primitive Times of Mahumetism the Arabians persecuted unjustly and therefore that the Imaans by whom they mean their lawful Prophets and High Priests retired thither to secure themselves from Persecution and there died This is that which makes them believe that these Cities are holy and happy and that in all their Contracts and Publick Writings they name the first Dar-el-mouve-el-Din or the Habitation of Persons revived in the Law and the second Dar-el-Moumenin or the Habitation of the truly faithful And for the two other Cities Ardivilis called Dar-el-Irkaar or the Habitation of direction For that a great Saint who lies buried there was as they say sent by God to direct men in the way of truth and Metched is called Mouheddès The Place where they give Testimony of the Law and of God In the first lies buried among many other Saints of their Law Cheik-Sefiè or the Pure Ancient the first of the Race of Kings that now Reign in Persia In the second lies the Imaan Reza whom the Persians reverence with an extraordinary superstition Insomuch that they believe the Body of that person who is buried by him is more secure of his Salvation than if he were buried near any other Saint less considerable For according to their Doctrine they that lie interred near the Tomb of any great and holy Personage lie under his Protection The King who had hourly intelligence of the Advance of the Grandees of the Kingdom understanding that they were arrived at Kachan sent an Express with Commands to the two Chief Physicians Mirza-Satrid that is to say Signior Just and Mirza-Kouchonk sirnamed also the Little to distinguish him from his Brother who was the chief Physician to retire to the Palace Royal at Kom which joyns to the Mosque where are the Tombs of the last deceased Kings to betake themselves to the Apartments allotted for them there to pray to God the remainder of their days for the Prosperity of his Throne in acknowledgment of his Clemency towards them in that he inflicted no heavier punishment upon them than only that slight disgrace since they had deserved to lose their lives for understanding no better to preserve the life of his Father and their Sovereign The same Messenger carried also Orders to Mirza-Massoon or the Lord without Blemish already mentioned and the Son also of the Prime Minister and Moutuely of Koom as much as to say Master of the Works and Judge of the Government to take an Inventory of the whole Estate of those two Physicians to give it under their Seals what they found in ready Money and to send the Inventory when they had made it up to the King Out of which he allowed them a Revenue of twenty thousand Crowns a year to live comfortably in the said City without stirring out of the Palace to which they were confined till the Supreme Power should dispose of their Lives The whole Body of the Court arrived at Ispahan within a Week after that which was three Weeks after the Kings Coronation And then it was that the great Officers were admitted one after another troubled in their minds and with hearts laden with sorrow Not one of them that knew what part to act in this new Court where every one flattered himself with making an Interest However still as they came to Town they went to kiss the Kings Feet and to pay him the Moubarek-Bached which is a Customary term which they use when they Congratulate the Prosperity of any great Person as if we should say Let such a thing turn to your blessing His Majesty as every Grandee had paid him his Submissions honoured him with a Calate or Royal Vest This Persian word according to its Etymology signifies Entire Perfect Accomplished to signifie either the Excellency of the Habit or the Dignity of him that wears it For it is an infallible Mark of the particular Esteem which the Sovereign has for the person to whom he sends it and that he has free liberty to approach his Person for when the Kingdom has changed its Lord and Master the Grandees who have not received this Vest dare not presume to appear before the King without hazard of their Lives In pursuance of this Custom the King sent a very rich Vest to that courageous Eunuch among others who was the only person who had set the Crown upon his Head With this Present he also sent him a Dagger richly set with Precious Stones Immediately upon this it was believed that he would be advanced to some high Employment but he refused all Preferment with a generous Constancy so that of all the Employments which his Prince offered him he only accepted of the Superintendency of the Affairs relating to the Princess his Mother All the Grandees being thus arrived the King for several days following held a Megeles that is an Assembly of his Lords where the Lords of the Old Court met to compose a New one The first day every one came in his Calate or Royal Vest which the King had bestowed upon them But the Nazir or Superintendant General was not there because he had not been honoured with that Vest So that when he found it was not sent him against the next Assembly he was then persuaded he had not long to live or at least that he should lose his Employment he feared that his Majesty had been informed how that at the time of the Election he had endeavoured to prefer his Younger Brother And this suspition of his was not altogether without ground for that indeed something had been whispered to the King about it Therefore he thought he could not do better than go himself and present his Head to the King himself before any one was sent to demand it for that if he thought to preserve it by concealing himself he should lose it without all hope of pardon but if he had the courage generously to lay it at the Princes Feet it might so happen that he might save himself nor was he deceived for this bold Resolution gained the heart of Sephiè the Second and wrought Compassion even in his
