pride of the Ottomans and created in them a Misunderstanding As to the Forces of the Imperialists 't is true they did appear feeble and intimidated and more than once their Troops retired into Transylvania and visibly avoided fighting but when the Turks saw that the Germans were awakened from their Lethargy and in a Condition and Humor of Defence and did behave themselves with so great Resolution at the Siege of Canisa and after Canisa besieged by Count Serini May 1. and the Turks defeated by Montecuculis Aug. 3. 1664. Rycaut's Hist pag. 150 168. so well beat them at the Battle near the River of Raab they began to lend an Ear to divers propositions of the Imperialists to hearken voluntarily to the several Envoys from them and their Fierceness being much abated they became more sweet and tractable in a Moment making no longer pretences to Comorra or Jawarin which before they declared they would I proceed now to the Correspondencies the Emperor holds with the Princes of Europe The Swedes were possest with The State of the Emperor's Affairs as to Sweden Enmities of old against the Empire but it seems have forgot their Bitterness and Prejudices because the Germans by bringing an unexpected Succor and Assistance to the Poles made the Danes lose the Opportunity the Civil Wars of Poland gave them Many brave Actions past on one Side and the other Denmark joyned to the Emperor to oppose the Swedish Invasion This was one brave and glorious Action As to the other the Germans themselves complained and blamed this indiscreet Generosity of the Emperor who preferred the Relief of Poland before his own Defence and divided his Troops in favor of that Kingdom which if united had not been sufficient to oppose the Force of the Swede or Turk However it was that Poland Poland undertook a Guarranty against the Incursions of the Swedes yet it fell under another Tyranny and found it self constrained to obey a Woman who knew how to dispose all things even her Husband himself under her power This Prince was so much the more complaisant to his Wife because of his Hopes of having Children by her The Queen's Desire for a Successor of her own Family being too apparent the Emperor began to oppose it and fearing lest that Empire should fall into the Hands of the French a Nation suspected and feared he redoubled his Negotiations conversed with his Allies fomented the last Troubles to make a Counterpoise to the Queen's Designs and at present he himself maintains Lubomirski the Grand Marshal of Poland in ill Intelligence with the Court on purpose to oppose the Kindness the Queen has for her Nation and Family As to the protestant Princes Brandenburgh of the Empire and especially Brandenburgh the Emperor relies upon him for Necessity rather than for Friendship 's sake For since that Ferdinand the Second with the formidable Army of Wallestein struck such a Fear into all Germany the most part of the Electors of the Empire have remained firm to France and had rather depend upon an uncertain Relief of Strangers than to a natural Dominion which might prove too absolute which was the sole Cause of the Confederation of the Rhine so much against the Emperor's Mind and has augmented extreamly the Fear and Jealousie he has of the prosperity of France This Kingdom since the peace France has employed it self in nothing but the Increase of its Treasures and quietly observes for its part the Storms of other mens Vessels and waits with more patience than good Will the Shipwracks of the House of Austria So as this first Jealousie has very much contributed to the concluding a peace with the Turks The Court of Germany earnestly Spain wishes to find out some way or other in Spain for hindering of the War with Portugal by telling the Catholick King That he is by it at the Expence of the greatest part of his Revenues The Emperor being united to this King by Blood and by Interest has always a very strict Allyance with him but because that Prince Portia would not owe his Favor to any thing but Fortune he never would have any Regard to the Spaniards in his Master's Court and profiting himself by the Example of the Marquess de Machera the last Embassador of Spain to the Emperor who had a very great Interest otherways he hindered all Freedom of their Councils and weakened them both as to the Reasons and the Importance of them The Imperialists are but indifferently The Pope satisfied with the Pope because his Holiness has not suitably relieved the Emperor by reason of Cardinal Carassa his Nuntio in his most pressing Necessities having not laid out in all above eight hundred thousand Rix-dollars a great part of which Summ was exacted from the Tithes of the States of Austria so that he owes nothing to his Serenity but the permission of levying it and it is as it were but drawn out of his own Fund and Blood let out of his own Veins His Holyness has not the same Zeal for the Emperor as his Predecessors especially Paul the Fifth who upon the like Conjuncture maintained an Army in Germany and sacrificed the Health and Life of his Nephew who died at Canisa Savoy takes part with France Savoy not by Choice but Necessity For the Neighbourhood of his Estates takes away his Liberty of separating either as to War or Intrigue Florence Altho' he be Neuter Florence has a greater Kindness for the House of Austria and his Grandeur and Ambition terminates in the quiet Encrease of their Correspondence The Duke of Modena is a Modena French-man rather by Alliance with Cardinal Mazarine than by Inclination and without doubt would be very weakly united to France were it not that he is so much engaged to its first Minister The Spaniards pay the Garrison Mantua of Cazal for Fear rather than good Will lest the State of the Duke of Mantua's Affairs should oblige him as he was wont to return to France and the Germans are perswaded that he would if the Empress his Sister who can do any thing with him had not broke off this Intrigue and kept this Prince firm to them The Quality of the Emperor Germany not having any Revenue annex'd and setled upon this Dignity his great and august Station carries nothing at all of profit and all the Advantage consists in the Majesty of so magnificent a Title and the Glory of so fair a Rank Germany of it self abounds more with Provisions than Money and affords the Emperor a Revenue very uncertain and unequal which amounts not to above six Millions of Florins His Hereditary Austria c. Estates are abundantly fertile and an Army of Fourscore Thousand Men might subsist and be provided for in his Country without any Disturbance and all of them distributed into Good Quarters in his respective Provinces according to ancient Custom The power notwithstanding of the Emperor is not
