Interest However on the 3d. Day of the 5th Moon some Scots enter'd into the Lodgings of the Embassador and having dispatch'd him with several Wounds made their Escape It is not certainly known who set these Assassins at Work People descant variously as their Affections byass them Some reflect on it as a Judgment Justly inflicted by God though by an Vnjust Act of Men on one who had been a Notorious Promoter of his Sovereign's Death Others censure it as a most Impious Sacrilege in Regard the Persons of Embassadors are by the Law of Nations esteem'd Sacred and Inviolable and the Injuries which they suffer are interpreted not only as done to their Masters who send them but to all Mankind As if Human Nature it self were wrong'd in the Persons of Publick Ministers Indeed there is no Method of establishing or conserving Friendships and Alliances between different Nations if their Agents be not secured with an Immunity from Affronts and Violences The French relate a pretty Passage of one of their Kings who before he came to the Crown being Duke of Orleans had receiv'd very ill Usage in his Travels from a certain Italian Lord call'd the Baron of Benevento After this Prince was possess'd of the Kingdom the same Italian Lord was sent Embassador from the Viceroy of Naples to congratulate his Accession to the Throne of his Ancestors Some French Courtiers who had been Witnesses of the Injuries this Lord had formerly done to their Master now perswaded the King to Revenge himself by causing some gross Indignities to be done him whilst he had him in his Power To whom the Wise Monarch reply'd It becomes not the King of France to revenge on the Embassador of Naples the Injuries which the Duke of Orleans receiv'd from the Baron of Benevento 'T is said the English Nation have demanded Satisfaction of the Hollanders for the Murder of their Embassador but were answer'd That they themselves ought first to Expiate the Murther of their King The Scots have Revolted from the New Government in England and are yet in Suspence Whether they shall set up the Son of the Late King or Form themselves into an Independent Republick The Irish are stedfast to the Interests of the Crown And many Islands in America subject to the Kings of England have now deny'd all Obedience to the New English Government which seems to tend towards a Democracy There is much Talk of one Cromwel the General of the English Forces in Ireland This Man from a Private and Obscure Estate is ascended to the Dignity of a General having purchas'd this Command by his Conduct and Valour The French extol him for the Greatest Souldier of this Age And if Fame be true he is no less Statesman As a Mark of the Respect I owe thee thou wilt receive with this Letter a Pistol of Curious Workmanship which being once charg'd will deliver Six Bullets one after another If thou acceptest this small Present it will be an Argument of thy Friendship Paris 19th of the 8th Moon of the Year 1649. LETTER XVI To the Venerable Mufti I Have often wondred at the Lethargy wherein the Nazarenes seem to be drown'd They forget what they read in their own Bibles They there encounter with Expressions which savour of the East Every Page of the Written Law relishes of the Dialect which is Pure and Lively though the Translators have cropt the Flower of the Sence I have read their Bible in Greek Latin and French but none of these Languages express to the Life the Original Hebrew Nor can it be expected It is impossible to screw up the Dull Phrases of Europe to the Significant Idioms of Asia We may as well expect Dates to spring from a Reed And for that Reason it is forbidden the True faithful to Translate the Volume of Light from the Original Arabick Which is no other than Hebrew in its Ancient Purity This is the Language of those who dwell above the Seventh Orb. 'T is the Dialect wherein God converses with the Pages of his Divine Seraglio Wherein all the Records of the Celestial Empire are writ And when he issues out Orders to the Ministers and Bassa's of Heaven Hasmariel the Secretary of the Immortal Divan uses no other Character or Speech but that which is peculiar on Earth to the Sons of Ismael the Inhabitants of the Region on the East of the Red Sea In fine this is the Language wherein the Omnipotent thought fit to discover his Pleasure to Mortals Believe Mahmut when he tells thee with profound Submission that he has taken some Pains to pry into those Languages which have been the Channels of Divine Knowledge I have been peculiarly ambitious to study the Anatomy of Oriental Words And it would be no Hyperbole to say I have learn'd to dissect even the very Syllables Wherein the various placing of Points and Letters alters the Sence or at least makes it Ambiguous So Significant and Mysterious are Our Sacred Characters I speak not this in Peevishness or to vindicate my self from the Contempt which Ichingi Cap ' Oglani has put upon me I have no Emulation in that Point Nor can any little Spur of Pedantick Ambition make me forward to contend with a Man whose whole Talent consists in knowing and remembring other Mens Works as if he had studied at Athens only for this End to learn the facetious Art of turning his Brains into a Catalogue of Books But I reflect on the Learned among the Nazarenes who are chiefly to blame having the Custody of the Book delivered to 'em from the Jews And among them the Translators of that Volume are past Excuse for they have deflowr'd the Original and robb'd the Virgin Language of its Beauty and Honour While the Rest are Witnesses and silent Abettors of the Rape in concealing the Indignity has been done to the Letters Form'd by the Finger of God and full of Divine Mysteries In thus accusing the Christian Interpreters of the Bible I do not patronize the Critical Whimsies of the Jewish Caballists They are exploded by all Men of Sence Yet there is a Medium between the Excess of that affected Niceness which has rendred the One Ridiculous and of that study'd Carelessness to which the Obscurity of the Other is owing As the Hebrews by pressing the Letters too close have squeez'd out Divine Chimaera's so the Christians in using too slack a Hand have scarce gain'd a gross Draught of Common Human Sence leaving the Genuine Elixir of the Writer's Meaning behind I will not lay much to the Charge of the Translators employ'd by Ptolomy Philadelphus King of Aegypt These were no Christians nor yet in the Number of those who Adored the Celestial Bodies and Elements Nor did any of them pay their Devotions at the same Altar with that Aegyptian Monarch who was a Worshipper of the God Serapis But they were Jews Seventy or Two more in Number as the Tradition goes And being every one Commanded severally to Translate those
Bodies since the one as well as the other Act according to their Nature In a Word of all the Innumerable Sects into which the Mussulman Empire is divided I cannot expect entire Satisfaction from any for if they appear Orthodox in Some Tenets in Others they are manifestly Heretical Yet I cannot but set a higher Value on Some than Others as their Doctrines and Practices approach nearer to Reason and Truth For I am not yet such an Academick as to ask that Mock-Question What is Truth Doubtless our Fathers knew it and the Messenger of God was sent to Divulge it on Earth But if Ignorance Superstition and Error have banished it from Courts and Cities let us seek it in the Desarts Perhaps we may find this Wanderer among the Rocks and Woods or 't is possible She has sheltered her self in some Den or Cave as hoping for greater Favour from the Wild Beasts than from the Society of Men. If Truth be no where to be found Entire but has divided her self among the Different Religions and Sects in the World then rather than miss of this Divine Jewel I will search for it in Fragments and whatsoever is Rational and Pious in any Sect I will embrace without concerning my self in their Follies and Vices After all the Munasihi seem to me the onely Orthodox and Illuminated of God who declining the private By-Ways of Schismaticks walk in the High Road of Pristine Justice and Piety following the Steps of the Ancients and obeying the Traditions which know no Origin Among these thou appearest as another Pythagoras confirming them by thy Example in an Innocent Life enduring the utmost Severities of Abstinence rather than be Guilty of shedding the Blood of those Creatures which the Great Lord of All Things Created to enjoy the Herbage of the Field and to partake of the Common Blessings of Nature as well as We. To thee therefore I have Recourse as to an Oracle Tell me O Sacred Sylvan am I not obliged to obey the Inspirations of my Nature or Better Genius which tells me 'T is a Butcherly and Inhuman Life to feed on slaughtered Animals Did not all those who aim'd at Perfection among the Primitive Disciples of the Prophet abstain from Murdering the Brutes 'T is true the Messenger of God did not positively enjoin Abstinence from Flesh yet he recommended it as a Divine Counsel And those to whom he Indulged the Liberty of Eating it he ty'd up to certain Conditions Do not all the Religious Orders Preach up Abstinence both in their Sermons and Lives I make no longer Doubt but the Corruption of Manners and Voluptuousness of Men are the Causes that this Ancient Sobriety is now disus'd and slighted My own Experience confirms me in this Opinion who have often attempted to live in Abstinence but by the Force of a Voracious Appetite suffered my self to be carry'd back to my Old Intemperance Yet in Eating Flesh I have been precisely careful to observe the Prohibitions of our Holy Prophet so long as it was in my Power I never Knowingly tasted of Blood nor of any Thing Strangled or knocked down But it is Impossible for me to Assure my self of this or that all the Flesh I Eat was kill'd in Pronouncing that Tremendous Name which gave it Life Neither could I Once escape a Necessity of Eating Swines Flesh But I abominate my self for this Involuntary Crime And to obviate the like Temptation for the Future I will taste of Nothing that has Breath'd the Common Air being inclined to believe the Metempsychosis Which if it be true I wish for no greater Happiness than that in my Next Change my Soul may pass into the Body of the Camel which shall carry thee to Mecha Paris 14th of the 1st Moon of the Year 1650. LETTER II. To Minezim Aluph Bassa MY Intelligence from the Imperial Port sometimes arrives late either through the Neglect of Kisur Dramelec to whom that Care is committed or through the Badness of the Roads which many Times are Impassable Besides the frequent Stops and Interceptions of the Posts in this Time of War Which is the Reason I do not always hear of the Alterations at the Seraglio and the Changes that are made in the Governments of the Shining Empire till many Moons are pass'd Who is exalted or who made Mansoul are Things to which Mahmut is for a Time a great Stranger Therefore thou hast no Reason to be offended that I am thus late in sending to thee my Congratulatory Address But rest confident that I wish thee encrease of Happiness like the Sprouting of the Palm As a Mark of my Duty and Affection I shall now acquaint thee with News which though it may seem of small Import to the Divan yet has startl'd all Europe It is the Imprisonment of Three of the French Princes not those of the Ordinary Rank but Branches of the Royal Stem whose Names are not unknown in the Seraglio the Residence of Fame They are the Princes of Conde and Conti Brothers and the Duke of Longueville Husband to their Sister They are the Principal Subjects in this Nation all Three having the Majestick Blood of the Kings of France running in their Veins They owe their Confinement to Cardinal Mazarini or rather to their own Inartificial Conduct The Prince of Conde is a Passionate Man and has never learn'd how to conceal his Resentments When he first return'd from the Battel of Lens in Flanders whereof I formerly gave an Account the Insurrection in Paris began The Prince block'd up the City and promis'd the Cardinal against whom alone all this Storm was rais'd that he wou'd either bring him back in Triumph to Paris or die in the Attempt He perform'd his Word and the Cardinal rode through the Streets of Paris in the same Coach with the King Queen and all the Royal Blood after the Siege was rais'd and a Peace concluded And the Prince when he alighted out of the Coach address'd himself thus to the Cardinal Now Sir I esteem my self the happiest Man in the World in that I have been able to perform my Engagement in bringing Your Eminence back to Paris and that by my Presence the Hatred which the Multitude have for your Person was repress'd whilst we pass'd through the Streets This too nearly touch'd the Cardinal And indeed the Queen with all the Rest were sensible that the Prince had too far over-shot himself in this last Expression However the Cardinal reply'd in a Kind of Modesty not wholly void of Choler and Disdain Sir You have not only oblig'd me to that Height but have done the Kingdom so considerable a Service in this Action That I fear neither their Majesties nor my self shall be ever in a State to make you answerable Compensation Those who stood by and heard these interchangeable Discourses were apt to interpret the First for a Reproach and the Second as a Menace Since it is not unusual for Great Men to over-value the Services they do