even they who had been instrumental to his Advancement For they could not imagine he should arrive in so short a time to that Pinacle of Honour where they beheld him And indeed they had reason to be jealous of him For his Authority made him Master of their Estates and besides they knew him to be ill-natur'd and mischievously bent and as bold and daring as a Lion more then all this Cholerick without respect or consideration and resolute to enterprize whatever might satisfie his Fury or advance his Interests From this time forward till his death which hapned not long after as will appear in the Series of this Story he was always in great credit with the King who had a particular esteem for him so that there was hardly any thing which he refus'd him At the same time that Haly-Kouli-Kaan was under restraint the Princess Pehri-Rocksar-Begum the present King's Aunt was also restor'd to Favour For as it has been said in the Life of the deceased Prince whose Sister she was the King to punish her for having been too busie in some Intrigue which I know not what it was only that it was such a one as had highly offended him had married her to a Mulla Doctor of the Law who at that time liv'd at Ispahan the Son of Moute-Veli or the Steward of the great Mosque at Mitshed By him during the Life of Habas she had two Children to whom the Prince forbad her to give suck which is the manner of putting to death the Children of the Bloud Royal when the King resolves they shall not live But now this Lady understanding the death of the King went and threw her self at the feet of the New Monarch who receiv'd her kindly and assur'd her he would advance her Husband to some considerable Employment wherein he was as good as his word for some Months after he made her Husband Sedre-Kaassoh that is peculiar Poutiff being a very considerable Employment as he that is as it were the Kings Almoner or he that has the disposal of all the Gifts bequeath'd by the Kings of Persia to the Mosques which Employment was worth to him about fifteen thousand pounds yearly There remain'd another Sister of Habas II. in the Womens Palace who in the Kings absence was as it were Sovereigness of the Place for which reason they give her a Name that signifies the white Locks of the Sacred Place which is a figurative sort of Speech to denote the dignity of the person and the particular respect which is due to her This Lady being desirous to taste the Sweets of Wedlock as well as her Sister importunately besought the New Monarch that she might marry the Brother of her Sisters Husband a Molla or Doctor of the Law as he was For which reason the King made him Sedre-Mokoufaat or Pontiff of the Kingdoms which is a preferment almost like the other and very near equal to it in Revenue as he that has the disposal of the Legacies which are given to the Mosques by private Persons Which two Preferments for above two hundred years were both in one But the King for the satisfaction and advantage of his two Aunts divided them for the benefit of their Husbands who are persons of no merit and of very mean Capacities Nor is it likely the King will suffer them to hold their Places of too great Importance for their management And now his Majesty having supplied these two Pontifical preferments which were vacant during the late Kings Reign took care to fill up other vacancies also which he bestow'd upon persons of credit that were next about him or their Friends That of Kourtchi Bachi or General of the Kourtches one of the three Bodies of the Persian Militia and one of the highest Trusts in the Empire was conferr'd upon Hustein-Kouli-Kaan All the Kaanas or Governments of Persia were likewise bestow'd upon persons of worth In a word there was not a vacant place but what was fill'd up For the deceased King let them lie vacant for a secret reason which his Son understood not which was to reap the profit of their Revenues So great that it is reported the Employments which he supply'd and of which the King his Father had all the benefit brought into the Chequer a Million sterling Yearly However I do not report this for truth but as having heard it affirm'd by persons of great knowledge in Affairs and who could have giv'n a just account had they so pleas'd which they will not always do These were the Favours and Bounties of the Young Monarch during the Festivals of his Coronation Of which the mirth and jollity was not a little disturb'd by a sad accident that occasion'd the downfal of the Grand Provost In the description of Ispahan we have observed that for a long time that City has been divided into two Factions which are always quarrelling and fighting for Precedency and Antiquity And upon Festival Times there is always a great Concourse of the Rabble of both Factions in the old Maydan or Publick Place of the City where the two different Factions ranging themselves the one upon the South the other upon the North side batter one another with Stones and Clubs at a strange rate The Grand Provost all this while makes a shew of parting 'em but he does it so remissly that both Parties see well enough that it is only a Copy of his Countenance which makes 'em bolder and more violent in their mischief For the Grand Provost is not at all troubl'd at it by reason of the great Fines which afterwards he milks into his own Pocket Upon one of these fore-mention'd Festival days his Majesty being in the spacious and magnificent Hall which is built over the great Portal of his Palace that looks out into the Royal Square where he sate to behold a horse Race and several of his Lords shooting at a Golden Ball an Exercise much us'd among the Persian Archers news was brought that about two thousand of the Rabble were fighting in the Maydan or Publick Market place with that implacable animosity that there was like to be a great deal of mischief done Upon which his Majesty sent for the Daroga or Grand Provost of Ispahan and order'd him to take along with him a Guard of Sixty Musquetteers if he thought fit and go and disperse the furious Combatants Which was a Command too express to be dally'd withal But the Grand Provost could never accomplish it However away he flew at the Head of above two hundred Soldiers and commanded the Mutineers to part and disperse themselves But they believing the Provost did but only make a shew as he was wont to do fell a shouting at him and palting him with stones He would fain have giv'n 'em to understand he was then in earnest but because the Tumult and noise was so great that he could not otherwise be heard then by the thunder of his Musquets he order'd the Soldiers to fire without Bullets
