Treasures Paris 10th of the 7th Moon of the Year 1642. according to the Christian Style LETTER II. To the Aga of the Janizaries THE God of War seems to espouse the Quarrel of the Suedes and all the Planets contribute to their Prosperity Even Venus her self has for a while laid aside her usual Softness appearing now in the Field arm'd Cap-a-pe with a Train of Suedish Amazons at her Heels Thou wilt think I Romance in telling thee this and only temporize with thy Genius having often heard thee passionately admire the valiant Acts of Semiramis and other Eastern Virago's but assure thy Self that the Suedes after some late Battles when they went to bury their Dead stripping them of their Cloaths found several of the Fair Sex under the Disguise of Men among which there were some of Quality It is said that one of these was seen to engage Duke Albert himself with a matchless Bravery and Courage the Duke being twice unhorsed by her and as often remounted by his vigilant Squires Those that pretend to know more than the Common Sort say that Revenge was the Motive which brought this Lady into the Field having received a gross Affront from Duke Albert in the German Court. However the Duke died of the Wounds he received of this Bellona and she survived not to triumph over her dead Enemy After this the Suedes under the Command of General Torstenson marched into Silesia took Glowgow by Storm the 12th of the 5th Moon and Suciniez the 7th of the 6th Moon And as if nothing were able to discourage or baffle the Indefatigable Mind of this Great General he invested the strong Town of Olmitz in Moravia and took it after fourteen Days Siege The Posts are arrived this Morning with this News Be strong and of good Courage and God shall give thee Victory in Battle when thou fightest against the Infidels Abstain from Wine and from Oppression And receive this Advice as a Testimony of my Esteem and Friendship Paris 20th of the 7th Moon of the Year 1642. LETTER III. To Ibrahim Chanregil Chief Bostangi or Gardiner to the Sultan THou that art daily conversant with the Eldest Products of the Earth and canst call the whole Vegetable Family by their Proper Names tell me whether there be such a Plant as by its baneful Influence blasts all that grows within ten Cubits of its Root I would not put such a Question to thee had I not lately seen something in the Garden of a certain Nobleman near Paris which makes me think 't is true They call it here the ill Neighbour because it preys they say on all the Herbage that is near it rising and flourishing by their Fall Indeed at that time I saw it there was a wither'd Circle round it whilst this devouring Sprout look'd gay and full augmented by the Spoils of Neighbouring Grass A proper Emblem of Oppression I wish 't were growing in the Gardens of all cruel Tyrants that in this Natural Glass they might behold their Voracious Spirits I will not thus call in Question thy Knowledge of an Herb which shuns all humane touch Here is one in the same Garden which the Nobleman boasts was by thy Hands cropt from the Sultan's Garden and being set in a Pot of Earth presented to him Thou didst not well consult thy Safety in such a grand Presumption nor yet the Honour of thy Sovereign Master who should it ever reach his Ears would soon transplant thee from the Garden of the Seraglio to the Elysian Fields Thou oughtest to receive this Reprimand with highest Gratitude since it will not shut thee out of those pleasant Walks and Groves within the High Imperial Walls Use more Prudence another Time and scorn such easie Condescensions to Infidels Say that I am thy Friend in this Advice and in Recompence I only desire this good Office of thee To watch the Motions of my Enemies There are no less than Three Great Officers of the Seraglio hammering out my Ruine Thou knowest who I mean Keep thy Integrity The sly insinuating Words of Shashim Istham the Black Eunuch spoken not long ago in my Disgrace to the Principal Secretary of State quickly echoed to my Chamber in Paris Be Silent and Wise Paris 20th of the 7th Moon of the Year 1642. LETTER IV. To Muzlu Reis Effendi Principal Secretary of State at Constantinople IF it were lawful for me to take the Oath of our Holy Prophet I would swear by the Hour of the Evening that thy News is welcome I had scarce finish'd our appointed Devotions after Sun-set when the Post brought me thy Dispatch which informs me that Carcoa at Vienna is dead I rejoice not in the Death of an honest Slave to Ibrahim lâ—â— Flowers spring from the Dust of his Grave Neither can I mourn for a Man that may be gone to New and richer Possessions Yet I am pleased that he quitted the Old fairly and has left behind him an Odour of Vertue A Man in his Post is attaqu'd with strong Temptations and he that resists to the End merits a