Home with Acclamations of Joy and to congratulate their Release So fickle and inconstant a Thing is the Multitude driven hither and thither with every Artificial Declaration of Statesmen or Pretence of Faction But there were divers Princes and Noblemen who from the First Hour of their being seiz'd resolv'd not to leave a Stone unturn'd to procure their Freedom The Grandees that were their Friends retir'd to their Governments and rais'd Rebellions in the Provinces All the Kingdom was harass'd with Civil Wars The Parliaments decreed against the Court And there wanted not Cabals of Seditious Courtiers even in the Palace of the King to undermine the Royal Authority which the Cardinal Minister thought to establish by the Imprisonment of the Princes In all Places the King's Interest ran Retrograde Thou wilt not wonder at this when thou shalt know that the Princes of France are not Slaves to the King like the Bassa's of the most Serene Empire who owe all their Greatness to the sole Favour of our Munificent Sultans These Princes enjoy all that and more by Inheritance which our Grandees acquire only by their Merits and the Smiles of their Sovereign Hence it is that their Interest is rivetted in the Hearts of the People who revere the Blood Royal in whatsoever Channels it runs Therefore thinking Men blame the Cardinal's Conduct in this Affair saying There was neither Justice nor Policy in it Indeed if a Mans Wit is to be measur'd by the Success of his Contrivances the Censure of these People is true For the Cardinal seems to have made a Trap for himself As soon as he perceived the King was prevail'd on by the Importunity of his Uncle the Duke of Orleans and the Parliament of Paris to release the Princes and that they had at the same Time earnestly begg'd of him that this Minister might be remov'd from the Court he suddenly pack'd up his Moveables and with-drew privately towards the Place where the Princes were Confin'd Hoping that though he had lost his First Point yet he might make an indifferent After-Game by going in Person to the Royal Prisoners and assuring them 't was to him they ow'd their Release since it was in his Power to carry 'em away with him as also those who brought 'em the King's Mandate For he travell'd not without a considerable Guard 'T is said the Princes receiv'd him with seeming Compliments and Addresses of Civility promising their Friendship to the Cardinal now a Voluntary Exile and in a worse Condition than themselves It is very strange that so great a Minister who Inherited all that Absolute Power which his Predecessor Richlieu had at this Court should thus on a sudden abandon his Fortune But it is thought he is not gone to pick Straws However he has by this timely Flight avoided the Displeasure of seeing himself compell'd to depart by an Arrest of Parliament which was publish'd within Two Days after he was gone commanding him to depart the Kingdom within Fifteen Days The Wise Minister foresaw this Disgrace approaching and therefore thought it more becoming his Honour to depart of his own Accord Having still the Advantage to reproach the State with Ingratitude in that they have reduced to such Streights the Man by whose Auspicious Conduct France had been elevated to an Extraordinary Grandeur in Europe By this thou mayst comprehend Illustrious Bassa that there is no Stability in Human Greatness but that the Wheels of a Courtier 's Life run through Vnequal Tracks often sticking in the Mire of the Valley and not seldom threatning to overthrow a Man and cast him Headlong from the Precipice of a Mountain Against these Inconstant Turns of Fortune I advise thee to be arm'd with Moderation since no Man can avoid his Destiny Paris 14th of the 3d. Moon of the Year 1651. LETTER XIV To Isouf his Kinsman at Fez. I Am glad to hear thou art alive Thy Letter came in a good Hour for I bear a true Affection to those of my Blood and have been particularly anxious for thee these many Years The Sun has Nine Times measur'd the Twelve Signs of the Zodiack since I received thy last Letter before this or heard any News of thee It seems thou hast travell'd a great Part of the Earth during that Time 'T was kindly done of thee to remember thy Sick Vncle's Request when thou wert at Aleppo in making Oblations for his Health to Sheigh Bonbac the Santone and distributing Corban to the Poor in Honour of Syntana Fissa Thou hast sent me a large and satisfactory Account of thy Observations in Asia Yet I am sorry thou hadst not Time to penetrate into the Religion and Secrets of the Indian Bramins I am more ambitious to pry into the Wisdom and Learning of those Philosophers than into any other Species of Knowledge whatsoever Methinks 't is pity the Records of so vast an Antiquity shou'd be conceal'd from the Rest of the World and onely known to those Happy Priests I protest 't is impossible for me to think of it without Envy But perhaps it is the Will of Heaven to lock up those Mysteries in the Remotest Provinces of the East as a Reward of their Constancy in adhering to the Traditions of their Fathers which know no Origin and as a Reproach to all other Nations who in Matters of Religion have been Mutable as the Winds I have convers'd with several Jesuits and others who have been in the Indies but they seem to relate all Things Partially out of a Natural Aversion for the Manners of the East And I knew not how to disprove 'em till my Brother Pestelihali undeceived me He has also visited those Parts and resided a considerable Time in China It is a difficult Thing for a Traveller to keep himself within the Bounds of Truth in his Relations but I believe he has not exceeded Thy Journal touches but lightly the Indian Affairs not having Leisure as thou tellest me to observe much However thou hast made Amends in thy Relations of Persia Tartary and the Land of the Curds I depend much on thy Promise of sending me a Journal of thy Travels in Africk To that Quarter of the World I am much a Stranger not having met with any Authentick Relation of the Regions in the South It seems thou hast been in Aethiopia Lybia Egypt and in Fine all over the Torrid Zone Historians tell Wonderful Things of these Parts Herodotus mentions a Sort of People in Africk whose Bodies were more Venomous than Serpents These affronted once at the Winds for driving the Sands of Lybia into their Country and filling up all their Wells and Streams enter'd into a War against the Kingdom of Aeolus but the South Wind met 'em in their March and bury'd 'em under Mountains of Dust I do not represent this to thee as a Truth though related by that Learn'd Grecian Thou mayst repute it for a Fable as I do But let this Passage be a Hint that I expect from thee none
or at least to render him suspected So that he who wou'd live peaceably here at this Juncture had need to be well skill'd in all the Secrets of Physiognomy and make frequent Use of his Looking-Glass lest any Oblique Cast of his Eye or Satyrical writhing of his Nose shou'd be Interpreted for Symptoms of Hidden Malice For now they 'll spy Treason in every Feature of a Man's Face As for me when I go abroad I conform to all Companies yet alter not my Address I neither play the Ape nor counterfeit a Statue But observing a Medium I pay a Civil Respect to all without being Courtly or Rude For this Carriage best Suits with my Circumstances Hence it is that no Body suspects the plain deform'd blunt Crook-back'd Titus of Moldavia to be what I am really Mahmut the Slave of the Exalted Port. Paris 14th of the 2d Moon of the Year 1652. LETTER III. To the Reis Effendi Principal Secretary of the Ottoman Empire THE Prince of Conde's taking up Arms has more puzzl'd the Counsels of the King of France and more embarass'd his Affairs than any Occurrence that has happen'd since the Death of his Father I have already inform'd the Kaimacham and others of all Passages hitherto relating to these Intestine Broils Since which they seem to be improv'd into a War wherein Foreign Nations take a Part. After the Return of Cardinal Mazarini to this Court the Prince of Conde was driven to great Streights being compell'd by the swift Marches of the King's Army to retire to Bourdeaux Where considering that it would not be so much his Interest to keep this Place as to encrease his Forces he sent Envoys to the King of Spain and Arch-Duke Leopold in Flanders to desire their Assistance The Former immediately dispatched away Orders for a considerable Body of Men to approach the Confides of Gascoigne where the Prince had a great Interest And the Latter lent him Eight Thousand Men to act on the side of Flanders and towards Paris as Occasion offer'd This is the particular Game of the Spaniards to take Advantage of the Civil Wars in this Kingdom that so by assisting the weaker Party they may balance the Contesting Powers of the Nation and keep 'em in a perpetual Quarrel Whilst in the Interim they gain Ground recover the Places which the French took from 'em in Time of Domestick Peace and so pave the Way to New Conquests In the mean Time the Parliament sent Deputies to the King beseeching him to remember his Royal Word by which he had for ever banish'd Cardinal Mazarini and representing to him the Fatal Consequences which were like to proceed from his Return But the King instead of complying with their Requests caus'd an Edict of Council to be Publish'd which justify'd his Conduct in this Matter He also writ a Letter to the Parliament full of Complaints that they had not yet publish'd any Order to hinder the Entrance of a Foreign Army into the Kingdom But all signified Nothing to Men passionately bent to maintain the Prince of Conde's Quarrel against their Sovereign He has but few trusty Men in that Senate and they are over-aw'd by the Rest Besides the Duke of Orleans bears a strange Sway both in the Parliament and Country At the Instigation of the Prince the Citizens of Orleans shut up their Gates when they heard the King was coming that Way in his return to Paris Yet the Country was open for the Prince of Conde a Subject He travell'd up and down the Provinces to make New Interests and confirm the Old leaving the Command of his Army in Gascoigne to his Brother the Prince of Conti. There have been many Skirmishes and Encounters between the King's Forces and those of the Male-contents and one fierce Combat wherein the Prince of Conde defeated the Vanguard of the King's Army as he was marching to this City Whereby getting the Start of his Sovereign he arriv'd here and was receiv'd in the Parliament whilst the Monarch was forc'd to lie encamp'd in the Field The Prince found a different Reception according to the various Humours of People The Greatest Part favour'd him and he receiv'd infinite Caresses from the Citizens of Paris But met with some Opposition from Persons of Higher Rank and more stedfast Loyalty to the Crown The Duke of Orleans is his greatest Friend and one for whom the Parliament have a great Deference Not so much in Contemplation of his Wit and Policy as for the Sake of his near Relation to the Crown he being Vncle to the present King Whereby he has a Right to assume more Authority than others in regulating the Disorders of the Court among which the greatest is esteem'd that of Cardinal Mazarini's Return In a Word both Parties serve themselves of those who have the greatest Interest and are most likely to compose the Quarrel The Exil'd Queen of England and her Son who have taken Sanctuary in this Kingdom from the Persecutions of their Own Subjects make it their Business to mediate between the Court-Party and the Faction of the Princes The Prince of Conde also sent Deputies to the King to represent to him That the only Means to give Quiet to the State was to banish the Cardinal-Minister And as they were delivering their Address Mazarini came in at the Sight of whom they aggravated their Charge and said to his Face That he was the Cause of all the EVILS which the Kingdom suffer'd The Cardinal Interrupting them turn'd to the King and said Sir It will not be Just that so Flourishing a Kingdom and to whose Grandeur I have contributed all that lay in my Power should ruin it self for my Sake Therefore I humbly entreat your Majesty to grant that I may return to my own Country or whithersoever my Fortune shall call me No no reply'd the Queen not without some Passion This cannot be granted The King had never more need of your Counsels than at this Juncture We cannot consent that so Serviceable a Man should be Banish'd only to humour his Enemies Therefore let us hear no more of that The Deputies perceiving nothing of Hopes return'd to Paris Then the Parliament deputed others to go to the King and Remonstrate the Deplorable Crate of the Realm This was done a few Days agoe In the mean Time we have been alarm'd here in this City with daily Insurrections of the Multitude The Occasion was some private Orders which the Duke of Orleans had given to the Provost of the Merchants relating to his Charge and the Welfare of the City This being misunderstood by the People who have not the Sence to distinguish the Good Offices of their Governours from Injuries put 'em all into a Tumult They assaulted the Provost in his Coach as he was passing the Streets And had he not escaped into an Apothecary's Shop they wou'd perhaps in their Fury have torn him in Pieces For so they serv'd his Coach as an after Revenge I am weary of beholding the