which they did but to no purpose For quite contrary to his expectation the insolent Multitude perceiving nothing but fire and smoke were the more confirm'd in their Opinion that the Grand Provost was only come there to shew himself in discharge of his Office and that he did not desire they should part in good earnest In the mean time two Horsemen came from the King to see if the Tumult were appeas'd at what time the Provost gall'd to the heart that they should observe the little Authority he had over the Rabble who had put him to a Retreat with their Stones commanded about twenty of his Soldiers to fire with Bullets Of which Volley there was not a shot that miss'd So that Nine of the Multitude were kill'd upon the place and others were dangerously wounded The rest finding now that the Provost was not in jest fled with all the hast they could leaving their dead and wounded behind When word was carri'd to the King what had happen'd some of the Grand Provosts private Enemies which the great Lords are never without and who unfortunately for him were then at his Majesties elbow laying hold of the opportunity How comes it to pass Sir said they that a private Person and a Slave dares thus abuse the Inhabitants of your Capital City Has he nothing to do but thus to destroy your truly Loyal Subjects Cannot a Grand Provost prevent these disorders 'T is not well done to make such a slaughter of innocent and disarmed people This will cause a contempt of the Authority which your Majesty has over your Subjects and to lose the Respect and Reverence which they ought to bear your Majesty over all your Empire when they find such terrible extremities used under pretence of keeping 'em to obedience Upon this the King who of himself was already troubl'd at the Accident was far more incens'd by these exasperations Wherefore he immediately dismiss'd the Lord from his employment and sent him Prisoner to a House from whence he was releas'd some few days after at the earnest suit of the Queen Mother and some other persons that were concern'd at his Misfortune For indeed he was a man of courage eminent for his vertue and one that shew'd in all his Actions the Nobility of his Extraction for he was descended from the Bloud Royal of Georgia the last Sovereign Prince of that Country being his Grandfather whose name was Hemirè-Hamzeh-Mirza We shall speak more of him in the Progress of his Story fortune calling him again upon the Stage to act a part of more importance and of greater Authority The charge of Grand Provost was again suppli'd the next day and conferr'd upon a very worthy person the Son of Mir-Kassem-bek or Lord Prince Robust This same Mir-Kassem-bek had been Grand Provost before the last that was so lately put out and in the time of Habas II. by the craft of the Prime Minister had his Head cut off in the Royal Piazza of Ispahan His Son who was call'd Kelk-Hali-Bek or the Lord the Dogg of Haly during the little time that he enjoy'd this Employment most worthily behav'd himself in it and we must needs say that rais'd his Father made himself eminent again by driving out all the Thieves Pick-pockets and Rabble which infected that great City This happen'd at the latter end of the Year 1077. according to the Mahumetan account which answers to the beginning of our Year 1667. For their Year 1078. began with the Vernal Equinox which his Majesty made a great day of publick rejoycing according to the Custom of the Persians But this Year that began with so much rejoycing and with such lucky Omens was not so fortunate however in the Conclusion Scarcity War and Epidemick distempers afflicted the most part of the Provinces during the whole course of it The Court was turmoyl'd with several disorders which cost some persons many a troublesom Hour And through the negligence and remissness of the Sovereign the Grandees erected so many petty Tyrannies which trampl'd under foot and pillag'd the poor people as they pleas'd themselves So that there was not any person but was sensible of the miseries which ill Government occasions when the Prince only minds his pleasures and to content his Passions and the great ones following his example give themselves the liberty to follow the swinge of their own Arbitrary Wills The first thing remarkable at the beginning of the Year was the death of Mahammed-Kouli-Kaan-Divan-Beki or Lord Chief Justice He neither lay long sick nor was it long before his Place was suppli'd being conferr'd upon him that was Mirraab or Prince of the Waters or Steward of the Waters For in regard that water is very scarce in that Country this same Overseer of the Waters is a very considerable Employment However it was not thought that he would be the Person made choice of to succeed the Chief Justice but rather that he who had formerly executed the Place and had been banish'd by the deceased King to Metshed for his ill Government would be restor'd to the Kings favour and to his former Post Nor was the Conjuncture without great Probability in regard that Hali-Kouli-Kaan General of all the Kings Forces was then very powerful and that the other was his Nephew the Son of Rustan-Kaan his Brother However he was deceiv'd and the General quite contrary to his Expectation hinder'd all people to sollicite in his behalf out of the care he took of his own Reputation which he had sulli'd in a high degree had he been instrumental to restore a Person that was hated by all the world besides that his private enmity against him prevail'd beyond all the Considerations of Bloud and Consanguinity For which the Christians had reason to bless God because there was no man more their enrag'd and bitter Enemy then he And it was well for 'em during the time he held his Employment that Habas was not a young man and that he undertook their Protection For it is reported of him that when any Christian was Cited before his Tribunal by any Mahumetan he presently condemn'd him before he heard him and that he was wont to say It was Crime enough for an Armenian to have a suit with a Mahumetan for him to cause his head to be broken Why should he not suffer the Injuries that are done him Dog as he is that does not know that the Christian Religion is inferiour to the Mahumetan In the mean time the King held on his debaucheries every day at the same rate But his health did not keep at the same stay while he grew every day worse then other For the young Prince having plundg'd himself into the excesses of Wine and Women it was impossible he should hold out without some alteration So that during the whole course of this Year he was always ill what Physick soever his Physicians could prescribe him for he took little care of himself If he sometimes refrain'd Wine by their advice it was