Wreath gather'd from the Tree of Life Thou mayst think 't is with more ease I receive the News of Carcoa's Death than of his Infidelity not that I value the Rack or any other Tortures with which the Policy of State uses to draw Confessions of Capital Crimes But I would not have the Grand Affairs of the Ottoman Port come within the Verge of a Scrutiny This News is the best Cure for the Illness I pretended when I exchanged Paris for the Country Air ten Days ago whereof Bechir Bassa has received an Account I am now returned to my old Lodging and am congratulated for my speedy Recovery by them that knew not my true Distemper Thou infortnest me that by the Order of the Divan one Nathan Ben Saddi a Jew is appointed Successor of Carcoa I wish he may acquit himself as well The five hundred Zechins thou hast ordered me by him will be very welcom to a Man who has been forced to retrench many Charges that he might the better serve the Grand Signior The King of Spain may wish that he could conclude a Peace on as easie Terms with the French King as the Sophy of Persia has with Sultan Ibrahim None but God and his Prophet know the Zeal with which I serve the Sublime Port. Paris 20th of the 7th Moon of the Year 1642. LETTER V. To the Kaimacham I Shall now acquaint thee with the Death of the Queen-Mother and Dowager of France who fell a Sacrifice to the Ambition of the Cardinal of Richlieu as those of her Party do commonly suggest For being highly disgusted at his Counsels and Intreagues especially his playing the Incendiary and inflaming those of the Blood Royal one against another she departed from France and by a kind of Voluntary Banishment exposed her self to so many Inconveniences Hardships and Rigors of Fortune as seemed to hasten her End Her Great Spirit chusing rather to break than bow to
neither lived to see the Common New-Years Day nor the Fifty-eight Year of his Life as they say the Queen's Ghost foretold him Some that have been Curious in examining his Pedigree tell me that his Progenitors were allied to one of the Kings of France However 't is certain that he was descended of an Ancient and Honourable Family of above Five Hundred Years Standing and Eminence in that Kingdom He had his Education in the Vniversity of Paris where he attained the Degree of a Doctor of the Sorbon a Dignity much esteemed in France and most Parts of Christendom except in Rome which Court is Jealous of the Sorbonists because they have sometimes Decreed in Prejudice of the Pope's Authority and the Grandeur of the Roman Court. After this he was made a Bishop then Almoner of France next Secretary of State in which Station he acquitted himself so happily that the King procured him the Dignity of a Cardinal There are none of the Ministers of the Divan but know that a Cardinal is one of the Princes of the Roman Church During these several Stairs of Preferment he had signalized his great Abilities in Negotiating Affairs of greatest Moment Yet in nothing did the Dexterity of his Wit appear more than in reconciling the Misunderstandings between the King and the Queen-Mother Whereby he gained much upon both their Affections so that in a little Time he was made the Principal Minister of State and Chief Director of the Government having a Guard of Souldiers appointed to attend his Person Then he was made Superintendent of the Marine Affairs after this Generalissimo of the Armies So that he seemed to have monopoliz'd all Command both in Church and State by Sea and Land It was Impossible for him to escape the envious Eyes of the Grandees nay the Queen-Mother her self who first raised him began now to grow Jealous of his great Power But especially the Princes of the Blood were highly offended at him The Count of Soissons stomach'd the Indignity the Cardinal had offer'd him in proposing the Marriage of his Daughter The Duke of Orleans suspected his Designs upon the Regency Yet all their Conspiracies against him proved ineffectual For neither by Publick Arms nor Private Machinations could they ever prevail against the fixed Destiny of this Great Minister who though he had been often attempted to be Poison'd Pistol'd and Stabb'd yet died quietly in his Bed having a little before received a Visit from the King I will not presume to make Corollaries or Glosses on these Things as though I were able to Instruct thee whose Wisdom and Experience renders thee a fit Oracle for the greatest Princes to resort to in Time of Need. I onely send thee bare Matter of Fact and together with an Account of the Cardinal's Death a brief Abstract of his Life as I received it from one of the most observing and knowing Men in the French Court. I wish thee Health long Life and Happiness Paris 4th of the last Moon of the Year 1642. LETTER II. To the Venerable Mufti I Have sent to the Kaimacham