this City they put Fire to it resolving to kill all that should attempt to make their Escape out of the Flames A Person of Quality coming out to pacify them fell a Victim to their unbridl'd Rage And had not the Duke of Beaufort of whom I have often made mention in my Letters interpos'd his Authority they had murder'd all that were within those suspected Walls Sometime before this the Mareschal Turenne took a Place of Strength from the Prince of Conde who in Lieu of it took St. Denis a Town not far from Paris wherein there is a Temple which the French say is the Richest in Europe But they are laught at by the Italians who boast of far Richer Mosques in Venice Milan Naples and Rome The Duke of Lorain plays fast and loose with the Prince of Conde He enter'd the Kingdom with an Army pretending to espouse the Prince's Quarrel but was quickly bought off by the Queen so that he is now gone to Flanders again by this Action leaving a Free Passage to the King's Army under Marshal Turenne to â—ange whither they please which were before block'd up by his Forces Four Days agoe there was a Bloody Encounter between the Troops of the Prince and those of Marshal Turenne in one of the Suburbs of Paris Neither cou'd boast of the Victory though the Battel lasted Five Hours But at length the Prince of Conde's Troops retir'd into the City being frighten'd with the Main Body of the King's Army which appear'd on the Neighbouring Hills Illustrious Janizary fortify thy Heart with all the Necessary Retrenchments of Heroick Vertue And rather than Surrender to Temptations of Vice on dishonourable Terms run the Hazard of a Storm Paris 6th of the 7th Moon of the Year 1652. LETTER VII To Nathan Ben Saddi a Jew at Vienna WE are all together by the Ears in this Kingdom killing burning and destroying one another Whilst you in Germany enjoy Abundance of Peace The Occasion of our Quarrels here is the Return of Cardinal Mazarini against whom the Duke of Orleans and Prince of Conde are Inveterate Enemies The Former is declar'd Lieutenant-General of the Kingdom by the Parliament of Paris Who give it out That the King is Cardinal Mazarini's Prisoner They have also bestow'd the Command of all the Forces under the Authority of the said Duke on the Prince of Conde Their Principal and only Pretence is the Removal of the Cardinal from the King and his Councils What will be the Issue Time will demonstrate There has been a Duel lately fought between the Dukes of Beaufort and Nemours Two Eminent Friends to the Prince of Conde The King going to a Town call'd Pontoise some Leagues from Paris drew a great many Counsellors and Presidents of Parliament thither Men who are Loyal and Stedfast to his Cause This encourag'd the King to put forth a Declaration commanding the Parliament to meet at Pontoise They on the other Side publish'd aâ— Arrest against this Declaration Thus tâ—ey continue pickeering one at another But here is News arriv'd from Cologne which surprizes People very much I know not the true Ground of their Astonishment but the Priests seem to be Mad for Joy All that I can hear about it is The Restauration of the Roman Catholick Religion in that Province which is a Novelty unexpected especially the Ecclesiastick Grandeur which it seems has been laid aside above these Hundred Years I tell thee only as I am inform'd my self It lies in thy Power to certify me of the Truth of Matters They say also That the famous General John de Werdt is dead As likewise the Arch-Bishop of Treves It is added that Frankendal is surrendred to the Elector of Heidelberg according to the late Agreement at Munster And that there is a Diet begun at Ratisbon I desire thee to inform me of all these Things particularly and of whatsoever else occurs in the Court where thou residest As to Matters of Religion be not over-sedulous Piety is compriz'd in a Few Rules Yet the Soul of Man is Naturally Inquisitive and would fain be acquainted with All Things I advise thee to cast thy Eyes frequently on the Earth that is under thy Feet survey the Groves and Fields the Mountains and Valleys Rocks and Rivers Then look up to the Heavens and take a stedfast View of the Stars Câ—nsider the Beauty and Order of All thingâ— And after this tell me if thou canst imagine That the Great and Immense Creator of this Wonderful Fabrick Form'd all the Nations of the Earth to Damn 'em Eternally save only those of Your Race Son of Israel I wish thee heartily Adieu Paris 11th of the 8th Moon of the Year 1652. LETTER VIII To the Kaimacham THE Parisians seem to be all in a Dream or Trance They know not what they say or do or at least they care not Such is the Immense Joy for the Return of the King to this City The Steps to this suddain Change were the Retiring of Cardinal Mazarini from the Court. Which was seconded with a Declaration of Indemnity or a General Pardon for all that had pass'd during these Troubles save some particular Reserves of Sacriledge Fires and such like This work'd strangely on the Inhabitants of Paris But the Prince of Conde not finding any Satisfaction as to his own Person in his Amnesty call'd in the Duke of Lorraiâ—'s Army to his Assistance These reduc'd the King's Forces to so great a Streight and Extremity that the Parliament being sensible of the Advantage made use of it and sent Deputies to the King beseeching him to continue in the same good Resolution he had taken before this Misfortune The Monarch suffer'd himself to be overcome by a Violence mix'd with so much Submission and yielded to their Requests Immediately the Hearts of the Prince of Conde's Friends grew cold and began to change their Sentiments In a word they were resolv'd to desert their New Master and cast themselves at the Feet of their Lawful Sovereign The Grandees who had most affected Conde's Interest laid down their Offices The Foreign Armies of Spaniards and Lorrainers retir'd out of the Kingdom The Citizens of Paris sent a Deputation consisting of Sixty Six Persons of Honour to invite the King to this City and assure him of their Future Allegiance All the Officers of the Militia did the like The King being satisfy'd with the timely Penitence of his Subjects and having commanded some Preparatory Alterations in Places of Trust enter'd this City on the Twenty First of the last Moon with all the Joy and Acclamation which cou'd express the Love of his People and the Regret they had abour'd under during his Absenceâ— Thou seest Illustrious Minister that tho' by the Artifices of a Facâ—â—on a King may be render'd odious to his Subjects be banish'd from his Palace and have the Gates of his Cities shut against him as befell to this King Yet the Inconveniences they feel in taking up Arms against him sooner or later
And if Naturalists speak Truth 't was a Hundred Years a growing to these Dimensions as many in a Fix'd and Flouriâ—hing Condition and that it will not take up a less Time in decaying to its last Rottenness They say also That an Elephant the Biggest and Strongest of all the Beasts on the Earth lives Two Hundred Years and continues encreasing in its Stature the greatest Part of that Term. The like they relate of Crocodiles and Dragons But not to tire thee with Examples of this Nature let us consider that whatsoever is great and durable among Men whatsoever is Illustrious and Excellent is slow in the Production and makes not hasty Leaps to Maturity View all the Monarchies that have made so much Noise on Earth and thou wilt find that in Proportion to the Time of their Growing Greatness was the Term of their Duration How swift was the Rise and Fall of the Persian Empire Equally precipitate was that of the Macedonians None could ever boast of so Permanent and Universal a Sway as the City of Rome of which it is commonly said Rome was not built in a Day To come nearer Home How Lasting and perpetually Victorious is the Sacred Empire of the Mussulmans Yet it took its First Rise from very small Beginnings met with frequent Repulses and has made a slow Progression to the present Formidable Height of Sovereign Power it now possesses For thou know'st This is the Thousand'th Sixtieth and Third Year since the Holy Flight of the Messenger of God What I have said may be apply'd with Proportion to Men's Personal Advances in the Honours and Fortunes of this World Be content therefore with the Seasons wherein Destiny shall think fit to raise thee and strive not to out-run thy Fate All the News I can tell thee is That Cardinal Mazarini return'd the 13th of the last Moon from his Second Banishment Which thou mayst report for a Truth to the Ministers of State We are all Exiles here on Earth God restore us to a Region more Agreeable and admit us to the Caresses of our Friends in Paradise Paris the 25th of the 3d. Moon of the Year 1653. LETTER XIII To Kerker Hassan Bassa THE Blessings of God and his Prophet descend upon thee from a Thousand Sources Thou art a true Friend and our whole Family are oblig'd to thee for Favours which have no Number But none more than my Brother and I. Our Engagements to thee are Equal since what Kindness thou hast shew'd to him in recommending him to the Sultan's Favour and to a Place of Honour and Profit I take as done to my self we being Naturally sharers in each others Prosperity or Adverse Fortuâ—â— For such is the Method of strict Relations and Friendships And I have a particular Reason to thank thee because it was at my Instance thou promoted'st him Yet tho he is my Brother I should not be so Partial as to say these Things in his Behalf did I not know him to be a Man of Merit For Places of Trust ought not to be bestowed for Favour or Affection We are bound to sacrifice all Private Regards to the Interest of the Grand Signior And not act like the French who get Offices of the Greatest Importance many Times by being of a Faction or Party opposite to their King Since the Return of Cardinal Mazarini to this Court which was in the foregoing Moon the King has reform'd many Abuses of this Kind He begins to feel his own Strength and Authority every Day more and more In the Moon of December dy'd Cardinal Richlieu's Brother who was Bishop of Lyons and Grand Almoner of France The King has bestow'd these Honours on Cardinal Antonio Barberini who took Sanctuary in this Court from the Persecutions of the Present Roman Pontiff almost Ten Years ago He has always espoused the King of France's Interests in Rome And the grateful Monarch receiv'd him with much Affection and as an Additional Honour has made him a Knight of the Holy Spirit This is the Chiefest Order of Knighthood in France It is freshly reported here that the Duke of Newburgh a Great Prince in Germany is dead They talk also of certain Prodigies that have been lately seen in England Ireland and other Parts of Europe As Raining of warm Blood Tin and Copper And 't is affirm'd for certain That Three Suns were lately seen at Dublin the Chief City of Ireland There has been a Sea-Combat between the English and Hollanders on the Coasts of Italy Wherein they say the Dutch had the Victory having sunk Two of their Enemies Ships and taken One without any Considerable Loss on their own Side Here is no other News stirring at present worth the Knowledge of a Mussulman Grandee The Eyes of all the Western Nazarenes are fix'd on that Refuge of the World where thou residest and on the Actions of our Invincible Vizir in Candia They discourse of some Overtures of Peace which that Great General has made to the Venetians if they will forthwith surrender the City of Candia to the Victorious Osmans If this be true one would think so great Clemency must needs tempt the Proud Infidels to Submission and Compliance But if Destiny has otherwise Decreed I wish they may feel the Force of our Arms which appear more keen than even the Soythe of Time that Devourer of all Things Paris 27th of the 3d. Moon of the Year 1653. LETTER XIV To Nathan Ben Saddi a Jew at Vienna THY last Letter speaks thee at once willing to be Enlightened yet Tenacious of thy Old Prepossessions I wonder not at the Difficulty thou findest in shaking off the Precepts of thy Rabbi's those Religious Triflers The Influence of Education is forcible as that of our Birth And the Habits that are rooted in us in our Tender Years are harder to be displanted than the Inhorent Affections of our Blood This is signify'd by the Arabian Proverb which says The Tutors of Youth have an Ascendant over the Stars of their Nativity I know it has been esteem'd the peculiar Glory of thy Nation that you have been Rigid Observers of the Traditions of your Fathers From which rather than deviate a Title there have not been wanting such as freely expos'd themselves and have bravely endur'd Racks Scourgings Burnings and all Sorts of Torments even the most exquisitely cruel Deaths that the Malice of Tyrants cou'd invent But do not I know also that in some of the most Weighty Points of your Law your Zeal has exceeded your Prudence I speak not of the private Bigotry of one Man or a few but of the Representative Body of your Whole Nation How foolishly Superstitious were your Armies in the Days of Mattathias when being assaulted by their Enemies on the Sabbath Day they refus'd to draw a Sword in their own Defence and so were all cut off by the Army of Antiochus This is no Invidious Remark of your Adversaries in Religion but the Observation of Josephus a Man of the same Faith
Surplusage of Happiness Which thou wilt not fail to possess if thou inheritest the Vertues of that Bassa as well as his Office May his Soul now taste the Reward of his Just Life And I doubt not but he has made an happy Experience of my Wishes He sits down in Quiet under the Trees of Eden His Head encompass'd with a Garland of Flowers which never fade Vested with the Immarcescible Crimson and Purple of Paradise He reposes on his Bed of Delights whilst Beautiful Pages serve him in Vessels of Gold set round with Sapphires and Emeralds He drinks the delectable Wine which never Inebriates and eats of the Fruits every Morsel of which prolongs his Life for a Thousand Ages He hears Nothing but the Voices of such as are full of Benediction and Joy The Virgins of Paradise salute him with a Grace which cannot be express'd They chaunt to the New-come Guest Songs of Immortal Love To the Stranger from Earth they tell their Passion in Strains which ravish his Heart He is dissolv'd in a Thousand Ecstasies This is the Reward of a Pious Mussulman a Wise Minister a Just Judge of the Faithful Follow his Example and thou shalt be translated into his Company For he is in a Goodly Place near the Spring-Head of Perfect Bliss Thou wilt expect some News from me as a Testimony of my Respect And I cannot pretend there is none stirring at a Juncture when all this Part of the World is so full of Action or at least of Counsels Here has been great Rejoicings lately for the taking of St. Menehoud a Strong Town in the Hands of the Prince of Conde All the Officers of the French King's Army endeavour'd to dissuade him from the Siege of this Place but Cardinal Mazarini over-rul'd their Arguments and having reprov'd their groundless Fears caus'd it to be invested and attacqu'd the 22d of the 10th Moon Some say he had a Party there Yet it held out till the 27th of the last Moon at which Time it was surrender'd upon Articles to the King who was there in Person with his Brother the young Duke of Anjou the Queen the Cardinal and the whole Court They return'd to this City the Ninth of this present Moon They were receiv'd with great Acclamations and seeming Joy by those who wou'd have triumph'd more heartily had they been defeated or forc'd to raise the Siege For the Citizens of Paris wish well to the Prince of Conde's Arms Not so much out of Love to him as in Hatred of his Enemy the Cardinal-Minister