A RELATION Or an ACCOUNT of the Imperial Court By SACREDO a Noble Venetian-Senator Given in an Oration made by him to the Doge or Duke of VENICE in the Venetian Senate-House of what things happened during the last War of the Emperor with the Turks and during his Embassy to the Emperor at his Return out of Germany to Venice Done into English by T. G. Esq LONDON Printed for W. Crooke at the Green Dragon without Temple-bar and G. Wells at the Sun in St. Paul's Church-yard 1685. TO MY TRULY NOBLE AND WORTHY FRIEND Capt. William Legg Honoured Sir WHen I considered the Greatness of your Merit and the suitable Character the World gives you I was in doubt with my self whether I should adventure to dedicate this small Piece to you had not I been well assured of its real worth Your liberal and ingenuous Education refined by your being bred up to Arms and your Employment at Court the two chief Schools of Experience Advantages which by your Industry you have to the utmost improved makes you the only Person I could at present think of as a fit Judge of it and the only Person having born a Publick Character abroad that I could believe could imitate or out-do our Author You as well as our Sacredo have laid Foundations adapted to a future Greatness and the excellent Qualifications and Perfections you are Master of have made you sufficiently known to be an expert Souldier and a compleat Courtier highly esteemed and beloved by all so that when His Majesty shall think fit to raise you to a higher Station you will sit easie For you will have this Happiness added to the other you enjoy to be Great and not Envied The Freedom you have allowed me made me give you some small Account of my future Studies and here you have the first Essay of it And as you are pleased to afford a Diversion to the present Course of them by an extraordinary Favour and Kindness to me I shall endeavour to make up the Loss of Time by my future Diligence Yet can any one be said to lose his Time who is in the happy Occasion of an Example of so great Vertue whose Care and Industry is so early that it seems to out-strip the quickness of his Master's Bounty All my aim in this my Dedication to you is only as I have received great already and am still in the opportunity of receiving greater Obligations from you so I am in Gratitude and Duty bound publickly to own and upon all occasions shew my self January 24 1684 5 Honoured Sir Your most faithful and most obedient Servant Tho. Garfoote THE English Translator's PREFACE TO THE READER THIS small Piece was writ by that famous Minister of the Venetian State Sacredo whose Abilities have raised him co that high Degree that he bename the present Duke of Vetice's Competitor A Piece writ with that Care and Curiosity that the Remarks are like that of Julius Caesar's concerning the fighting of the Ancient Gauls Heyl. Corm l. 1. p. 148. Lasting and permanent and an indelible Character fix'd upon their Posterity and will continue as long as the Air they breath in and the Earth they tread on The Remarks are suited to the probable Inconveniencies that may attend for the Future as well as the time he wrot in the Imperial Armies that I dare boldly say the Imperial Officers need not have Recourse to a Council of War if they do but read this Book Or at least it will very much facilitate the Work So as to give ready guesses at the true Reasons of the last Year's ill Success and how it came to pass that that Great and Magnanimous Prince the present King of Poland should appear Colossus-like to bestride not cross the Niester and lessen and eclipse the radiant and resplendent Glories of his former Atchievements Nor can we wonder the same Causes should produce the same Effects We live I confess in an intreaguing Age and Policy as well as all other Arts and Sciences is soaring to its highest Pitch and however blindfold and groping in the Dark we may censure repine and murmur at the Actions of great Princes abroad as our present Humours or Affections lead us a true and lasting Settlement of the Peace of Christendom is a blessing rather to be wished than hoped for and we must wait Gods leisure e're it be effected And tho' we here in these Islands enjoy Peace and have been preserved from utter Ruin and Destruction by Miracle as well as His Majesty when as we might have been involved in as ill or worse Circumstances than our Neighbour-Nations is all entirely owing next under God to his Majesties great Care Prudence and Conduct The Misfortunes of the present Times are the Products and natural Results of the Miscarriages of an Age or two past And it would a little sedate the Minds of Men if they would seriously look upon with due Reverence and Esteem the great Goodness and innate Clemency of His Majesty That he never suffered during His whole Reign over us which God long continue amongst us any to be put to Death but willful and malicious offenders hath spared many Many Acts of his Grace and Favour may be instanced in not one