But now so soon as the General of the Slaves had receiv'd his Commission for the Government of Cand-daar and to withstand the Invasion of the Indians he began to raise Soldiers at Ispahan which he caus'd to be exercis'd every day with so much exactness as if the Enemy had been at the Gates and after he had muster'd together four thousand all stout proper fellows he declar'd he would raise no more that Recruit being sufficient and he order'd his business so well by the assistance of the General of the Army that the King whom they assur'd that the Enemy was at hand caus'd his dispatches to be made for Serdaar or Chief General of Kandar and the Territories belonging to it and made him Governour of the Province and City it self being a famous Garrison and the Key of the Kingdom toward India It is seated upon three rising Grounds which defend each other the Persians esteeming it impregnable and it is a Proverb amongst 'em Who shall take the Habitation of security Alluding to the word Candaar which signifies the same thing Before this Lord departed he obtain'd of the King that his Brother Phereidon-Bek should supply his Place of General of the Slaves as his Lieutenant till his Son to whom the Prince had granted the Reversion should be of years to manage it himself and not content with that he also procur'd an Order from the King by which his Majesty gave him leave to come to Court when he pleas'd without asking leave And thus Gemshid-Kaan departed well satisfi'd conceiving with himself that he had craftily disintangl'd himself from all those troubles which his ill management had brought upon him at Court Some few days after this Lord was thus departed there was no more talk of the War on the other side it was evident there would be none For the report ran about that Aureng-Zeeb understanding that Habas II. was dead and that his Successor was but young and unexperienc'd scorn'd the Encounter of so trivial an Enemy Which Rodomontado of the Indian Prince to save his Honour might have held good in the time of the Rustans who were the Amadis's of Persia at what time they never enter'd into Combat but for Honour But now Monarchs never fight hand to hand nor in single Duels to try each others strength But they fight Army against Army and their only aim is the Conquest of Cities and Provinces assailing whatever they think they can master All the World knew that for three months after the death of Habas II. was known in the Indies the Prince of that Country still continu'd his preparations of War in order to the besieging of Candaar of which this was an evident proof for that all that while all Commerce was forbidden with Persia as before Which would not have been had the Indian Prince abandon'd his designs of the War in derision of his feeble Enemy whom he thought too young to be the subject of his Triumphs The truth was as I have heard from very Intelligent persons that Aureng-Zeeb was diverted from his Enterprize by the Princess his Sister who us'd these Arguments to him That it was not proper for him to hazard the Honour he had won that till that time he had Reign'd in high Reputation which he could never lose so long as he kept himself quiet That Fortune could not make him greater then he was but that she might prove froward to his prejudice That the taking of Candaar was no such easie thing which his Father had twice with two potent Armies attempted in vain That the chiefest part of his Courtiers being Persians they would serve him very unwillingly and assist him but coldly and in a word That if he did not succeed in the War it would be a stain to his Reputation which he would never be able to wipe out Especially since his Reputation had no need of this Conquest to aggrandize it self as being sufficient to support it self without it To which reasons of his Sister the Prince submitted and without doubt he did wisely there being nothing so true as what the Princess told him that there was little to be got by the Enterprize but much to be lost The General of the Slaves before now General of the Armies had not been gone above a Month from Court when Mirza-Ibrahim arriv'd at Ispahan in a trembling and quivering condition after he had been put in such great hopes For he had been inform'd at Tauris what a Trick the General of the Slaves had put upon him and how he had discover'd the whole secret of his Project However having receiv'd a permission to come to Court there was a necessity for him to go so that being reduc'd to this extremity he was not so eager upon his journey he made but slow preparations and delay'd his departure as long as possibly he could excusing himself sometimes by reason of the bad weather the bad Position of the Planets or his own Indisposition of body But at length go he must but he travell'd such easie days journeys that he spent double the time that he needed to have done and perhaps he did it to shun his meeting with the General of the Slaves upon the Road being upon his march to his New Government How he was receiv'd at Court you may easily judge for there was not one living soul that vouchsaf'd him a kind look So that to mollifie the hearts of the Grand Ministers and Potent Lords he was forc'd to expend a good part of the Treasure that he had hoarded up and to suffer himself to be despoyl'd of that which he had pillag'd from the People And as for the Grand Ministers the better to accomplish their design of squeezing Rich Presents out of his Coffers they back'd all Complaints that were made against him at Court. For you must understand that in Persia every private Person let his Condition be never so mean is allow'd to bring his Complaints against the Governours Royal Farmers and other Persons who have any Authority over ' em So that when the Grandees at Court have a mind to ruine any great Personage in the Provinces abroad there usual Policy is to support the Complaints of the Oppress'd and to make 'em the more Ponderous they invite all that will come and then cause 'em to appear at the Palace in shoals to demand Justice Which course was taken with this same Lord. But in regard the Principal Courtiers had no mind utterly to ruine him which had been only a particular benefit to the King but rather to shew him that it lay in their power to the end they might make their best advantage of him themselves they would not suffer the Clamours of his Impeachers to run too high but satisfi'd the greatest part by causing him to restore to his most dangerous Accusers a part of what he had extorted from them But among all the rest his greatest Enemy at Court was that Brutish Old Signior the Generalissimo Hali-Kouli-Kaan who