And they are sensible that this Successful Siege will redound wholly to the Cardinal's Honour by whose sole Orders the Place was invested It is discours'd as if this Minister has some new Design on Foot to conquer the Kingdom of Naples This is certain a Mighty Fleet is fitting out to Sea Whither bound no Man knows but those of the Cabinet among whom the Cardinal is Chief In the mean while the Common People listen after certain Prodigies that have been seen in the Air. They say a Flaming Sword appear'd lately to rise in the North and take its Course South-Eastward From whence People make various Prognosticks as their Passions or Interests inspire ' em Some are of Opinion it presages the Conquest of Naples by this King 's Arms. Others apply it to the New Common-Wealth of England and to the Victorious Sword of Oliver who from General of the English Army is now in this very Moon exalted to the Height of Sovereign Power Governing the Nations of England Scotland and Ireland under the Title of their Protector Here are divers of his Subjects in this City and other English Scots and Irish who embrace the Interest of Charles the Son of their late Murder'd King who has been since Crown'd King of the Scots They give a different Character of Oliver yet all agree that he is a Wise Statesman and a Great General The Scotch King's Party speak contemptibly of Oliver's Birth and Education Yet thou know'st this hinders not but he may be a Man of Courage and Vertue They relate many odd Passages of his Youth which seem to me so many Evidences of an extraordinary Genius and that he is a Person of a deep Reach He tamper'd with several Religious Factions in England counterfeiting an Exquisite Piety whereby he first rais'd himself a Name among the Zealots of that Nation who look'd upon him there as a very Holy Person and one mark'd out by Destiny for Great Undertakings He soon got a Considerable Command in the Army of the Revolters Where he signaliz'd himself by many brave Actions which spoke him a Man of an Invincible Courage and Admirable Conduct So that at Length none was thought more fit than he to be General In fine he acquitted himself so gallantly in that High Office and has so wrought himself into the Affections of the People that they now look upon him as a Prophet or Saviour and the Divan or Parliament of that Nation have conferr'd on him the Sovereign Authority Those of the English which are Affected to his Interest speak Great Things in his Praise They call him another Moses or Joshua They prefer him to Hannibal Scipio and even to the Great Alexander It is difficult for them to speak of him without Hyperbole's 'T is said the King of France will court his Friendship Indeed all the Neighbouring Countries stand in Awe of this successful Hero And the Hollanders who are the only People that durst engage in a War with the English Common-Wealth now seek for Peace since he is invested with the Supreme Authority In the mean Time the Poor Exil'd King of the Scots takes Sanctuary in this Court with his Mother the Late Queen of England and his Brother whom they call the Duke of York The French King allows them all very Considerable Pensions And the Latter has some Command in the Army in Flanders There is another Brother also but little talk'd of as yet being the Youngest of the Three They are Generously entertain'd here it being the peculiar Honour of this Court to be a Hospitable Refuge to Princes in Distress Yet Observing Men say The King will in Time grow Weary of his Royal Guests It being very Chargeable to maintain them and their Burdensome Retinue Besides he will have some Reason of State to discard them if he enters into a League with Oliver the New English Sovereign who is courted on all Hands Eliachim the Jew of whom thou wilt hear in the Divan is just come into my Chamber and brings me Word that there is an Express newly arriv'd who informs the Queen of a Defeat given to the Spaniards near a City call'd Rozes which they had besieg'd in Catalonia The French were going to the Relief of this Place and the Spaniards set upon them in their March but were beaten into their Trenches from whence they fled by Night leaving Three Hundred Spaniards on the Spot almost Two Thousand Prisoners and all their
half filling the Pot forced the Oil up to the Mouth so that he could Lap his Belly full Of this Plutarch says he was an Eye Witness Was not this thinkest thou an Archimedes among the Dogs Are not the Goats of Candy absolute Physicians when being wounded they never cease ranging the Plains of that Fertile Island till they have four'd the Herb Dittany with which they restore themselves to Health Should the French read these Lines and those others I have writ on this Subject to Cara Hali and the Great Mahummed of the Desart they would censure me as a Heretick a Fool or a Madman Or at least they would conclude I am too Importunate an Advocate for the Beasts They would call me Brute my self and fix my Pedigree among some of the Dumb Generations But thou who hast been Educated in the serener Principles of the East and hast had the Honour to pour Water on the Hands of the Abstemious Eremit wilt have another Opinion of what I say in Defence of our Kindred Animals He that has given Wisdom and Language to the Pismires and Instructed them to converse together by Mute Signs so that when the Signal was given the Alarm was taken throughout their humble Territories and they all fled away with their Bag and Baggage when the Army of Solomon approached Inspire us with Grace to understand the Language of the Beasts or at least not to think our Selves Wiser than them who understand Ours Paris 14th of the 4th Moon of the Year 1654. LETTER VIII To Afis Bassa THIS Court is wholly taken up at present with the Preparations that are making to Crown the Young King The Place design'd for that Ceremony is a City call'd Rhemes 'T is said the Duke of Orleans will not be there though the King has Summon'd all the Princes and Nobility to attend at his Inauguration according to the Ancient Custom But that Prince stomacks the great Sway Cardinal Mazarini bears at Court Besides his Daughter who has no small Power over him is affected to the Party of Malecontents 'T is through her Perswasions the Duke her Father absents himself from the King his Nephew Yet there are that say his Mind will change before the Time appointed for the Coronation And that he will rather dissemble his Grudge that so he may more advantageously ruine the Cardinal Who keeps the King lull'd in a Circle of Pleasures agreeable to his Youth that so he may not have Time or Inclination to pry into his Management of Affairs The Court is at present at Fontainbleau a House of Pleasure belonging to the King They pass their Time away in Delights drown'd in Security Whilst the Wakeful Princes of the Blood are plotting new Methods to rowze 'em from their Lethargy and teach the Young Monarch That the Sound of the Trumpet and Beat of the Drum will in a short time be a more Necessary Musick than the soft Airs of the Lute and such Chamber-Melody In the mean Time the Prince of Conde being Condemn'd the Princess his Wife has petition'd the Parliament that her Dowry may be secur'd to her But they have referr'd the Matter to the King Her Husband seems to be lost in all Respects save those of the People's Affections who favour any that are Enemies to Cardinal Mazarini Monsieur Broussel one of the Councellors of Parliament whose Imprisonment I formerly mention'd to be the Cause of the First Sedition at Paris is newly dead Yet the Cause whereof he was a Patriot dies not with him but rather takes fresh Vigour from daily Grounds of Discontent It was more particularly reviv'd upon the Death of the late Arch-Bishop of Paris The Clergy chusing for his Successor the Cardinal de Retz a Prisoner of State and under the severe Displeasure of the King This Election was countermanded by a Declaration from the Council-Royal Nevertheless the Ecclesiasticks persist in their First Choice Whilst Cardinal Mazarini threatens 'em with the Punishments due to those who contemn the King's Authority But they slight his Menaces trusting to the Arms of the Prince of Conde which they hope will deliver 'em in Time from the Oppressions of that Great Minister The Men of Ability Cabal whilst the Vulgar are easily drawn into Parties as their Affections byass'em Here is Nothing but Murmuring and Whispering against the Government Every Man endeavours to purchase Arms and lay 'em up privately as against some Publick Invasion Nay the Citizens walk not abroad without Daggers hid under their Garments As if they either intended a Massacre or were afraid of one All things seem to portend some sudden Eruption of Popular Fury And the Wisest know not what will be the Issue of so many Threatning Occurrences Only Mahmut surrounded with Infidels is resign'd to Destiny Knowing that no Human Counsel can hasten or retard the Decrees Sign'd Above Paris the 17th of the 5th Moon of the Year 1654. LETTER IX To Murat Bassa IT seems the Devils have been lately let loose in these Western Parts if we may give Credit to the Deposition of such as have accus'd certain suppos'd Witches In Bretagne and Province of this Kingdom above Forty Old Women have been seiz'd and Imprison'd for holding Correspondence with Infernal Powers And above half of them condemn'd to Death God knows with what Justice Some of them are accus'd of Enchanting the Persons of their Neighbours Others for Bewitching their Cattle And a Third Sort for dissolving the Mischievous Charms of the First and Second All of them for assembling in the Night-Time and using certain Diabolical Ceremonies which they say begin and end in kissing the Posteriors of a Goat or the Devil in that Form I know not how far these poor superannuated Figures of Mortality may be wrong'd 'T is a Question whether their Judges are always in the Right A shrivell'd meagre Face a hollow Eye join'd with irrecoverable Poverty are many Times the Chief Grounds of Suspicion Which improv'd by Superstition Mistakes and Malice have often prevail'd on those who ought to administer Justice to condemn poor Wretches more Innocent than themselves as Guilty of Witchcraft Yet it cannot be deny'd but that there have been both Men and Women vers'd in Magical Arts as they are commonly call'd which I take to be only the more Mysterious Science of Nature Such was Zoroaster the Great Grand-Child of Noah and King of that Part of Asia which was then call'd Bactria Such was Apollonius Tyaneus Philistides Syracusanus with many others of Ancient Date These understood the Hidden Force of the Elements the Influence of the Stars the Specifick Operation of Metals Minerals and other Subterranean Bodies with the Virtues of all Vegetables They knew exactly how to frame Astral Images and Talismans by the Help of which they were able to effect Wonders And all this perhaps without once dreaming of Infernal Spirits or having the least Society with Devils Yet I believe Lucian an Ancient Writer who never spoke seriously of any Thing scarce
believ'd himself when he related the Story of Pancrates a Famous Magician of Egypt who by these Talismans was able to transform Inanimate things into the Appearance at least of Living Creatures Thus he wou'd turn a Stick or Piece of Wood into a seeming Man who shou'd walk discourse and perform all the Actions of a Rational Being A certain Stranger travelling with him once to Memphis and lying with him in the same Carvansera as soon as they were alighted from their Camels Pancrates took a Plank of Oak and having touch'd it with his Talisman and pronounc'd Two or Three Syllables incontinently the Stock mov'd stood upright walk'd and taking the Camels by the Bridle led them to the Stables After which this Wooden Man came in and prepar'd their Pillaw went of whatsoever Errands Pancrates sent him And when they departed the Magician using a certain Private Ceremony this Officious Servant return'd to a Plank again This was his Practice all along the Road. One Day his Fellow-Traveller being resolv'd to try the Experiment took Advantage of the Magician's Absence who was gone to the Temple and had left his Talisman behind him The Curious Travelle having been often an Eye Witness of this Trick takes a Piece of Wood and touches it with Pancrates's Talisman repeating the Syllables he had heard him utter Immediately the Inanimate Timber became a Man asking his Pleasure The Traveller astonish'd at the Event commanded his new Servant to bring him a Bucket of Water The Enchanted Spark obeys The Traveller told him it was enough and bid him return to a Piece of Wood again but instead of that he continu'd drawing of Water and bringing it in till the House was full The Traveller fearing the Anger of Pancrates thought to dissolve the Enchamment by cleaving the Wooden Animal in Two But this augmented his Trouble For each Piece taking a Bucket fell to drawing of Water so that of One Servant he had made Two This continued till the Magician came to his Rescue who having sternly rebuk'd the Traveller's Rashness at a Word turn'd the Two busie Drudges to their Primitive Loggishness and Inactivity again I do not tell this Story as if I would have thee believe it or that I give Credit to it my self Let us imitate the Author of it who laughs at all that delight in such Fables But the Christians who believe a Piece of Bread is Transform'd to Flesh and Blood and becomes an Immortal God at the pronouncing of Four Words by the Priest may be excus'd if they put Confidence in the Figments of Poets and Orators I have in my Custody the Journal of Carcoa who formerly resided at Vienna a Private Agent for the Ever Happy Port. Some of his Letters speak of the Superstition and Credulity of the Germans in this Kind Yet in a Letter to the Mufti he acknowledges himself overcome by the Unquestionable Testimonies of such as had been Eye-Witnesses of the Life and Death of one Faustus a German Magician who play'd a Thousand Infernal Pranks as he calls them even before the Emperour himself He tells also of another Magician call'd Zyto who liv'd in the Days of the Emperour Charles IV. And when the Emperour's Son to whom Zyto