of Injustice or Oppression and in all our foreign Characters of him he is represented to us as one inclinable to Mercy the Glory as well as Delight of Mankind far from taking any delight in Blood that when he might have scourged the Rebellion here he gently and mildly received his own and without noise and tumult except only the Acclamations of his Subjects attended with good Wishes for his Happiness Health Peace and Safety vouchsafed to Exercise his Regal Authority amongst us to the great Joy and Comfort of his People and condescended so far as to receive us under the Wing of His Royal Protection If an Otho for one compassionate Read Martial's witty Epigram upon Otho lib. 6. Epig. 32. Act could have the Praises and Encomiums of all the Writers of his time what ought His Majesty to have for a constant and continued Exercise of it Were he ambitious he might make Pretences as well as other Princes abroad For I leave any English man nay the whole World to judge what might not this King of England do whose Bravery in Feats of War is conspicuous witness that unfortunate Battel of Worcester supported by that Heroick and Magnanimous Prince his Brother the Duke of York and once more make the Name and Title terrible abroad as heretofore in France He is a Prince that is sufficiently experienced in the Art of War and has shew'd the World that he knows how to behave himself both as a General by Land or an Admiral by Sea He is a Prince fit for the English Nation answerable to their great courage and if we do but call back to our Thoughts our late Army we might believe we were capable of doing great things still having such a Prince
as this to conduct and lead us on Yet however His Majesty having gained a lasting Reputation by his extraordinary Goodness already I shall not endeavour to alter His Majesty's Thoughts but leave him still to pursue his former Methods of Mercy For I really think it is a much better Character to be esteemed the Delight and Darling of Mankind than to be thought one that aims at the striking Terror into the World to be an Otho or a Titus than to be a Nero or a Caligula to be the Preserver and Defender than the Depopulator and Destroyer of Mankind A Prince that is ready to make us all happy if we would A Prince that considers and hath Compassion upon the Infirmities Weakness and Follies of Mankind considers the Heats and Animosities bred and grown up amongst us during our late Civil Wars not yet throughly worn out considers how all the Factions were again upon the Ferment by reason of our late Confusions and Disorders Considers I say all this and yet governs with a Moderation and Justice commensurate and adaequate to the vast Greatness of his Soul Oh! how sweet and precious will his Name be upon the Records of Time Then shall the lasting Benefits he hath done for England be demonstrated and appear when the Malice of Evil Men against him and Detraction shall cease and be no more And however Prejudice or Education may sway with some of us or we may be byassed and debauched by the sly and cunning Insinuations of wicked and designing Men Yet it is the Wisdom and Interest as well as Duty of the present Age no longer to offend so great Goodness least that the tired-out patience of His Majesty considering the infinite Injuries and repeated Affronts the Royal Family hath received may at last turn into Fury Did but English-men I say consider the Blessing they enjoy in this turmoiled and perplexed Age of the World they live in having His Majesty to reign over them they would heartily pray to the Almighty to continue to him that Divine Protection and Assistance as hath hitherto accompanied him to preserve him from Danger and that he may still go on and prosper and do all things as may be for his own and his Peoples Good Should I let my self loose and expatiate upon this Subject this would swell to a Volume but I forbear and leave it to a Perinchef or a Dryden to compose and frame a History and Character agreeable to so great so good and so gracious a Prince As for these two excellent persons Dr. Perinchef and Mr. Dryden as I mention fit to undertake such a Work The first 's incomparable Panegyrick upon King Charles the First will make him pass current And as for Mr. Dryden I hear he hath left of the Thoughts of Poetry and intends to bend his Studies towards the writing of English History He hath out-done the Poets of his Time and he may for ought I know out-doe not only the Historians of this but all other Times And I verily believe he may probably acquit himself with a great deal of Honour Credit and Reputation and sufficiently answer the Expectation the World might have of one should undertake so great a Work And thus I proceed to give you some small Account further of this our Sacredo's Book It 's a small Historical Discourse upon what happened in the Compass of two or three Years time during the last War of the Emperor with the Turks and delivered by him in an Oration in the Venetian Senate and certainly it is not the least of the policies of this state thus to exact a solemn Account of every one of their Embassadors of their Management during their Embassies It keeps their publick Ministers abroad constantly upon Duty and Thought how to acquit themselves upon so solemn an Occasion A Charge that none but men of extraordinary parts can undertake and manage with Credit and Reputation to themselves and Satisfaction to the State And in this they have the Advantage of Kings because they are by these means sure to have their Business well done But even in this by extraordinary Knowledge hath His Majesty out-done this wise Senate by his Choice of Men fitly qualified for that Employ which have added a Lustre and Reputation to us all My Lord Shaftsbury as to his Majesty's knowledge of men once was pleased to do him that Right in his Speech to my Lord