an Account of the Death of Cardinal Richlieu with some Passages relating thereto wherewith I thought it not proper to Interrupt thy Diviner Thoughts This Great Minister died the Fourth of this Instant Moon being the last of the Year in his Palace at Paris His Body is Interred in the Chappel of the Colledge of Sorbon where he finish'd his Studies and attained the Degree of Doctor in Theology He has left behind him a prodigious Estate amounting to a Million of Crowns Yearly which he has bequeathed in Legacies to his Kindred Friends and Creatures And as a particular Demonstration of his Gratitude to the King he has made him Heir of his Cardinal-Palace in this City with all the Plate and Furniture in it And at the last Visit the King made him which was a little before his Death he presented him with a Stone worth a Hundred Thousand Crowns of Gold Upon which 't is discoursed that the King will settle a Yearly Revenue on a certain Number of the Sorbonists to celebrate Mass daily for the Cardinal's Soul during the Space of One Year and once a Year afterwards on the Day that he died For these Infidels approach thus near the True and Vndefiled Faith in that they have Hopes of Immortality believing the Resurrection of the Dead and that the Prayers Alms and Good Works of the Living do atone for the Sins of the Departed as our Holy Doctors teach and as is the Practice of the Mussulmans throughout the World This Cardinal was richly endowed by Nature having a firm Intellect vigorous Spirit quick Apprehension solid Judgment faithful Memory and a most prevailing Way of Discourse A Man highly serviceable to his King and Country and therefore deserving better of the French than those Scandalous Reports and Libels which were every where industriously spread abroad to lessen his Fame Yet there wanted not those who strewed Flowers on his Grave and Perfumed his Ashes with Encomiums and Panegyricks In this he shared the common Fate of the Great that he was Malign'd and Envied Living but honoured with the Tears of his very Enemies when Dead There is one Fault to be found in his Conduct without appearing too Censorious That he being a Man consecrated to the Service of the Altar should so often take the Field and divesting himself of the Peaceful Robes of Religion should clothe himself in Steel delighting more in the Smell of Gunpowder than that of Incense and preferring the Noise of War to the Hymns and Antiphons of the Church Not that Religion is incompatible with Valour and to fight for ones Country is not as Lawful and as Pious as to pray for its Prosperity Our Holy Law the Celestial Pattern of Truth to the World exhorts us to Courage And all True Believers are assured of the Joys of Paradise of unfading Crowns and eternal Felicities if they lose their Lives in Defence of the Sacred Empire and the Book of Glory Our Immortal Lawgiver giving us his own Example when he laid the Foundation of the Greatest and most Illustrious Empire in the World in the Wounds of his Enemies cementing the Work with the Blood of Millions of Infidels Nor has the Superstructure been carried on by any other Methods than those of perpetual War with the Nations who will not submit to our Victorious Sultan the Invincible Lord of the Earth But the Messenger of God never required the Imaum's or Dervises to take the Field leaving Arms only to Secular Men and the Alcoran to the Religious I forget that I am speaking to him whose Repose and Tranquility is the special Care of Heaven who is not to be disturbed by Emperors Therefore in profound Reverence I salute thy Holiness with a dutiful Obeisance and so withdraw my Pen. Paris 4th of the last Moon of the Year 1642. LETTER III. To Jasmir Sgire Rugial an Astrologer at Aleppo THOU needest not be ashamed of
the Right Wing of the Germans The Battel was fierce and Bloody General Picolomini did Wonders and many brave Germans signalized their Valour but it seems as if the Fate of Torstenson is to ruine the Empire For while the Battel was yet equal on both Sides and the Victory doubtful while the Ground was dyed with a Mixture of German and Suedish Blood he falls into the Main Body of the Imperial Army with a fresh Reserve which so animated the Suedes and disorder'd their Enemies that at length the Germans not able longer to sustain the Shock left their Cannon and retreated into a Forest Now followed a Dreadful Slaughter for the Suedish Cavalry environ'd the chas'd Germans whom Coningsmark had hunted out of the Forest and charged them with such Fury that they were most of them cut in Pieces The Germans lost Four Thousand Men on the Spot and as many more in the Pursuit I have sent thee in the inclosed Paper a List of all the Officers of Note which were slain in this Battel which is esteemed one of the most Bloody that has been