belong'd was to Marry the Duke of Bavaria's Daughter the Duke to oblige his Son-in-Law who was much taken with Magical Tricks as were all the Germans sent for a great many Famous Sorcerers to the Wedding Among the Rest while One was performing a rare Exploit on a sudden Zyto the Prince's Conjurer came up to him with a Mouth seeming as Wide as that of an Old Crocodile and swallows him up at a Morsel When he thus had done he retires and voids him again in a Bash and brings him thus drench'd into the Company challenging any of the other Magicians to do a Feat like that but they were all silent I hear of no such Tricks done by those French Witches who cause so much Discourse at present The worst they are accus'd of is Bewitching their neighbours Hogs to Madness which thou knowest may be only a Natural Malady I pray Heaven defend us from the Enchantments of a deluded Phansy that Domestick Incubus of every Mortal and we need fear neither Witch nor Wizard Paris 20th of the 5th Moon of the Year 1654. LETTER X. To Cornezan Mustapha Bassa THE Fame of Christina Queen of Sueden has no doubt reach'd thy Ears I have made Mention of her in several of my Letters That Royal Virgin is now about to surrender her Crown to her Cousin whom they call Charles Prince Palatine This is a Voluntary Resignation And her Motive is said to be a strong Inclination to Solitude and a Private Life being esteem'd the most Accomplish'd and Learn'd Princess of this Age. But those who pretend to know more than others say That the True Ground of her abandoning the Kingdom is a Resolution she has taken to change her Religion and embrace the Faith of the Roman Mufti which is forbidden by the Laws of Sueden Thou wilt smile at the Proposals which this Queen sent to her design'd Successor and his Answer to them In the first Place She will keep the Greatest Part of the Kingdom and Revenues in her own Hands Secondly She will be no Subject but altogether Independent and Free Thirdly She will have Liberty to travelinto Foreign Countries or into any Part of that Dominion Lastly She will not have the Offices of Trust or any other Gifts that she shall have disposed of to her Favourites revok'd by her Successor To these Articles Prince Charles Answer'd First That he will not be a mere Titular King without Dominions nor without such a Revenue as is Necessary to defray the Royal Expences both in Peace and War Secondly That he will suffer no Competitor Equal or Sovereign in his Kingdom Thirdly That he will not run the Hazard of her Intrigues in Foreign Courts Lastly That if he be King he will dispose of Preferments as he thinks fit And in Fine That he will not be the Shadow of a King without the Substantial Prerogatives of Sovereignty 'T is added That when the Queen heard his Reply she said aloud I propos'd those Articles only to try his Spirit Now I esteem him Worthy to Reign who so well understands the Incommunicable Rights of a Monarch This Intelligence comes by a Secretary to the Spanish Embassador who is newly come out of Sueden to Negotiate at this Court a Ten Years Truce between France and Spain Here is likewise an Embassador from Portugal who acquaints the Court That the Portugueze have Expell'd the Hollanders out of the Places they held in the East Indies But if our Merchants bring true Intelligence the Tartars will Exterminate all the Franks that are in China In the mean Time the Young King of France passes away his Hours in Dancing seeing of Plays and other Recreations provided with vast Expence by Cardinal Mazarini to divert him from medling with Publick Affairs and
him an Account of Africk Several Remarks on that Quarter of the World XV. To Kerker Hassan Bassa p. 170 He complains of the Injuries had been done him by Ikingi Master of the Pages and by others Desires him to intercede for Leave to return Home professing himself weary of this Employment XVI To Chusaein Bassa the Magnanimous Vizir Azem and Invincible General of the Ottoman Forces in Candia p. 175 Mahmut complains of the Instability of all Sublunary Things Of the Cruelties exercis'd towards some of the Sultans Vizirs Bassa's and other Ministers of the Empire Reflections on the Death of the Old Queen Remarks on the delightful Confinement of the Ethiopian Princes of the Blood XVII To Nassuf Bassa of Natolia p. 181 Of a Quarrel between the Dukes of Brandenburgh and Newburgh XVIII ToVseph Bassa p. 186 Of the Misunderstandings between the Queen of France and the Prince of Conde since his Enlargement Of the Prince's Flight from Paris XIX To Solyman his Cousin at Constantinople p. 190 He reproves his former Libertinism Endeavours to rectify his Mistakes about Hell And gives him good Counsel XX. To Enden Al' Zaidi Jaaf Beglerbeg of Dierbekir p. 193 He congratulates his Happiness in being Lord of the Earthly Paradise Of a Tree Five Hundred Miles High in Dierbekir Of the First Parents of Mankind according to the Tradition of the Indians With other Matters BOOK III. LETTER I. TO Abdel Melec Muli Omar President of the College of Sciences at Fez. p. 199 He discourses after the Manner of a Sceptick on the Difference in Religions II. To the Kaimacham p. 207 The Sentiments of Isouf Eb'n Hadrilla an Arabian Philosopher concerning the Original of Mankind and their being born in a State of War Of 150000 Livers promised as a Reward to those who shou'd bring in Cardinal Mazarini Alive or Dead Of the Return of that Minister to the Court. III. To the Reis Effendi Principal Secretary of the Ottoman Empire p. 212 More of the Domestick Troubles in France IV. To Cara Hali Physician to the Grand Signior p. 217 He relates several Examples of the Wisdom and Morality that is found in the Brutes V. To the Captain Bassa p. 223 He expostulates about the Ill Success of the Mahometan Fleets And relates to him a Vision which he had in Paris With the Ceremonies that went before it Advises him to make a Descent in Italy Informs him of a Terrible Sea-Combat between the English and the Dutch VI. To the Kiaya Bey or Lieutenant General of the Janisaries p. 228 Of the Corruptions crept into the Discipline of that Order Which he counsels him to Reform Of an Insurrection in Paris With other Matters VII To Nathan Ben Saddi a Jew at Vienna p. 234 Of a Duel Fought between the Dukes of Beaufort and Nemours The Parliament of Paris divided The Roman Catholick Religion restor'd in Cologne VIII To the Kaimacham p. 236 Of the French King 's Return to Paris and the Vniversal Joy of his People for the same Of the Rebellions in Syria and Egypt IX To Dgnet Oglou p. 240 Of the Vnhappiness of Kings Particular Reflections on the Deposing of Sultan Ibrahim and the Minority of Sultan Mahomet X. To Melec Amet. p. 245 Of a French Lord who being close pursued by his Enemies escap'd over an Arm of the Sea by the Strength of his Horse for which Service he immediately Kill'd him Of Carabuluc Sultan Selim's Horse Remarks on the Birth of Alexander the Great and the Burning of Diana's Temple at Ephesus Of the Imprisonment of Cardinal de Retz Of the Taking of Dunkirk and Casal by the Spaniards XI To the same p. 250 He discourses of a Comet which at that Time appear'd in the Heavens above the Sphere of the Sun XII To Pesteli Hali his Brother Master of the Grand Signior 's Customs p. 253 He Congratulates his New Preferment and Counsels him not to be Hasty in growing Rich or Mighty Of Cardinal Mazarini's Return from his Second Banishment XIII To Kerker Hassan Bassa p. 257 He thanks him for the Favour he had shewn to his Brother Of the Honours which the French King bestow'd on Cardinal Antonio Barbarini Of certain Prodigies XIV To Nathan Ben Saddi a Jew at Vienna p. 260 He endeavours to wean him from the Prejudices of Education and to convince him that Other Nations are in as fair a Way to Paradise as the Jews XV. To the Sublimely Wise the Senior of Excellent Dignity Abul Recowaw'n Grand Almoner to the Sultan p. 267 Of the Difference between Impudent Beggars and the Truly Indigent A Remarkable Instance of a certain Cardinal's Charity He recommends to him in Particular the Case of a certain discarded Timariot XVI To the Captain Bassa p. 272 Of several Sea-Fights between the English and Dutch And particularly of that wherein General Trump was Kill'd XVII To Sale Tircheni Emin Superintendent of the Royal Arsenal at Constantinople p. 274 Of a Wonderful Ship built at Rotterdam by a French Enginier which should perform Miracles He discourses of Spouts at Sea XVIII To Murat Bassa p. 280 Remarks on the New English Common-wealth On the Young King of Scots and on the French Affairs XIX To Afis Bassa p. 282 Of divers Prodigies and Disasters in the Low-Countries Of the Whale and its Guide Of the Narrow Escape the French King made as he was Shooting a Partridge XX. To Dgebe Nafir Bassa p. 288 He congratulates his Succession in the Dignities of Chiurgi Muhammet Bassa Of the taking St. Menehoud Of Oliver the English Protector BOOK IV. LETTER I. TO Bedredin Superiour of the Convent of Derviches at Cogni in Natolia p. 295 Remarks on the Birth and Life of the Messias A Character of the Essenes II. To the Venerable Mufti p. 302 Of a Letter sent out of Armenia by the Jesuits to some of their Order in Spain concerning the Opening of the Earth and swallowing up of Mahomet's Tomb. III. To Cara Hali Physician to the Grand Signior p. 305 Of the Reverend Esteem the Ancients had of the Beasts Several Instances of this Nature IV. To Mustapha Berber Aga at the Seraglio p. 311 Of the Imprisonment of the Duke of Lorrain V. To Nathan Ben Saddi a Jew at Vienna p. 314 Of the Unwritten Traditions of Moses and of the Written Law Encomiums on the Alcoran VI. To Dicheu Hussein Bassa p. 324 Of Cardinal Mazarini's Policy in Marrying his Nieces to the French Princes of the Blood VII To Dgnet Oglou p. 328 He descants on the Accidental Loss of his Sight for Two Days A Digression concerning the Wisdom that is to be found in Brutes VIII To Afis Bassa p. 333 Of the Preparations for Crowning the Young King of France Discontents renew'd at Paris on the Death of the Arch-Bishop IX To Murat Bassa p. 330 Of certain Witches apprehended in France Of Pancrates a Magician of Egypt and of Zyto a German Conjurer X. To Chornezan Mustapha Bassa p. 341 Of the Proposals between Queen Christina
and Charles Prince Palatine her Successor XI To Sale Tircheni Emin Superintendent of the Royal Arsenal at Constantinople p. 345 Of the Blowing up of Graveling by Gunpowder and of a Mill that took Fire XII To Mehemet an Eunuch in the Seraglio p. 348 Of Mahmut's Antipathy to Spiders A Discourse of Antipathies Of a People in Africa that feed altogether on Locusts XIII To the Kaimacham p. 352 Of the Coronation of the King of France Of the Duke of Lorrain's being remov'd into Spain With other Matters out of Sueden and Moscovy XIV To Gnet Oglou p. 354 He discourses of the Vncertainty that is to be found in History Of the Disagreement between the Chronologies of the East and West LETTERS Writ by A Spy at PARIS VOL. IV. BOOK I. LETTER I. Mahmut the Arabian and Indefatigable Slave to the Grand Signior to Mahomet the Most Illustrious Vizir Azem at the Port. I Congratulate thy Ascent to that Top of Honour the First Dignity in the Empire Ever Victorious 'T is thy Turn to be now Exalted in the Orb of Fortune Let not this High Station make thee forget That that Wheel is always in Motion But consider That since the Advance thou hast made was not but by the Fall of thy Predecessor thou hast the less Reason to think thy own State secure I am no Fortune-Teller nor would I be so rude as to Prognosticate Ill Luck to my Superiors But Men in Eminent Dignity have Need of a Monitor And it is Recorded of a Great Monarch That he Commanded One of his Pages every Morning to salute him when he first awaked with these Words Remember O King that thou art a Mortal Let this Example Supreme Minister plead my Excuse and incline thee to pardon the Freedom which Mahmut takes who by this thou seest is no Flatterer Certainly all Sublunary Things Ebb and Flow like the Waters And though Men may sometimes enjoy a Spring-Tide of Felicity yet Fate has Hidden Sluces which in a Moment shall convey the Mighty Torrent to some other Channel I my self have in some Measure experienc'd this who am but a Puny in Comparison with thee Yet Destiny and Chance are allotted to the Little as well as to the Great The Worm encounters as many cross Contingencies in her humble reptile State as does the Towring Eagle in all her lofty Flights and Ranges through the wide-stretch'd Air. In my Infancy I was snatch'd from the Cradle and from the Arms of my Mournful Mother Mournful on Two Accounts the Death of a Husband and the Necessity of parting with her Child Yet this Early Separation turn'd to my Advantage and her Comfort The Sequel of my Good Fortune invited her to forsake her Solitudes and follow me to the Imperial City where she exchang'd her Melancholy Widow-Hood for the Society and Love of a Merry Greek Whilst Fate had another Game to play with me it being the Will of Heaven That from the Delights of the Seraglio and the Honour of serving the Greatest Sovereign in the World I should fall into a Cruel Captivity and be compelled Ignominiously to drudge for a Barbarous Infidel Afterwards I gain'd my Liberty and apply'd my self to study in the Academies I will not boast of the Proficiency I made But at my Return to Constantinople thou knowest my Superiors thought me capable of doing the Port Service in this Place Thus Providence sports with Mortals and by an Unaccountable Clew of Discipline leads them through the Mazes of this Life How I have discharged my Trust here I dare Appeal to All yet can please None Every Man will be my Judge to give Sentence against me and some I believe would willingly be my Executioners Which at certain Times carries me into so deep a Melancholy that I even join with my Enemies and condemn my self though I know not for what Surely say I so many perspicacious Men cannot be all in the Wrong and I only in the Right they must needs see some Faults in me which I cannot discern in my self doubtless I 'm Partial and never chang'd the Order of Aesop's Wallet Then I reflect on these Thoughts as the mere Product of