Clifford when he took his Oath as Treasurer as to say 'T is a 5 December 1672. great Honour much beyond even the place it self that you are chosen to it by this King who without Flattery I may say is as great a Master in the Knowledge of Men and Things as this or any other Age hath produced and whether he intended to flatter at the same time or no I cannot tell I am sure he found it experimentally true to his Cost whilst ruffled with passion overwhelmed with prejudice and buoyed up by a Faction to say no worse he grew discontented Now I say if these eminent Men that have from time to time been sent abroad Embassadors at their Return Home were but to render an Account of their Embassies before that August Assembly of His Majesties Most Honourable Privy Council their Orations would at least afford a more particular Account of His Majesty's extraordinary Goodness Our Country-man Mr. Rycaut hath certainly written well concerning the Turkish Affairs and History and even of this very time our Sacredo did I confess he hath written very ingeniously much like a Gentleman and in Favour of the Emperor's Interests but he tells you likewise it is but by Guess Apprehension not certain Knowledge and therefore because in many things he seems to contradict Mr. Rycaut I leave it to the Consideration of the Reader whether he may not believe our Sacredo had some Advantage that Mr. Rycaut wanted and so probably may have written as to these few particulars more agreeable to Truth This Historical Discourse if I am not misinformed was never printed in the Language it was spoke but by some means or other got by some Frenchman translated and printed at Paris in the Year 1670 And why I should at this time translate it having been so long neglected by us English who have of late been but over busie Translators you may possibly say if it had been a very curious piece I certainly had been eased of this Trouble either as to my self or the World But in answer to this I confidently affirm that I value my self for being the first man that hath really found out the true worth of this Author But yet with so much Submission to the Publick that I leave it to you as to this particular and as to all other things I shall write upon this occasion that are the Reader to judge All that I shall add further to the Reader is That this Book will prove a Book necessarily to be read to those that intend to understand any thing justly
defended with so great Clausemburg or Claudiopolis taken 1662. a Reputation the last Campaign under the Conduct of Reffano a Venetian There are some people that are apt to say That Portia out of Design neglected the Relief of these places thinking to make the World believe that the Inhabitants and Garrisons were the only Authors of their Revolts to remove by such Losses where he did not seem to contribute all Subject of Complaint and of War that might arise concerning their preservation The loss of Transylvania will without doubt one day be lamentable to all Christendom The loss of Tranfilvania endangers all Christendom especially to Germany This Province which might pass for a powerful and vast Kingdom is fair abundant and enlarged with rich and fertile Plains surrounded with Hills surmounting one another till by degrees they raise themselves to steep and inaccessible Mountains as if Providence with these strong and natural Ramparts were minded to defend them from the divers Irruptions of these Barbarians It is filled with strong Castles and Towns well peopled It is abounding in Mines fertile in strong and brave Horses and there is nothing wanting that is necessary to the life of Man The Emperor hath very much contributed to the Ruin of this Province by his extraordinary Negligences and abandoning the generous Ragotzkie That brave Man tho' he was forsaken by the Emperor and void of all Relief continued to defend his Estates with as much Prince Ragotzki's death May 1660. Glory as Courage Nor had he yielded to his ill Fortune had he been seconded by the Princes his Neighbours concerned in the War Notwithstanding his Despair encreased his Valor for after he had slain one hundred and seventy one Men with his own Hand he was enclosed by the Enemy and at last kill'd Fighting He inherited the Bravery His Character of his Father who maintained himself in this Province in spight of the Ottomans on whom he had many Advantages and won many signal Victories The Turks never gave over troubling him and would have forced him to resign his Principality and do Homage to the Port but neither their Commands nor Forces could work against so valorous a Resistance From hence it is that it came to pass that the Death of Father and Son and the taking of Waradin Waradin surrendered to the Turks 17 Aug. 1660. afforded so great Joy to the Infidels who have not only brought in Subjection all the Princes his Successors but made his Subjects Slaves and totally dependant upon their Empire Varadin being the chief Key of Hungary gives the Turks a free Entrance and secure Access and renders their Dominion so absolute and the Province so subject that the Emperor and Hungarians are apparently for ever excluded from the Recovery of this Country and its Liberty The Imperial Ministers took Colourable pretences for a Peace great care to give plausible Motives for a Peace and did endeavor to colour their Desires of extinguishing the Fire that was enkindled in Hungary and by consequence their weak Resistance in Transylvania They published in their Treaty That they had maintained Abafti in the same Estate that his predecessors were But these Reports were spread farther than believed and they that had the least Understanding of these Affairs were perswaded that notwithstanding all these Treaties and the differences of the Provinces this Prince should not be better used by the Port than those of Valachia and