mortally and so openly hated him that he would neither accept of his Visits nor his Presents The reason of which animosity was because that in the Reign of Habas II. about twelve years before his death when the General of the Army being then in his Government of Tauris fell a second time under the displeasure of his Prince for the reasons already related and after a Confiscation of all his Goods was sent a Prisoner to Casbin Mirza-Sadek Brother of this Mirza-Ibrahim being at that time Farmer Royal of the same City and Province was appointed Commissioner by his Majesty for the sale of those Confiscated Goods At what time he carri'd himself so rigorously that he took away the very Tombans or Linnen Drawers belonging to his Wives and sold 'em in open Market for in regard the disgrac'd Lord had several Wives and for that the Persian Ladies are all sumptuously habited there are some of these under-Drawers that are worth thirty or forty Crowns so that a good number might come to a great deal of Money This Affront touch'd the General to the Quick and enrag'd him to that excess against the whole Family that he gave it its full swinge first against the Vazier himself who had given him the Affront For after he was restor'd and found he had power to do what he pleas'd he sent for him and not so much as vouchsafing to see him when he arrived he caus'd him to be shut up in his Stables where to do him the greatest Injury that could be done him in Persia he expos'd him to the beastly Passion of six lusty Grooms Mirza Ibrahim was not ignorant of all this and knew how far the Transports of his Pride and Cruelty was able to carry him he saw him newly restor'd and advanc'd to the third dignity in the Kingdom and that which was of more importance that he was the Chief in favour and that the King listen'd to him as his Governour For those reasons he conjectur'd rightly that among those that sought his ruine there was not any one who had more Power or a greater good Will Therefore he resolv'd to purchase his favour whatever it cost him or if he could not oblige him to do him a kindness at least that he would be pleas'd to hold his tongue To which purpose he went to give him a Visit desiring he might be admitted to pay him Reverence At first when the Vazier enter'd the General of the Army pretended not to see him but feigning as if his head ak'd call'd for a Couch to lie down where after he had lain about two hours he retir'd into his Palace leaving a great throng of People that waited without to come another time and among the rest Mirza Ibrahim However Mirza Ibrahim would not take this for a denial but return'd the next day To whom the General taking no notice that he had demanded leave to be admitted to make his salutation in the great Hall where he dispatch'd all Comers and Goers gave him no Answer so that the poor Lord was forc'd to stand three hours together among the Officers and Common Persons and after that he pass'd by him without so much as looking upon him and so took horse before his Palace Gate Mirza Ibrahim follow'd him and keeping close to him ever now and then gave him the usual Salute of My Lord peace be with yee and that so loud that he might easily be heard At first the General of the Army said nothing to him but finding the other still pursue him tir'd with his importunate Complements turning about Gidi segh Cursed Dog said he what have I to do with thee or thou with me Go to the Devil and let me never see thee more And having so said he caus'd his Servants to thrust him away Poor Mirza Ibrahim seeing himself so coursely us'd made trial of Presents the great Spring that moves the whole Court of Persia To that purpose he sent the General two thousand Tomans which the General refus'd the other believing 't was too little sent again two thousand five hundred which were sent back as before then he sent three thousand which had no better acceptance after that four thousand which still could make no impression in the haughty Spirit of the Exasperated Lord So that at length he sent five thousand Tomans which comes to twenty thousand pounds And then somewhat suppl'd he invited Mirza Ibrahim two days after to his Megeles or Publick Feast nevertheless he shew'd him no particular Civility nor said any thing to him more then what is usually spoken to all the Guests Kochs-Geldi Y' are welcome I question'd the truth of this Present of twenty thousand pounds when I heard it related the first time not believing that any person would purchase any mans favour at so dear a Rate but afterwards upon farther examination I found it to be really true And I the rather give this Advertisement to the Reader that he may not mistrust the fidelity of my Relations or think that I speak by Hearsay and not upon any exact information All this while the Kings distemper increas'd upon him that he could ride no longer so that he never went abroad with his Wives but in a Kagia veh which are little wooden sheds carri'd by gread Camels wherein they usually put their Women when they go to take the Air. In this Condition he continued a month tho all the while he would not forbear his usual recreations with his Wives The Kourrourks continu'd in all the parts round about Ispahan where the Prince caus'd all the handsom women to be taken up and brought to his Haram One day the Queen Mother had a desire to see the Fortress of the City where are kept all the Curiosities and rarities belonging to the present Monarch and his Ancestors whether Presents or Purchas'd or Trophies of their Conquests To which purpose she persuaded her Son to carry her thither so that there was a Kourrouk proclaim'd all over one part of the City which was never known or at least never remembred by any body then alive Now it haepn'd that one time as the King was thus sporting himself abroad with his Wives an Accident fell out that render'd 'em still more unsupportable to the People His Majesty at that time lay in the Fields without Ispahan under Tents in Harvest time when the sheaves lay heap'd up one upon another in the Grounds and as he was one that greatly delighted in Fireworks some flying Rockets were presented him one Evening of an extraordinary weight for there are some that weigh forty pounds of which he order'd a trial to be made But their extraordinary weight hindering the Massie Squib from mounting directly upwards as it should have done and so not flying very high they made a kind of a Semicircle at a distance which carri'd 'em a great way into the Fields where they set the Sheaves on fire and burnt the Corn together with some houses that stood not