Melancholy For after the strictest Examination of my Conduct I find my self Innocent of those Things whereof I 'm accus'd Yet whilst I am justifying my Integrity towards my Great Master my Sadness returns again and tells me That without Doubt I have some Ways offended God and his Prophet who for that Reason suffer the Envious to persecute me and drive me into a more intimate and familiar Converse with my self that so by making a frequent Scrutiny after the Cause of my Outward Misfortunes I may discover the Secret Crimes which I may have committed against Heaven and which lie hid under my Inadvertence and Oblivion Then I 'm fill'd with a Thousand Scruples about my telling Lyes and taking False Oaths though I 'm dispens'd with for all these Immoralities by the Sovereign Arbiter of the Law In a Word I know not sometimes what to think And were it not that my Agency in these Parts meets with some Success I should often conclude That I either lie under some Curse of God or Charms of Men That either Heaven or Hell have a Peculiar Hand in Afflicting me But all this may be only the Fumes of my own Distemper'd Spleen And the Indulgent Judge of Men may pass a Milder Sentence on me than either I do my self or my Fellow-Mortals He is Transcendently Benign and Merciful And our Sins of Frailty appear in his Eyes but as small Atomes in the Rays of a Morning's Sun which though they be Innumerable yet the least Breath of Wind blows them all out of Sight By what I have said 't is apparent that I have Regard both to thee and my self To thee as the Supreme Disposer of Life and Death under the Grand Signior to my self as one cull'd out for a Victim by the Malicious and lying at the Feet of thy Noble Nature begging thy Protection My Enemies are Industrious to ruine me and lay hold on all Opportunities to accomplish it The Sentence which they could not procure from thy Predecessor they may hope to draw from thee by their False Informations This makes me use Pre-Caution in my own Defence hoping to forestall their Malice by this Humble Address Imitate thou the Divine Nature and be not severe in remarking the Peccadillo's and small Delinquencies of thy Slave If I turn Infidel or Traytor I crave no Favour That Supremely Merciful and Gracious the First and the Last of the World and Lord of Paradise heap on thee as many Blessings every Day as would employ my swiftest Wishes a Thousand Years and grant That thou mayst find Admittance into the Place full of Rivers whose Springs take their Rise from the Bottom of the Rock of Eternity Paris 17th of the 2d Moon of the Year 1649. according to the Christian Style LETTER II. To the Kaimacham THE Troubles of this Kingdom which
the Living they are busy in augmenting the Generations of Men Whilst others of as High Blood are gone to encrease the Number of the Dead being enroll'd amongst the Ghosts and made Denizons in the Region of Shadows The Empress of Germany died in the Fifth Moon The Duke of Braganza in the Ninth The Dutchess of Modena in the Eighth And a certain German Prince whose Name I have forgot died in the Moon of October Besides these Death has also Arrested Ossalmski the Great Chancellor of Poland Wrangel General of the Suedish Army Frederick the German Embassador at Rome Ferdinand Elector of Cologne and the Vice-Roy of Bohemia who was by his Enemies thrown out of a Window and had his Brains dash'd out So that tho' Mars may have seem'd to lie Dormant this Year yet his Companion in Mischief Old Saturn has been very Active as the Astrologers say who attribute all Events to the Influx of the Stars Some are also of Opinion that the Eclipses of the Sun and Moon this Year were Presages of the Death of these Great Persons They might as well plead That the Daily Rising and Setting of those Luminaries Portended all the Tragical Events that happen'd on Earth since it is not more Natural for them to continue Unalterably Moving from East to West than it is for them to be Obscur'd at certain determin'd Stations in their Journey by Interpositions which happen of Course We are Strangers to the Chronologies of the Chinese and Indian Gentiles Neither can any good Account be now given of the Ancient Egyptian and Assyrian Records They run many Ages back beyond the Common Epocha of the Beginning of the World But the whole System of Known History relates but Two Extraordinary or Preternatural Changes in the Course of the Sun during these Six Thousand Years One when that Luminary stood still in the Time of Jehoshua General of the Israelites to serve the Ends of Destiny and prolong the Light of the Day to a double Proportion till the Opposite Army was quite destroy'd and not one of the Vncircumcis'd could escape the Swords of the Victorious Sons of Jacob. That Day prov'd a long Night to their Antipodes They turn'd themselves in their Beds when they had out-slept the Usual Hours of Night and said in their Hearts Surely the Sun is fall'n Asleep or is Banqueting with the Gods of the Sea Perhaps Thetis detains him in her Embraces whilst the Tritons fasten his Slumbers with their softest Musick Or Neptune regales him in the Palaces of the Deep Thus the Disconsolate Nations argu'd in their Chambers They were alarm'd with Fears of Unknown Events Such as dwelt on the Borders of the Earth and were accustom'd to mark the constant Ebbing and Flowing of the Sea admir'd the Delay of the Usual Tides and ask'd What what was become of the Moon for that Planet also stood still with the Sun The Light of their Souls was Eclips'd and their Reason labour'd under a greater Darkness than that which troubl'd their Eyes They were Ignorant of the Works of God and knew not that the Celestial Orbs stood still at the Command of the Spirit which formed them even at the Word of the Prophet Inspir'd from Above So in the Days of Hezekiah King of the Jews the Sun went back in his Circuit and all the Frame of Heaven was Retrograde to confirm the Prophet's Good News when he told the Sick King That Fate had prolong'd his Life for Fifteen Years This was in the Days of Merodach Baladan the King of Babylon who sent Ambassadors to congratulate Hezekiah's Miraculous Recovery Besides these nothing has happen'd to the Sun or any of the Heavenly Bodies beyond the Ordinary Course of Nature A Man may as well Prognosticate from Cloudy Weather the Calamities of Emperors and Meaner Men as from the Eclipses of the Sun and Moon Since the One as well as the Other obscures the Light of mose Heavenly Bodies And the Former quite hides them from Us which is the greater Eclipse of the Two Let us pray Heaven to grant us the continual Use of our Senses and not to Eclipse the Light of our Reason and we need fear no Disasters from the Common Appearances of Nature Paris 7th of the Moon Chaban of the Year 1649. The End of the First Book LETTERS Writ by A Spy at PARIS VOL. IV. BOOK II. LETTER I. To Muhammed Eremit Inhabitant of the Prophetick Cave in Arabia the Happy PArdon my Importunity if I this once trouble thee with an Address of Scruples begging thy Counsel in the Affairs of my Soul I seem to my self as a Traveller lost in a Wilderness of Doubts and Uncertainties without Guide or Conduct Not that I question the Truth of our Holy Religion or mistrust the Authority of the Sent of God Certainly I revere the Book of Glory whose Sacred Versicles are transcribed on my Heart But there is wanting to every Man a particular Conduct in the Intricacies of this Life I have not the Art of applying the General Precepts of the Law to my Own Personal Occasions and Necessities Infinite Difficulties arise from my daily Affairs My Conversation with Infidels and the Duty I owe my Great Master entangle my Conscience I am embarassed on all Hands and whilst I study to conserve Purity I find my self still defiled I am no Heretick nor in the Number of those who are Predestinated to be Damned for the Injurious Love they bear to Hali Injurious I say because it derogates from the Honour they owe to Omar Osman and Ebubecher the True Successors of the Apostle of God As I firmly believe the Alcoran so I give an entire Faith to the Book of Assonah or the Agreement of the Wise with the Writings of the Four Principal Imaums Haniff Schasi Melechi and Hambeli And I am resigned to the Sentence of the Mufti as our Fathers were of Old to the Oraculous Determinations of the Babylonion Califfs I Curse the Kyzilbaschi with as much Devotion as I pray for the Health and Felicity of True Believers I spit at the Naming of them who deny the Chapter of the Covering and the Versicles brought down by the Squire of Gabriel in Honour of the Prophet's Wife I never lifted up my Hand against any who descended from the Divine Messenger And if in my Passion I have ever Curs'd a Mussulman I took of the Dust under his Feet and laid it on my Lips before the Shadow of the Sun had advanc'd a Hairs-Breadth and so I hindred the swift Recorder of our Words from Registring the Imprecation For that Dust I believe has Power to blot out the Memorials of our Evil Words and Works When I meet a Santone or one of those Divinely Mad I put in Practice the Lesson of Orchanes and honouring the Holy Frantick I fall down and Adore Vertue in that Contemptible Disguise I neglect none of the Purifications Commanded by Our Holy Lawgiver but rather add those that we Arabians have received by Tradition
their King and Country and for Princes when they cannot duely reward an Eminent Performance to turn their Gratitude into Hatred This is certain that the Prince of Conde has presum'd much on the Merit of his late Services and it was not easy for the Queen or the Cardinal to invent such Acknowledgments as he expected For he imagin'd they ought to deny him Nothing who had so often hazarded his Life for their Interest It was on this Ground he thought he had a Right to interpose in a Marriage which Mazarini design'd to make between one of his Nieces and the Duke of Mercaeur This Duke is of a Family which has been a long Time at Variance with that of the Prince of Conde And therefore the Prince was jealous lest the Cardinal by the intended Match should fortifie his Interest among the Prince's Enemies and so be in a Condition not to want his Protection the onely Thing he was ambitious of For cou'd he have once reduc'd the Cardinal to this Necessity he himself had been absolute Master at Court Therefore he oppos'd the Match with all Vigor and Industry This netled the Cardinal He complains to the Queen of the Prince's Unkindness She intercedes and uses her utmost Endeavours to reconcile the Prince to this Marriage But his Brother the Duke of Longueville had so possess'd the Prince with a Jealousy of the Cardinal's Proceedings that no Arguments cou'd prevail on him or overcome his fix'd Aversion for Mazarini's designed Alliance with the House of Vendosme so they call the Family from whence the Duke of Mercaeur is sprung He rails at the Cardinal and lampoons him in all Companies This begets ill Blood in the Supreme Minister of State who secretly resolves the Prince's Ruin In this his Policy and Malice exceeded the petty Revenges of the Prince who being of a frank open Heart contented himself with Railleries and Satyrical Expressions whilst the Cardinal conceal'd his Anger under the Masque of extraordinary Civilities returning all the Contempts of the Prince with a Respect which seem'd to speak much Affection and Devoir He has been a long Time tampering with a Faction which goes by the Name of the Frondeurs These were his Enemies not so much in Hatred of his Person as out of a Zeal to serve their Country which they imagin'd was oppress'd under the the Conduct of this Minister These he has lately gain'd over to his Party by representing to them the Prince of Conde as the Author of all those Evils which they ascrib'd to himself Whilst at the same Time he perswaded the Prince that they had some Design against his Person Thus he artificially blinded both Parties and engag'd them in mutual Revenges privately animating the Frondeurs against the Prince and provoking the Prince to seek the Ruin of the Frondeurs By this Trap the Prince was inveigl'd to consent and give Orders for his own Imprisonment whilst he was made to believe the Arrest was design'd against his Enemies and the People were satisfy'd since they were perswaded the Faction of the Frondeurs had a Hand in the Plot. The 18th of the last Moon the Three Princes were taken into Custody and sent to a Place they call the Castle of the Wood of Vinciennes some Leagues from Paris The same Day the Queen sent for the Dutchess of Longueville to come to her but the wary Dutchess wou'd not put herself into a Cage She immediately fled in Disguise to a Sea-Town belonging to her Husband 'T is said the Prince of Conde had Notice given him of his Design'd Imprisonment but that he wou'd not escape projecting to himself some greater Advantages from the Discontents of the People who now behold him as a Patriot than from a Clandestine or Fugitive Liberty This is certain his Coach broke on the Road between Paris and Vinciennes and 't is thought his Friends might easily have rescu'd him For this Accident occasion'd a Stop of Six Hours in their Journey Time enough to have rais'd a Thousand Men to his Relief being onely guarded by Sixteen Cavaliers But it seems he courts the Cardinal's Persecution that he may have deeper Grounds for Revenge I know not whether his Policy is justifiable or no But if I were in his Circumstances I shou'd hardly take this Method to gratify my Resentments which in all Probability I shou'd not be in a Condition to accomplish till the Greek Calends that is Never Paris 4th of the 2d Moon of the Year 1650. LETTER III. To the Reis Effendi Principal Secretary of the Ottoman Empire THE Devotees among the Franks talk much of the Jubilee that is to be Celebrated this Year at Rome They enrich their Phancies with the Hopes of I know not what Spiritual Treasure which the Roman Mufti or Pontiff will distribute among the Pilgrims that resort to Rome during this Holy Year This as I am told is Celebrated in Imitation of the Sabbatical Year formerly observed by the Jews when they possess'd the Holy Land The Hebrew Writers such as Josephus and others call That also the Year of Jubilee Their Cabbalists like the Pythagoreans pretended to derive Great Mysteries from certain Numbers And the Number Seven was had in particular Veneration by the Hebrews Therefore they kept every Seventh Day Week and Year Holy In the Seventh Year it was not Lawful to till the Ground plant Vineyards or sow any Seed And when Seven Times Seven Years were expired the Year of Jubilee was proclaim'd being always the Fiftieth They proclaim'd it by Trumpets throughout the whole Country of Palestine in the Forty Ninth Year And the Muezins cry'd in the Gates of their Cities and Synagogues at the Beginning of the Jubilee Let every Man return this Year to his Own Possession and Tribe whether he be a Slave or Free He that has sold his Houses or Lands if he was not before able to redeem them let him this Year take Possession of his Inheritance He that is become another Man's Slave and neither himself nor his Friends can redeem him let him this Year be dismiss'd and sent Home to the Family to which he belongs for henceforth he is Free by the Indulgence of the Law Let no Man sow the Ground nor gather the Fruits that grow of themselves this Year But let the Earth as well as its Inhabitants enjoy Liberty and Rest for this is the Year of Grace and Divine Bounty After this Manner was the Hebrew Jubilee Proclaim'd and Observ'd And they say from hence arose the Custom amongst the Christians who in many Things may be styl'd the Jews Apes But others say that the present Roman Jubilee is deriv'd from the Secular Games Celebrated by their Pagan Ancestors In Regard This was renew'd every Hundred Years at first even as Those Games were Whence it was that the Cryer in those Days at the Indiction of the Secular Games said Come to the Plays which no Man Living has yet seen nor shall ever see again For Man's Life being Generally