Moldavia who are The Condition of Christian Princes under the Turk under the entire and absolute Dominion of the Turks and he not be able to act but as the Port would have him and find himself not only deprived of his Authority but destitute of his Forces and not in a Capacity to take Arms as his Predecessors had done either to aggrandize or defend himself The Loss of this Province is The Loss of Transylvania fatal to the Christians and advantagious to the Turks so considerable that it will be fatal one day to Germany For the Fury of the Turks will not find any more a Defence to break their first Incursions The Emperor will not have any thing left to oppose their Inundation and his Countrey will be exposed to the first Fury of the Infidels The Turks themselves have gained this Advantage that they can raise their Troops there which they were forced to send back into Asia after a Campagne Now they can begin a Campagne sooner and retire into their Winter Quarters later and by reason that their Cavalry were constrained to wait the Growth and Maturity of Forage and the great Distance of places hindered their appearing in a Body upon the Frontiers before the beginning of August Now they can do it in the Month of June and so their Irruption will be so much the more destructive as their Campagne will be the longer The last War hath prepossessed the Christians with these unhappy Conjectures For the Turks durst not have taken the Field before the Season had covered the Earth with necessary Forage for the Subsistence of their Cavalry Horses of Artillery and Baggage and not coming to a Rendezvouz till towards August they had not time enough to make any more than one Enterprise But now having made a Conquest of so spacious and fertile a Countrey which they retain they are in a Condition to undertake all sorts of Enterprises almost at all times and it is always in their power to hurt the Christians and oblige them constantly to be upon their Guard Moreover these vast and fruitful Fields of Hungary so easily lost to the Ottomans have created a Desire in them to establish themselves in so good a Countrey In like manner the Emperor's Enemies have found themselves posted commodiously upon a Frontier for the beginning of Sieges in good time and so have it in their power to profit themselves of all Seasons On the other hand the Emperor depending upon the unsteady Resolutions of the several Dyets and not being in a Condition to receive but slow Succors and Troops afar off he will remain exposed to the Mercy of his Enemies and find a powerful Army upon him capable to undertake all things before that he is in a Condition to defend himself The Articles of Peace between the Emperor and the Turks have been sufficiently handled in the last Dispatch of the Great Chancellor who might have spared the Circumstances of Count Serini's Death which he supposes to be violent contriv'd and of a premeditated Design whereas it was merely casual as I have written to your Serenity For the sole Ardor which he had equally for Count Serini's Death by a Wild Boar 1664. the Chase as for the War was the true and only Cause of it His great Courage made him wilful and stifly to maintain a Fight with a wild Boar already wounded and become furious by seven Wounds that it had received The Count being Rycaut's Hist p. 176 thrown upon the Ground and by many
Strokes disabled from speaking one Word yet gave many Marks of his Reason and Piety often smiting his Breast he did lift up his Eyes to Heaven and made it appear that he died content and a good Christian He was a Cavalier of great His Character Birth great Merit and a sworn Enemy to the Turks His Hatred to them was hereditary and common to his Family Your Serenity knows very well what his Grandfather did in Croatia at the Siege of Zigeth attacked by Solyman at the Head of an Army of two Hundred Thousand Men. That when Provision for Mouth and War were absolutely wanting Count Serini's Grandfather's brave defence of Zigeth 1566. and the place open on all Sides he would never hearken to a Composition but resolved rather to perish than treat and becoming more fierce in the Extremity he saw himself reduced to he changed a generous Defence into a vigorous Attack for encouraging the weak feeble and languishing Remnant of the Garrison to follow him he furiously threw himself upon his Enemies and after a thousand Exploits worthy of eternal Memory his Vertue fell being oppressed by meer Number he gloriously died with his Cymeter in his Hand and lost not the place but with his Life The Valor of the Grand-son His Character continu'd was not less eminent though he finished his Life with less good Fortune A person of that Extraction and Desert his frequent Attempts in great and hazardous Occasions not sparing himself in the most apparent Dangers well merited a more happy Destiny and a more glorious Death An Ambuscade or a Battel ought to have ended a Life so fair and it was an unspeakable Loss that so brave a Man as he who had devoted himself to the Fatigues of War should be destroyed in the pleasures of Peace and that a Prince so formidable to so many of the Infidels his only Enemies should be torn in pieces by one only fierce Beast This Loss is so much the more Sereni's Name a Terror and his Disgrace and death a Joy to the Turks to be lamented by Christendom be cause the very Name of this Heroe was sufficiently capable to strike a Terror into the Turks and to repell their most hardy Attempts Yey the very Disgrace of this Count Nicholas de Serini was looked upon by the Ottomans as one of their greatest good Fortunes but his Death caused so much Joy among them that they made Bone-fires and discharged all the Cannons of Canisa The Hungarians on the other The Loss of Serini differently resented by the Hungarians and the Imperial Court and why side were in extream Grief