one of the dregs of the People For being a man that was very Covetous and yet one that his misfortunes had rendred extremely fearful they who had any thing to receive of him and to whom he had made over Assignations upon his Farm could find no better way to make him bleed then to abuse and affront him And I was inform'd by some persons who were able to tell me that upon some disorder at Court how to raise money the Divan Beki or Chief Justice gave the King to understand in a Memorial which he presented him that if his Majesty would but deliver up into his power Mirza Ibrahim and Mirza Sadek his Brother he would lose his head if he did not raise him a Sum of six hundred thousand Tomans which are two Millions and a half Sterlin It happen'd that at the same time when this Memorial was deliver'd this unfortunate Lord was in the Hall where his Majesty sate who thereupon caus'd the Memorial to be read aloud It may be easily judg'd in what a taking he was but without answering a word he patiently endur'd the punishment of his rash Ambition and want of Conduct In a word he was a lost man and his misery had encreas'd to its full height had not the conjuncture of the Earthquake furnish'd him with an opportunity to beg leave to retire So that in some measure his good fortune proceeded from an event which at another time might have prov'd most prejudicial to him Yet as I have already said most prudent persons believe that he has only delay'd his evil Destiny for some years that his ruin is infallible and that upon the least want of money he will still be the Prey in the eyes of the Hungry Courtiers The year 1668. according to our account and 1079. according to the Mahumetan Computation began with great Rejoycing the Prince imagining that the rest of the year would be no less happy then the beginning But it fell not out answerable to his expectations nor that of the Grandees of the Kingdom as well as those of meaner Condition who had any insight into Affairs tho to outward appearance they attended at the Festivals with a chearful countenance yet their hearts were not so light for they found the condition of the Empire grew every day worse and worse that the Enemy was in the Bowels of several Provinces while others were laid desolate by Earthquakes little Money in the Kingdom a scarcity still continu'd at Ispahan where tho there was no want of any thing yet every thing was sold at an excessive rate The Exchequer moreover was exhausted while the new Prince in eighteen Months had drain'd all the Treasures of the Empire Which happen'd through his Profusion on the one side either by reason of the prodigious Expences that he delighted in or through the excessive Presents which frequently and many times without any Reason at all he heap'd upon his Favourites And on the other side through the little care that was taken of the management of his Revenues For indeed he had not made the third part of what his Father was wont to make of 'em as having without considering the consequences fill'd up all the vacant Employments both in the Court and in the Countrys Whereas his Father never supply'd those Vacancies unless he was thereto compell'd by necessity to the end he might have the Money himself which was due to his Officers But the young Monarch little experienc'd in Government imagin'd that the Coffers which he found full would never be empty Nor durst any body be so bold as to tell him 't was much more easie to empty then to fill ' em But at length when they found him wondring that Money was not plentiful with him as it had been they were constrain'd to let him understand the reason The Dutchess his Mother for whom he had an extraordinary respect and who might be said to be more then his Governess spoke with more freedom to him then any other person and made him condescend to let her act in the publick management of Affairs Thereupon she took upon her the Government of the Empire and to shew her first Master-piece of Policy she reduc'd the Monarch her Son from one extremity to another Insomuch that whereas he was so extremely liberal before that he was always and upon all occasions giving afterwards he became covetous even to pitiful sordidness and was so far from being bountiful that he hardly rewarded those that did him extraordinary services So that it might be said of him that he was like some Torrents that overflow the Meadows to day and the next leave 'em quite dry All these disorders oblig'd the Persians to look backward and to wish for the days of the deceased Kings Reign And they were taken with the Answer which the late General of the Armies when he liv'd in such splendour and high favour at Court made the King For one day the Prince and he being private together Hali-Kouli-Kaan said the King to him Dost thou not know who they were that rejoyc'd at the death of the King my Father If I knew who the Dogs were I would cause their guts to be ripp'd up To whom the Lord with his usual boldness said Your Majesty will do well to take care what you do lest you begin with your self and me For I know none but our selves to whom his Death could be acceptable by which of Prisoners that we were we became Kings of Persia Nor had the King his Health this year any better then the year before His Distemper still perplex'd him tho his fits were always alike some quickly off others more tedious Sometimes he lay whole Weeks together languishing in his Haram whence he never stirr'd out at his usual times but a little now and then in the Evening to shew himself Sometimes he took the Air a Horseback with a Handkerchief ty'd three or four times about his neck which in Persia is the certain sign of a sick Person However all this while he forbore nothing of his debaucheries and always carri'd his Women along with him his most usual Walks being upon Giulfa side a Town belonging to the Armenians out of which he pick'd all the handsom Virgins to fill his Palace It is said the first time that he caus'd the young Virgins under twelve and above ten years of Age to be thus cull d out of twenty that were carri'd to the Palace there was but one that shew'd the least joy in her Countenance for her good fortune and she was detain'd the rest who fell a weeping either because they were thought too Innocent or else believ'd to be too cunning were restor'd to their Parents But to the Father of her that was detain'd the Sum of Eight Tomans or thirty Guinees Pension was presently order'd For it is the Custom of that Court when the King makes choice of any Virgin out of a Family that is not very well in the World he assigns