by this Loss and with the Inconveniencies of the approaching Winter was forc'd to raise the Siege in the Moon of October The French magnify the Valour of the Knights of Malta who signaliz'd themselves by many brave Actions during this Siege And if all be true that is related of these Christian Champions we cannot in common Justice deny 'em their due Character and number some of them at least among the Heroes Otherwise we shou'd come short of these Western Nazarenes in Generosity who with no less honourable Expressions extol the repeated Courage and Invincible Constancy of the Illustrious Chusaein and the Alacrity of all the Mussulman Soldiers in the Service of our Great Master Yet they cannot forbear reflecting on the Cowardise of the Janizaries who after that fatal Blow had they stoutly maintain'd their other Posts that brave Bassa wou'd not so soon have quitted the Siege of this Important Place As for other News I have little to acquaint thee with save a seeming Calm at present in this Kingdom of France which has for the greatest Part of the Year been harrass'd with Civil Discords and Slaughters Bourdeaux the Chief City which held out against the King is now reduc'd to Obedience the pacify'd Monarch retir'd and an Appearance of Peace The Queen of Sueden we hear was solemnly Crown'd in the Tenth Moon of the last Year having declar'd for her Successor Carolus Gustavus Prince Palatine and her Cousin In the same Moon died the Prince of Orange and soon after the Count d' Avaux a French Grandee and Minister of State In the mean Time I rejoice to hear that my old Friends are Alive and Flourishing and that the Knot is not loosen'd which was ty'd in our Youth May it continue firm to the Day of the Earthquake and to a Term Vnlimited Paris 29th of the 1st Moon of the Year 1651. LETTER XII To Kisur Dramelec Secretary of the Nazarene Affairs at the Port. IN the Name of God and his Prophet what Occasion hadst thou to send me such an angry Letter Thou that art thy self but a Slave as I am to the Slaves of him whose Throne is above the Flight of the Eagle Dost thou think to frighten Mahmut into a sordid Compliance with thy Ambition whom Nothing can terrify so long as he preserves himself free from any Stain of Disloyalty I tell thee I 'm another Achilles Invulnerable all over save the Soles of my Feet which are the Emblems of our most tender Affections There thou may'st wound me with the soft Arrows of pretended Friendship But if once thou appearest with the Naked Face of an Enemy I 'm presently on my Guard Thou accusest me of many Crimes whereof I was never Guilty loadest me with a Thousand undeserved Reproaches and all to vent thy Choler Threatning me with Revenge because I once excus'd the Lateness of my Address to Minezim Aluph Bassa then newly Vested by our Munificent Sultan by laying the Blame on the Badness of the Ways or the Insolence of Soldiers by whom the Posts are often intercepted in Time of War or in Fine on thy Neglect in not supplying me with more early Intelligence Wherein 't is easie to discern That thou wert the last I wou'd accuse to that Minister though thou wert Principally in the Fault For I was afterwards inform'd That the Posts were neither retarded by any Impassable Roads or stopp'd by the Orders of Military Men but arriv'd here at their accustom'd Seasons Wherefore thou hast no Reason to be offended at me unless it be for the Shortness of my Accusation and that it was defective in Malice Thou wouldst take it ill if in my own Defence I shou'd complain to the Vizir Azem of thy frequent Neglects in this Kind But I scorn to vindicate my self at the Price of another Man's Disgrace and Peril Onely I advise thee to forbear threatning It is a Reflection on thy Prudence to menace a Man who has no other Resentments of thy Passion than to own himself oblig'd to thee for so open a Discovery of it Woud'st have the very Spleen of my Humour I smile at thee Thou hast made me as Jocund as Democritus If thou know'st not who I mean He was a pleasant sort of a Philosopher to whom all Human Actions were Objects of Mirth There was another Whining Sage that perpetually Wept The most Comical Passages and such as mov'd all Men to Laughter drew Floods of Tears from his Eyes His Name was Heraclitus It is hard to determine which of these Two was in the Right But I think I am not much in the Wrong to be a little pleasant with thee Perhaps it may put thee into a better Humour However I wou'd not have thee be displeas'd with thy self for being of so peevish a Disposition 'T is observ'd That Passionate Men are always best Natur'd and free from secret Malice Choler is as necessary as our Blood Without the Latter we cou'd not live and if we were void of the Former our Lives wou'd be as Vnactive as that of Snails and Oysters We shou'd be absolute Drones Hippocrates the famous Physician says This Complexion is the most Noble of all the Four transforming Men to Heroes and refining our Earthly Mold to a Constitution like that of the Immortal Gods whose Bodies according to the Poets consist wholly of an Ethereal Flame Therefore be not discouraged neither repine at a Temper which ranks thee among those to whom Sacrifices are made On the other Side take it not amiss from Mahmut if he tells thee he has not Devotion enough to become thy Voluntary Victim Yet if I cannot be so Obsequious as to throw my self away by acknowledging Crimes wherein I was never concern'd and for which I have a Natural Abhorrence rest satisfy'd at least That I will serve thee as far as I can without entrenching on the Duty I owe to the Grand Signior And be assur'd I will do thee no Harm so long as thou observest that Rule In fine I advise thee to order thy Steps like a Man that is walking in the Bogs of Egypt where if he observe the Track of those who have gone before him he may be safe but if his Foot slips he Sinks in the Mire Such is the Life of Courtiers Paris 18th of the 2d Moon of the Year 1651. LETTER XIII To Minezim Aluph Bassa IN the Beginning of the last Year I sent thee a Dispatch wherein I acquainted thee with the Imprisonment of Three Princes of the Royal Blood of France Now thou shalt receive the News of their Liberty They were releas'd by an Order from the King on the 13th Day of this Moon and arriv'd in this City on the 16th which was Yesterday attended by a numerous Cavalcade consisting of some Princes divers of the Nobility and Gentry and one wou'd think of Half the Citizens of Paris Even those who triumph'd last Year and made Bonfires for their Confinement Yesterday throng'd out of the City to welcome them
all those Things which appear so Gay and full of Charms are Nothing but mere Empty Idea's and Fleeting Shadows of that Substantial and Permanent Pleasure which has her Residence only in Paradise Thou may'st tell the Kaimacham our Friend that now the King of France begins to play the Monarâ—h on the Bottom of his own Wit and Courage without the Assistance or Counsel of Tutors He has brought the Parliament to an Absolute Compliance with his Will having purg'd that Senate of disaffected Members and banish'd from the Court the Duke of Orleans who pretended a Right to Rule his Sovereign In the mean Time the Prince of Conde has taken Rethel and St. Menehoud whilst Barcelona is surrendred to the Spaniards Thus what is gain'd in one Point is lost in another Doubtless there is nothing stable on Earth Paris 8th of the 11th Moon of the Year 1652. LETTER X. To Melec Amet. THY Adventure and Miraculous Escape over the Danube puts me in Mind of a certain French Nobleman of the Prince of Conde's Party who last Summer being closely pursu'd by some of the King's Horse and himself excellently mounted leap'd Hedges and Ditches to avoid Captivity At length they had chas'd him into a Corner of the Land from whence it was Impossible for him to escape but by swimming o'er a small Arm of the Sea What Risques will not a Man run for the Love of Liberty This Person like an over-heated Stagg perceiving his Hunters close at his Heels boldly leap'd on Horse-back into the Sea chusing rather to perish in the Waters than fall into his Enemies Hands None were so hardy as to follow him through the Uncertain Waves However his Horse being of matchless Strength carry'd him safe over to the Opposite Shore As soon as he arriv'd at the next Town where he had many Friends he related this Wonderful Passage But instead of cherishing his Horse for so Faithful and Invaluable a Service he drew his Sword and immediately kill'd the Beast that had sav'd his Life Saying he did it for the Sake of Fame being resolv'd that his Horse shou'd never pâ—â—form the like Service to any other Mortal This was an Ungrateful Caprice and far from the Morality of Sultan Seliâ—â— the Son of Bajazet who when his Trusty Horse Carabuluc had once sav'd his Life by his extraordinary Swiftness he in Token of his Thankfulness built a Stable on Purpose for him in a Large Enclosure of Meadows allowing a Pension to a Groom to wait on the Meritorious Beast and give him his free Delight in all Things as long as he liv'd Commanding that he shou'd never more be forc'd to labour or travel And to compleat the Happiness of the Beast he cull'd out some of the Beautifull'st Mares of Arabia to accompany him charging also that the Doors of the Stable shou'd be always open for the Horse to go in or out and range when and where he pleas'd This was a Generosity worthy of an Eastern Monarch whom as thy Letter informs me thou hast in Part imitated But such is some Men's Ambition and vain Desire to be talk'd of that they care not by what barbarous Methods they accomplish their Aim It was a Motive of this Nature which tempted Erostratus to set Fire to the Famous Temple of Ephesus which had been Two Hundred Years in Building and was number'd among the Seven Wonders of the World This happen'd on the very Night that Alexander the Great was born And the Villain being ask'd Why he committed so destructive a Sacrilege answer'd That it was to acquire an Immortâ—l Fame by so stupendous a Wickedness since he â—ou'd not hope to be Recorded for his Vertue Plutarch mentions a Jest that was made on this Destruction of Diana's Temple For it was common in every Bodies Mouth That the Goddess being call'd that Night to the Labour of Olympias the Mother of Alexander cou'd not be present at Home to save her House from Burning For the Gentiles believed that Diana whom they also call'd Lucina was Invisibly assistant at the Birth of Children However the Priests made no Jest on 't but ran up and down howling and making Gashes in their Flesh presaging that Fate was that Day busied in signing the Decree of Asia's Ruine This is certain That that very Night the Man was born who was destin'd to subdue all Asia and on the Ruines of the Persian Empire raise the Monarchy of the Macedonians However the Villain who burnt the Temple had not his Desire For it was Decreed throughout all Asia That his Name shou'd never be mention'd in History or any Publick Writings It is Recorded of a certain Governour of a City in Italy That being on the Top of an high Tower with only the Pope the German Emperour and an Ambassador from Venice in his Company he was tempted to throw the Two former over the Battlements as they were taking a Survey of the City Which he might have easily done for they were both Aged and Incapable of reâ—â—sting his Strength This Passage he confess'd â—o his Ghostly Father And being ask'd What Induc'd him to think of such a Horrid Treason He answer'd That it might be said He did a Thing which never was done before nor in all Probability wou'd ever be done again Since no Prince having heard such a Story wou'd ever venture himself into the same Danger without a sufficient Guard of his own But however he had not Resolution enough to go through with his Project I hear thou art like to acquire Fame by other Methods than these being in a fair Way to rise by thy Vertues to some Considerable Employments in the Empire For which I equally rejoice with thy self In the mean Time 't will perhaps be obliging to tell thee some News out of these Parts Which will make thy Company welcome to the Grandees They love to converse with Men who can furnish 'em with Intelligence of Foreign Affairs The freshest Discourse here is of the Imprisonment of the Cardinal de Retz who was arrested by the King's Order on the Nineteenth of this Moon What his Crime is I cannot inform thee unless it be that he is an Enemy to Cardinal Mazarini People generally give him the Character of a very honest Man But thou know'st Honesty is counted a Vice in the Courts of these Western Princes The Crafty are the only Men of Vertue and Merit among the Infidels Thou may'st also report for a Certainty That the Spaniaâ—ds have taken Dunkirk in Flanders and Câ—zal in the Dukedom of Mantua This Town is said to be the Key of all Italy I cannot tell thee which is the Lock it belongs to nor I believe they themselves But this I observe That when the King of France sits down before any Place with his Army whoever has the Key neither Locks nor Bolts can keep him out long And 't is Ten to One if he do not find an Entrance into this Place again very speedily when the Spanish King has pleas'd