they perceived very well the Importance of so great a Loss they found themselves without a Head without Counsel and without Protection and were doubly afflicted to see the careless Concern of the Cesarean Court for him who rendered this Misfortune agreable to the Emperor's Ministers which was regretted by the rest of his Subjects For they looked upon him as an Obstacle to Peace a Fomenter of War his natural Valor an Enemy to Repose and that his boyling Courage would never wave an Occasion to kindle a War However it was for I cannot dissemble to your Serenity his Country has not only lost in his Person a generous Defender of his Estates but a powerful Hinderance against the Inundations of the Infidels A little before this sad Adventure being in Despair by the Peace which the Emperor had concluded to so ill a purpose and so much to his Disadvantage * Sereni's generous Offer to the Venetians He himself proposed to me That he would go a Voluntier to serve this Republick with Six Thousand old Soldiers every one of them a choice Man wherever you should have Occasion and that he feared nothing so much as the Rust of Repose and the Debauchery of Idleness In short he wished for nothing more than to end his Days in an Occasion glorious to his Memory and profitable to Christendom Count Peter Serini succeeded his Brother in his Command Count Peter Serini's Character He is a brave Soldier and great Captain but not looked upon as a man so great in Bravery as his Brother was Two Articles of this Peace Secret Articles of Peace between the Emperor and the Turk notwithstanding they were kept very secret were nevertheless discovered and divulged amongst the Hungarians and those that were men of the greatest Interest among them endeavoured to penetrate into this Treaty and did it sooner than the Germans The First was That the Emperor The first Article might freely chastise the Insolence of the Hungarians and reduce them by all sorts of ways to their Duty without any Opposition from the Turks or Hinderance of the Resentments of the Imperial Court in punishing his Subjects The Second was That the The second Article Emperor should not oppose the Turks as to any Attempts they should make upon Italy but leave them a free passage thro' Friuli I took an extraordinary trouble upon me to dive into the truth of these things kept with so much Industry hid and secret by the Germans yet as hastily published by the Hungarians And if the first Article proved true I shall have but little trouble to perswade the world to believe the Second All things carried so likely a Semblance in themselves as well as in my Opinion that I shall take but little Care to illustrate altho' it was a great deal of pain to me to believe them The Death of Prince Portia The death of Count Portia a great Loss to the States of Pisino was a great Loss and Misfortune to the Estates of Pisino through which the Tartars when they had a mind must pass towards Italy as also to the Defence and Guard of those strait and difficult Passes For his Authority and particular Interest secur'd them against divers Hazards procured them a great Number of Soldiers to put them out of all Fear and protected them against all sort of incursions of their enemies The County of Pisino bought by the Brother of the Prince of Ausburg since the Death of Portia found little Support in his Successor who had no small Share in the Councils of his Imperial Majesty tho' this new Count did do his Endeavor to divert all the Disgraces from his own Lands which the Necessity and Freedom of a passage of it self more difficult than one can well imagine might bring upon them The Emperor as well as his Subjects will first feel this Damage The great Damage the Emperor is like to sustain For the Tartars who make no Distinction between Friend and Foe and whose Cruelty treats all alike and carry Disorder Rapine and Bloodshed along with them might easily make him sensible of the Effects of their Barbarity and Violence and he knows no other way to hinder this Army from posting it self in the Bowels of his own proper Territories without great prejudice to himself of the Consequence whereof your
Serenity cannot be ignorant The Electors Princes of Germany The Dissatisfaction given the Electors by this Peace and their Reflections upon it remained ill content with a Peace so infamous to the Empire and advantageous to the Turk They presently made it known that their Dyets had been unprofitably assembled their Assistances superfluous and their Levies unjust for a Success so unworthy his Majesty the Princes of the Empire and the Forces of Christendom That the Emperor would primarily be hurt by so disgraceful an Accommodation That he had seemed already to implore to no purpose a Succor that he had no occasion for That the Grand Seignior would agree to nothing but under such hellish Conditions as should oblige the Emperor to give Instructions to his Minister at Constantinople to consent to any Proposals should be made to him without which he could not possibly resume any Treaty with the Port. As The Germans great Care in keeping the peace for the Germans they would not in Truth give any Cause to the Turks to break the peace that had been concluded but on the contrary would endeavour to have it well rooted and would suffer any thing in Reason that their Liberties would permit provided their Enemies would also as religiously keep themselves within the Confines and Terms of their Treaty As to the Duration of this The Uncertainty of the duration of this peace Peace between these two great Empires it depends upon the Contingencies of future things which are in the Hands of God and of which Men know not how with any certainty to judge Yet I shall say That the Confines are so embarrassed that it will be a very great wonder if the Turks when they are rid of the War which they