as usually takes up three Months ordinary Travelling from Kandaar to Ispahan that is to say three hundred and fifty Persian Leagues which are more then four hundred and fifty French Leagues However he did not enter the City but went to a Garden near the Tokshi which is one of the Gates of the City from whence according to Custom he sent to give notice to the King that the Governor of Kandaar his Slave attended till his Majesty should grant him the favour to come and kiss his feet By which action he thought to have carry'd the day from his Enemies and to have regain'd the Kings Affection The King was then in the Womens Palace where the Eunuchs were charged to carry him the news Which Charge the High Chamberlain and the Princesses High Steward those potent Eunuchs whom he had endeavor'd to set together by the ears by his cunning contrivances of false reports undertook upon themselves and taking their time to enjoy that revenge which they had prepar'd in their hearts with an astonishment in their faces so much the greater because affected they tell the King of the Governors arrival adding withal That they could not tell how that Action of the Governor might be interpreted but to come not only without permission but contrary to a positive inhibition to quit his new Government could not but be a heinous contempt of his Majesty and a manifest Rebellion that since the first foundation of the Persian Empire never any Governor durst be so bold as to quit his Government and come of his own head and out of his own humour to the King In a word they represented this Order so foul to the King that he sent to the Governor of Kandaar to go and surrender himself into the Custody of Ogourlon Kan Grand Porter and to him he sent orders to put him into the Krondoushake which is a little Woodden Engine that Pillories the neck and fastens the right Arm of the Prisoner to his Girdle so that he has no way to help himself with that hand which is the way to secure the persons of Grandees that are look'd upon as Criminals Thus he remain'd three days in the Captain of the Royal Gate 's House All which time the poor Governor conjur'd Heaven and Earth besought of God and Man that he might only be permitted to see the King assuring himself that with one single word he should be able to ruine those that had determin'd his destruction But they who fear'd no less and dreaded that permission labour'd their utmost to prevent it and sought by all ways to exasperate the Kings anger already kindl'd against him For as the Governor thought it a knack of State to be permitted to see the King so on the other side his Enemies deem'd it no less a piece of State-policy to prevent that honour from being granted him In the mean time the Chief Porter being gain'd by the Governors moans and entreaties the third day of his imprisonment carry'd him with the woodden Pillory to the great Portal of the Palace that looks towards the Royal Piazza and there leaving him in the hands of his Servants went to his Majesty and told him That the Governor of Kandaar had as it were forc'd him by his moans and intreaties to bring him to the Kings Gate and that the poor Lord was there waiting for the favour to be admitted to kiss his Majesties feet But then the Enemies of that unfortunate Lord who were in no small number about the King renew'd their Accusations and took the more boldness in regard the King was no way unwilling to hear their complaints Every one aggravated what he knew the Offender to have most criminally committed But above all his Predecessor in the Government of Kandaar who the day before and that very day had caus'd above three hundred Petitions to be Presented against him by several Persons of the same Province that demanded Justice Thus his Enemies became too powerful for him so that after an hours deliberation the King commanded the Chief Porter to go and rip up his Guts Presently the Lord hasten'd to obey the King's Orders and as far off as he could see the Gate he cries Vour that is to say strike which is the Signal of death Immediately the next Officer that heard the word gives him a kick with his Foot upon the Stomach and threw him out of the Portal into the Royal Piazza There with his Sword he gives him two great Gashes upon one side of his Neck but in regard his head did not tumble as yet another drew his Dagger and stabb'd him under the Ribs into the small Guts and thus he expir'd weltring in his Blood which stream'd from him in a prodigious quantity as being a very Sanguine Person Now in the midst of the Royal Piazza over against the great Portal of the Palace is set up a large May-pole of an extraordinary height on the top of which upon solemn Festivals and days of publick rejoycing is fix'd a Cup of Gold which is a Prize to be won by the first among the Horsemen that can shoot it down with his Bow and Arrows upon a full Gallop and upon the top of this Maypole it was that the head of this great Personage was set up by the Kings order the reason of which was as the Persians said that pass'd along to the end his malicious Tongue might not be able at so great a distance to sow Discord and Dissension This was the end of Gemshid-Kaan who indeed did no way merit a better Fate for there was not any body that piti'd his fall or rather there was not any body that did not load him with Curses so that his Body lay two days in the publick Piazza before his Majesty gave permission for its Interment He was of a goodly stature and proportion had a noble aspect and the Port of a Person of Quality his Countenance very pleasing and winning at first sight besides that a vast Courage and profuse munificence accompany'd these outward Graces of the Body But setting aside these two Qualities of his Soul that were laudable the rest were all as venomous and tainted as these were Eminent Four days after this Execution the Commission for Governor of Kandaar was sent to Mahammed-Kouli-Kaan that is to say the Lord Slave of Mahamed This Lord had been thirteen years a Prisoner Banish'd to Casbin by Habas II. Of which this was the true Cause Habas II. being one day abroad with his Women this Lord before he was aware was got within the limits that are prohibited to men where the Guard of the Courouk perceiving him fell upon him and Bastinado'd him most severely Some days after so soon as he was able to go he went to the Palace where the King was sitting in the publick Assembly where taking the King aside with a resolv'd Countenance Did I not see thee said he with this Heron Tuft upon thy Head and observe the great Honour which the