Affections It is written in Arabick in a Dialect so pure and perfect that the most Accurate Criticks can find no Blemish from the Beginning to the End One Part coheres exactly with the other 't is void of Contradiction All the Chapters in this Glorious Volume are of a Piece Which Excellencies cou'd not have thus met together without a Miracle in a Book divulg'd by a Man who cou'd neither Write nor Read The Success it has had in the World speaks it of Celestial Descent The Greatest Part of Asia and Africk with many Kingdoms in Europe have obey'd the Alcoran for above these Thousand Years Cou'd such a Thing come to pass without the Decree of Heaven When the Prophet and Favourite of God first receiv'd his Divine Commission he was like a Pelican in the Wilderness Solitary and without Companion Nevertheless he was not discouraged but obey'd the Orders of Heaven He saw himself in the midst of Rocks and Sands encompass'd on all Sides with Terrible Beasts Yet he despair'd not of Assistance from Above but comforted himself in the Promise of the Eternal He first preach'd to the Savage Lyons and Tygers who as if they had heard another Orpheus grew tame and sociable at his Powerful Words Those fierce Inhabitants of the Woods came and prostrated themselves before the Sent of God they lick'd his Feet in Token of Submission they environ'd the Place of his Repose as his Guards and brought him Food Morning and Evening The Prophet wonder'd that so great Grace was given to the Beasts of the Earth He prais'd the Creator of All Things and his Mouth was full of Benedictions He bless'd the Day and the Night and the Obscurity that comes between them He bless'd the Dews that fall at the Rising of the Odoriferous Star and the Refreshing Winds that stir the Leaves of the Trees at Midnight And in the Morning he pray'd That all Men might become True Believers Doubtless God had granted his Petition had not the Angel who carry'd up his Prayers to Heaven met with the Devil a little on this Side the Orb of the Moon who stole from him some of Mahomet's Words so that the Prayer ascended Imperfect to the Throne of the Merciful Nevertheless a Great Part of Men became Believers And more shall be added to the Number In a little Time the Solitary Prophet saw himself at the Head of a Numerous Army all Voluntiers who resorted to him in the Wilderness as they were Inspir'd from Above The Mighty Men of Arabia oppos'd the Sacred Hero They led the Flow'r of the East against him But they accelerated their own Fate and Incens'd their Angry Stars The Elements took up Arms against them and the Meteors fought in Defence of the Messenger of God Lightning and Hail with Stones of Fire blasted the Troops of the Infidels And terrible Stormâ— of Wind buried whole Armies in the Sands Thus the Host of the Mussulmans became Victorious without drawing a Sword and the Empires of the Wicked fell to the Possession of True Believers Persia Babylon and Egypt were subdued and embrac'd the Vndefiled Truth The Alcoran was receiv'd from India to the Mauritanian Shore From the Rising of the Sun to the Going down thereof this Holy Profession is made with one Consent There is but One God and Mahomet his Prophet Now Nathan consider whether ever the Law of Moses had such Footing in the World or the Children of Israel cou'd boast of such Vniversal Conquests Your Little Kingdom has had its Period long agoe and both that and all the Empires of Asia and Africk are swallow'd up in the All-conquering Monarchy of the Osmans Your Tabernacle Temple City and Sacrifices are quite Extinct Your Nation is Scatter'd over the whole World without Lands or Possessions that they can call their own Neither is there Prince Priest or Prophet to whom you can have Recourse for Delivery from your Misfortunes Come out therefore from the Synagogue which lies under the Scourge of Heaven Shake off the Malediction And being Purified join thy self to the True Believers who are Bless'd in this World and shall be Happy in Paradise Or at least stand by thy self and follow thy Own Light Adieu Paris 22d of the 3d. Moon of the Year 1654. LETTER VI. To Dicheu Hussein Bassa THE Policies of Cardinal Mazarini are no Secrets at the Imperial City Now he is about to play his Master-piece He has all along maintain'd Pensioners in the Service of the French Grandees No Man of Prime Quality cou'd be sure he entertain'd not at his Table some Creature of this Minister Disguizes of all Sorts both for Body and Mind were never Wanting to Men dextrous at Treachery and Officious to do Mischief But now he is setting Spies of another Character on the Princes of the Blood and the Chief Nobility of France Women are to become his Private Agents Females of his Own Blood true Italians and brought up under his particular Care and Management In a Word his Sisters and Nieces Five of them are newly come to this City having been Conducted hither by the Cardinal's Secretary accompany'd with a Considerable Retinue of Courtiers who went to meet them some Leagues from Paris 'T is said That one of those Ladies is a great Beauty and that the Young King having seen her Picture fell in Love with her This is certain the Prince of Conti has Married one of them With whom the Cardinal has given his Palace and Two Hundred Thousand Crowns in Dowry They talk as if Another of them was to be Married to the Duke of Candale and a Third to the Son of General Harcourt And as if Mazarini were Emulous of Joseph's Character and Authority in Pharaoh's Court he has sent for his Father also with all his Family to come and reside in France He is resolv'd to stock this Kingdom with Sicilian Blood a Race of Mazarini's Who by Instinct as well as by Rules shall carry on the Design he has laid and either raise this tottering State to the Height of his Model or absolutely ruine it For that Active Spirit cannot take up with Mediums 'T is said That the Duke of Orleans resents very Ill the Cardinal's Ambition in Marrying his Nieces into the Blood-Royal That Prince will not be prevail'd on to come near the Court But rather favours the Prince of Conde and the other Malecontents Whence some People are apt to presage another Turn of Affairs before-long For the Generality of the French are Inclin'd to the Prince's Party There is great Caballing all over the Kingdom and the Cardinal strives to push his Interest forward by all the Methods of a Cunning Statesman He knows the Prince of Conde's Spirit too well to dream of a Reconciliation And he has a double Interest in the Ruine of that Unfortunate General his own Preservation and the Aggrandizing his Niece the Princess of Conti Who by the Fall of her Brother-in-Law will be Mistress of his Estate He is endeavouring
from thinking too seriously on the Sentence he has Pronounc'd in Parliament against the Prince of Conde One knows not well how to blame the Prince of Conde's Proceedings nor yet to accuse the King of Injustice Neither is it proper for a Mussulman-Slave to decide the Controversy Our Principles and Laws are different from Theirs And he that is esteem'd a Patriot here in the West wou'd be Condemn'd for a Rebel without Hesitation in any Part of the East where but One God in Heaven and One Sovereign on Earth is acknowledg'd by the Subjects of every Kingdom and Empire But in France the Princes of the Royal Blood are Invested with such a Power as renders it difficult for those under their Command to distinguish 'em from Supream Monarchs Yet not One of them possesses a Government Equal to that of the Bassa of Egypt or Superiour to his of Aleppo I have spoken of these Princes formerly in some of my Letters to the Happy Ministers of Him who when he pleases can make the Greatest Sovereigns the Squires of his Stirrup And therefore 't will be needless to say any more on that Subject but only to acquaint thee That the French Court tho' they cannot relent of the Rigour they have us'd toward the Prince of Conde yet seem willing to compound the Business with his Son the Young Duke of Enguien and by a Subtle Artifice to strike Two strokes for the State at once A Great Duke of this Realm has been lately dispatch'd to the Duke of Orleans to propose a Match between his Daughter and Conde's Heir Whereby the Estate of the Prince of Conde will fall to the Duke of Orleans's Possession during the Minority of the Young Couple This is a Wheedle to reconcile the King's Uncle to the Court who has been a long Time estrang'd But 't is thought his Displeasure is of too deep a Dye to be wash'd off with Court-Holy-Water I have no more News to tell thee save the Death of a certain Prince whom they call the Duke of Elboeuf And it is of no Import to the Divan whether a Hundred of these Infidel Princes die every Day or no so long as the Grand Signior lives and is ever supply'd with Faithful Ministers For His Health I pray before the Sun peeps o'er the Tops of the Eastern Mountains and after he hides himself in the Valleys of the West Neither do I rise from my Knees at the Five appointed Hours without an Oraison for Chornesan and the other Bassa's of the Port. Paris 10th of the 6th Moon of the Year 1654. LETTER XI To Sale Tircheni Emin Superintendant of the Royal Arsenal at Constantinople THOU that hast the Charge of the Ammunition design'd for the Conquest of the World art fittest to receive the News of a Terrible Blow lately given to a City of the Infidels in Flanders This Place is called Gravelines whereof I have made Mention in some of my former Letters On the 29th of the last Moon the Powder of the Magazine there took Fire whether by Accident or Design is not certainly known But the Damage it has done is very great It is reported That a Third Part of the City is blown up and the Chief Fortifications about it with the Outworks of the Cittadel Three Thousand Mortals had their Breath exhausted by the Violent Convulsion of the Air and were sent into Another World well season'd with Salt-Peter Besides a vast Multitude of all Sorts that were bury'd in the Ruines of the Houses Some say a certain Person coming to buy some Powder of the Steward of the Magazine as they were knocking out the Head of a Powder-Barrel the Hammer struck Fire Others report That this Person who pretended to buy Powder was a Spy or Private Agent of Cardinal Mazarini in those Parts And that by his Master's Order he had prepar'd a certain Artificial Fire enclos'd in a Shell or Box and that at a certain determin'd Period of Time it would cause the Box to flie in Pieces and scatter Flames almost as subtle and penetrating as those of Lightning Having therefore this little Instrument of Mischief ready and being instructed in all Things he with the Steward enter'd the Vaults where the Powder lay under Pretence of buying some for the Governour of Brussels And when they had open'd one of the Barrels he thrust his Hand among the Powder as though he wou'd take up some to look upon at the same Time dextrously conveying his little Shell or Box into the Barrel knowing that in an Hours Time it wou'd work its Effect In the mean while seeming to dislike that Barrel they open'd another which he bought and so departed Within an Hour afterwards all the Countries round about were astonish'd at the Dreadful Blow which made the Earth to tremble They say it was heard beyond the Seas into England Thus the Contrivance of this Tragedy is fasten'd on Mazarini and such is the Hatred the People bear to this Minister That if an Earthquake shou'd happen in these Parts I believe they wou'd accuse him as the Author of it But it seems as if all the Elements were at War against the Netherland Provinces I have already acquainted the Ministers of the Ever Happy Porâ— what Disasters befell these People by Storms at Sea and Inundations on Land After which the Element of Fire took its turn to Chastise them For in the First Moon of this Year a certain Wind-mill in the Low Countries whirling round with extraordinary Violence by Reason of a Furious Storm the Stone at Length by its Rapid Motion became so Intensely hot as to fire the Mill from whence the Flames being dispersed by the High Winds to the Neighbouring Houses set a whole Town on Fire And now the Wrath of Heaven has been kindl'd again to destroy these Infidels Yet those that survive will not be Converted Perhaps they will be ruin'd Piece-Meal even to a Final Extermination like the People of Aad and Thamod of whom at this Day there remain no Footsteps I pray God guard the Imperial City and Arsenal from all Casualties of Fire from Inundations of Water and from Earthquakes And thy own Watchful Care and Prudence will defend the Magazines in thy Custody from the Sly Attempts of Traytors and Villains Paris 10th of the 6th Moon of the Year 1654. LETTER XII To Mehemet an Eunuch in the Seraglio I Acquainted thee formerly with the first Necessity I had to drink Wine that I might the better conceal my being a Mussulman when I was made a Prisoner by Cardinal Mazarini's Order I tell thee now this Liquor is grown Habitual to me it being the Natural Beverage of the Country where I am But the French temper it with Water the better to allay their Thirst and prevent Fevers Which Custom agrees not with the Stomach of a Mahometan who when he drinks either Water or Wine loves to have them Pure without Mixture I use it moderately for my Health and to create an Appetite But