have with your Serenity do not then begin again to fall out with the Emperor For those two Princes know not how to live long together in a good Understanding The Turk will not continue long in the Condition he finds himself and every Sultan by his Law is obliged to signalize himself by some Famous Conquest upon the Christians and this very man knows not how to dispense with himself without making a War nor can find a Country more proper more commodious more rich according to his Apprehension than that of the Empire Moreover the Grand Seignior cannot meet with any thing more to his Advantage For his formidable Armies may better subsist in the vast and fertile plains of the Empire than in the starving Deserts of Persia It will be the worst News The Venetians peace with the Turks hindered by the Imperialists and why that can possibly come to Vienna that there is a peace concluded between your Serenity and the Port whenever it shall please God it shall be so Their Ministers are very well perswaded That their peace will last as long as the War with your Serenity and your Diversions ceasing by Sea the Insolence of the Turks would begin on the Land For this Reason it is that the Generosity of the Senate is praised at the Imperial Court and they wish nothing more ardently than the Continuation of your War Hence they with Artifice invent things to give Courage to your Serenity to engage you to an obstinate Defence and hinder the slackening your Fatigue and Expence Sometimes they spread abroad a Report of an Enterprise which they do not so much as dream of sometimes of a Disorder among the Turks against all Appearance of Truth and of other such like things all to perswade you to lengthen out the War and lay aside all thoughts of peace It is not a pure and frank Courtesie that they suffer you to raise Recruits in Germany and make Levies of Troops for the Relief of your Empire but true and visible Reason of State which prevails always in the Deliberation of Princes and is the only Rule they follow For after all there is none but looks upon the Misfortune of another as an Happiness to himself when he is to receive Advantage by it although at the same time there 's no man would set Fire to his Neighbour's House for fear it should burn his own I can say without Dread of abusing you and assure your Serenity that Panagiriti had private Orders to give out at Constantinople That it was not for the Dignity of the Sultan to make peace with this * The Imperial Minister disswades the Turk from a Peace with the Venetians Republick until they were disingaged by some Conquest that would answer the Reputation of their Arms. All the Treaties managed by Monsieur the Grand Chancellor are but new Engagements to a Second Expence and the Intreagues of the Imperialists are renewed and augmented every day which do so much the more encrease as they seem to be under a Mis-apprehension at the Port. For since the Rupture by their Negotiations either private or publick they always seem easie and willing to satisfie the Ottoman Court notwithstanding the late Advantages of the Cesarean Armies the great Number of their Troops and the Success of their Auxiliaries For fear that your Serenity should prevent their peace by yours and leave them for want of a Diversion to the full and total Fury of the Turkish Forces A peace such as your Serenities are able to make with the Port would prove the greatest Disgrace can happen to the House of Austria The last Year the Grand Chancellor proposed a Treaty between your Serenity and the Turks and because it did not take Effect the Cesarean Court seemed to be uneasie and testified a great deal of Trouble and Concern at it The Imperial Ministers at the same time that were near the Visier were commanded by express and re-iterated Orders sent by many Couriers to hinder the progress of these Negotiations and remonstrate to the Port That a peace was much more advantageous and honourable to the Turks with the Emperor than with your Excellencies and all the Advices from Spain were all along for concluding a peace and making an Accommodation Nay to offer considerable Summs and if things came to extremity to buy it with their Money if they could not obtain it by Spain advises the Emperor to a peace with the Turks their Negotiations So far were they pressed by Spain to make a Peace and hinder a War During sometime before and after the Rupture there was nothing but Couriers running to and fro going to and coming from Constantinople with continual projects of peace It is true enough that the Germans had sufficiently experimented That to perswade the Turks their Arms would do much better than their Letters the Sword than their subtle Devices their Blows than their remonstrances a brisk and bloody War more than the most able Negotiations In short there were many Artifices employed before the rupture to avoid this Rock and Shock of Arms and so many Expeditions made to Constantinople to sweeten their Spirits that produced an Effect quite contrary and augmented the