divulging a secret that would have been the ruine of his own and his Uncle's Family At length the General of the Slaves asham'd of having put off the young Lord so many times and now being run to the end of his Rope as one that had no more Excuses to make he resolv'd to break off at once with the Vazier that he might deliver himself from his importunate Sollicitor To this purpose one Evening at the time that he was ready to go to his Prayers and from thence to Court for 't is the Custom of the Mahumetans to say their Prayers in Publick perceiving the young Lord at a distance advancing toward him he took that opportunity when there was a great number of People and several persons of Quality to hear him at what time as soon as the young Lord came near him fetching a deep sigh and lifting up his Eyes and Arms to Heaven Good God said he what shall I do with this man he pursues me every where like a Criminal he will not give me time to say my Prayers he haunts me going into my Haram among my Women I find him at my heels whereever I go prithee Friend what wouldst have me do to satisfie thee Am I King of Persia to create thy Uncle Prime Minister of State Prethee go to his Majesty the business does not lie in my Power You may easily judge what a Thunder Clap this was to the young Lord he would not for ten times the Sum that he had provok'd those Expressions from a man so ill principl'd he repented with all his heart that he had press'd him so close but 't was too late for Ibrahim's Plot was thereby discover'd and all the Court that knew him rightly believ'd 't would cost his Ambition sauce as indeed it fell out By a Quirk of the same nature the General of the Slaves had already formerly hook'd out of the Nazir or Lord Treasurer's Pocket three hundred Tomans which make a thousand pound at the time that the Court return'd to Ispahan To which purpose the cunning Fox went to him at his house all in a heat and after he had drawn him aside Sir said he I come to assure you that your Head which the practice of your Enemies had endanger'd is now secure The King at first began to listen to their Calumnies so that had not I interpos'd for your safety the King was resolv'd neither to have sent you the Habit nor the Patent Royal. The General of the Musquetteers was he that did you the most prejudice which caus'd a Quarrel between us I suppose you will acknowledge the kindness we have done you The same Prank he plaid Mirza Moumen that is Lord without Blot the Nazir or Superintendant of the Stables who was drawn in by him for about nine thousand pounds by making him believe that he had protected him against Potent Accusers who sought to bring him under his Majesties displeasure But that was not all for that he was resolv'd to imploy his Credit with his Master as to raise him from being Treasurer of the Stables to be Treasurer of the Kings Demeans in the room of Mac-Soud-Bec who undeservedly enjoy'd the Employment and whose head already totter'd upon his shoulders for that the King was resolv'd that none of those should live who had oppos'd his Advancement to the Throne Upon his Departure also that he might leave some marks behind him of his malicious Cunning he resolv'd to set the King 's two Chief Eunuchs who are petty Kings in the Palace together by the ears to the mutual perdition of each other that is the Mehther or Lord Chamberlain and the Aga Moubarek or Overseer of the Queen Mothers Houshold To that purpose he went to the High Chamberlain to tell him as a secret of great Importance and which the Friendship he had for him oblig'd him to reveal that Aga Moubarek took all opportunities to slander and accuse him to the King but that his wickedness fell upon his own head for that he had often heard his Majesty say that he could no longer endure the Backbiting Tongue and Malignity of that person that he was resolv'd to have put him to death and had done it already had it not been for some remainder of kindness he has for him for the service he did him at his Fathers death stopt his displeasure At the same time he went to Aga Moubarek and told him also the very same Story of the Chamberlains Inveteracy against him So that the two Eunuchs foster'd for some time a secret and implacable hatred one against the other both expecting when the effects of the Princes Anger would break out to the ruine of his Enemy according as the General of the Slaves had fed their hopes But the time being elaps'd and nothing hapning of what they were made believe they began to doubt the truth of what he had inform'd ' em And therefore knowing the Author of the Story to be a great forger of Lies they resolv'd to find out the truth The Mehther or High Chamberlain was the first that discover'd it For being saluted one day with the usual Complements the Great Chamberlain coldly repli'd There 's a Tongue that coldly salutes my Ears but stabs me to the heart and then drawing him aside What unkindness said he have I done you that you should go about to procure my death by rendring me odious to the Prince as you do every day all my comfort is you will not be so successful in your enterprize as you think for Aga Moubarek finding thereby a Gate opened for discovery 'T is not for you said he but for me to complain For is it not you that have been continually pealing in the Kings Ears such and such stories concerning me which had been enough to have taken away my life had his Majesty given credit to your Tales but thanks be to God they were not believ'd The two Eunuchs were so strangely surpriz'd to find themselves upbraided with the same unkindnesses that they began to compare their accusations of each other with which they were charg'd and that Examination at last discover'd that it was but a Romance tho a pernicious Romance which the General of the Slaves had compos'd to set those two Lords together by the Ears and to make his advantage of their quarrelling Nevertheless seeing the dark contrivance had not succeeded altogether they dissembl'd their resentment at present and said nothing resolving to wait for an opportunity of Revenge which they vow'd should never escape 'em whenever it offer'd it self These Eunuchs are very ready at these kind of dark Contrivances there being no people in the World that know how to carry on a private Revenge by close and covert means and then give fire to the Mine of a sudden so well as they do nor did they fail to pay this crafty Deceiver in his own Coin For it is thought that they were the persons who mainly contributed to his disgrace and death