answerable to his Dignity nor to so elevated a Degree His Majesty is about twenty The German Emperor his further Character five Years of Age A Prince pious good and of a Sanguine Complexion but not altogether so Robust or Watchful as those of his Family He is subject to some Infirmities especially of his Feet His Subjects wish he were as much a Warriour as he is devout and religious and that he would appear in the Head of an Army against his Competitors almost of the same Age the King of France and the Sultan of Constantinople He is an excellent Church-man and takes very great pleasure in Musick He wants not Spirit or Vivacity but has a great Distrust of himself The Cares of his Estate overcharge and press him down Repose best pleases him and in short he loves his Favourites better than his Affairs The House of Austria is reduced to a very few Successors He of Spain is yet very young weak and infirm The Arch-Duke of Inspruc is not yet married The Emperor was promised in Marriage the Eldest Infanta of Spain but she was afterwards given to the King of France Now he is amused with the Hopes of the Second which he awaits with Impatience Delay and Trouble The Empress Leonora hath The Character of the Empress Leonora gained the Esteem of all the Court She lives with a great deal of Splendor and Generosity She knows how to perswade the Emperor to carry himself uprightly and carefully to preserve himself which she effects with an admirable Conduct She diverts her self with the Conversation of Ladies and loves people of Spirit and Vivacity She has two Arch-Dutchesses one of excellent Beauty and both of them designed for Royal Alliances During my Stay in this Court two Arch-Dukes Leopold and Charles to 1663 1664. the general Grief of all departed this Life The first was Uncle and the second Brother to the Emperor This last was a Arch-Duke Charles's Character very good Prince pious brave and extreamly obliging to those who were his Creatures A person of excellent Morals great Spirit whose Wisdom surpassed his Years Both the one and the other died of such Infirmities as were unknown to the Physicians who by their Ignorance more destroyed their Constitutions than by their Remedies relieved their Indispositions Prince Portia who a few days Prince Portia his Character since ended his was Major-Domo-Major and primier Minister to the Emperor He came to this high Degree by mere good Fortune and the only and ardent Affection of his Master He was the Governour of his Youth and had the Reputation of a perfectly good and upright Cavalier I found him very well inclined to your Serenity but he did not appear to me to be a person fit to undergo the Charge of publick Government and total Direction of Affairs He neither knew how to deal well with his Friends nor to do ill to his Enemies He was uncapable of himself to take any firm Resolution nor would he give any entire Belief to any of his greatest Confidents He carried all things to Extremity could not tell how to moderate his unreasonable Transports nor to pass by or sustain just Resentments He was naturally idle slow and irresolute He tried all sorts of means to avoid the War with the Ottomans and forgot nothing that might put an end to it after it was declared He perceived very well that he was not born for great Affairs and that his Ministry was above his Port and Strength that he was far from being able to acquit himself as he ought in so great a Number of Accidents as happened every day His Memory was as unfaithful to his Thoughts as his Business For once he forgot and left upon his Table one of his most important Dispatches and so exposed the most mysterious Secrets of State to his Valets de Chambre and other indiscreet persons But tho' he was negligent in publick Affairs he always minded his private Concerns and applyed himself entirely to the Divertisement of his Master and rendering his own Family great by an Accumulation of Honours and Riches His posterity seem not to answer either his Spirit or Fortune and promise nothing that is capable to uphold so many Accessions as they have received during his Favor He himself with all his Ingenuity was neither feared nor loved for he knew not how to do good or ill neither encouraging Merit and Services by Rewards nor punishing of Crimes in those that were guilty One may say his Soul was insensible and slothful not capable of acknowledging a Kindness or resenting an Injury In short he abandoned all Reins of Government to keep the whole Empire in Repose and Idleness The Emperor has disposed of this Charge of Major-Domo-Major but has not yet made choice of a Favorite for his pleasures or a Minister for his Affairs If he could give himself the glorious Trouble of Reigning alone it would be his own Happiness and Honor and for the Benefit of his Subjects who sigh at the Remembrance of his last Favorite dread lest a worse should succeed him and tremble afresh through Fear of being exposed to the Capricio's Interests and Covetousness of such a sort of Tyrants The other principal Ministers of the Emperor are the Prince of Ausburg who being enflamed Prince of Ausburg's Character with Ambition knows no other Cure of his Malady but an Advancement to the Rank and Favor of Prince Portia and looks upon no Remedies proper for his restless and aspiring Spirit but the good Esteem of the Emperor and a Promotion to such a Ministry His great Qualifications make him haughty and the more of Merit he can pretend unto renders him the more proud and insolent In a word he has very good Qualities could he but love himself with as much Justice as he hates Strangers without Reason Prince Lewis is the present Character of Prince Lewis Major-Domo-Major He has a great Vivacity of Spirit a large Understanding and long Experience in Court Affairs He jeers all the World and is eternally mixing his Jests with the most serious Matters so that he concludes nothing but is always hurried into divers Extravagancies Don Hanibal de Gonzago has Don Hanibal de Gonzago entered upon the Charge of first President of the Council of War He is a Souldier discreet rational more stout than ambitious and knows the best of any man what Advantages the Turks have over the Christians He seems extreamly kind in his Intentions for this Republick and is a Favorer of all Italians The Sieur Intendant of the Sieur Intendant of the Finances or Lord Treasurer Finances is a Man of Estate as becomes one in his Charge He was the more willing to consent to a Peace as more profitable to himself than a War For he well knew he might have Liberty to lay up that in a Calm which of necessity he must lay out during a Storm Since this Accommodation he enjoys