fought in Europe between Christians on both Sides these Two Hundred Years Thou wilt there find above Three Hundred Commanders from whom a Death not Inglorious has taken their Commissions The Germans also lost Six and Forty Pieces of Cannon Sixty Five Standards all their Ammunition a Hundred and Sixty Carts and Six Hundred Wagons with all the Treasury of the Arch-Duke Leopold and General Picolomini This Battel was fought on the First of the Eleventh Moon as we reckon but according to the Christians Account on the Twenty First of the Tenth Moon After this Signal Victory General Torstenson shewed himself again before Leipsick approached the Walls planted his Batteries and though the Besieged at first made shew of a firm Resolution to defend the Place yet the Terror which the late Defeat of the German Forces had struck them with soon altered their Counsels and they surrender'd upon Honourable Conditions In the mean Time General Picolomini and the Arch-duke of Austria are retired into Bohemia The German Court is full of Apprehensions and new Levies are every where making to join the shatter'd Remnants of the Army The Affairs of the King of Hungary are at an ill Pass and all things look with a Cloudy Aspect on the Empire From the Side of Italy we hear nothing of Moment but the Spaniards are taking such Measures as may best repair the Loss of Tortona and to that End the Duke of Milan is making all the Preparations which are customary in such Cases 'T is said here they intend to recover that Place again May these Quarrels of the Infidels continue till the determinate Time shall come that our Victorious Armies shall subdue them to the Mussulman Empire Paris 7th of the 3d. Moon of the Year 1643. LETTER XIII To the Kaimacham WHEN I sent thee Word of the Death of Cardinal Richlieu I thought it the same thing as if I had presented thee with the Head of one of the most Dangerous Enemies of the Ottoman Empire That Head which while the Owner lived was always plotting of Mischief had it not been diverted by nearer Intrigues would not have fail'd to put some horrid Design in Execution against the Sublime Port which of all the Thrones in the World seems alone to o'er-top the Grandeur of France But this Court seems to play the Hydra for no sooner is the Head of one of her Prime Ministers laid but upsprings another in the Room of it equal in Vigour and Subtilty And we have still as much Reason to apprehend the Counsels of Cardinal Mazarini as before we had to suspect those of Richlieu The Generality of the People at first looked for another Conduct in the King towards the Creatures of the Late Minister since he himself toward the latter End of his Life seem'd to subsist in the Court rather through the Necessity the King had of his Counsels than any Motive of Affection However the King has exactly complied with the Cardinal 's dying Requests in honouring several of his Relations and Friends with Places of considerable Trust And 't is to his last Recommendation Cardinal Mazarini is obliged for the Authority he now possesses In using of which he discovers a refined Policy and a Modesty which hath but few Examples The many Combinations and Attempts against Cardinal Richlieu and the King's Coldness to him during the Siege of Perpignan sufficiently instructed Mazarini that it was impossible to possess so Eminent a Charge without drawing on him the Envy and Hatred of the Grandees He considered also That he was a Stranger whereas Richlieu was a Native of France Therefore he unites his Interest with that of Two Great Officers who also courted the King's Favour the one is Superintendent of the Finances the other Secretary of State These being longer acquainted with the nice Transactions of the Court and the Intrigues of the Grandees do him no small Service with their Instructions and likewise abate the Popular Spight or at least share it with the Cardinal since no Body will be so partial as to lay the Blame of any Miscarriage on Him alone who seems to do nothing without the Direction of his Two Partners for so he calls them as if these Three shared among them the Authority of the Defunct Cardinal This is a pure Trick of Mazarini and he serves himself of them as we use a Ladder designing by their Means to mount by safer Steps and on their Shoulders to lift himself unenvied to the Helm of the State Not but that he is actually Invested with the Primacy by the King but he is willing to divert the Storm which that will draw upon him from the Nobles therefore he cunningly seems to decline it pretending an earnest Desire to with-draw into Italy and in the Interim has chosen these Two for his Colleagues Thus he grasps with one Hand what with the other he seems to reject and by his Magnificent Living his Obsequious Court and obliging Carriage to all he demonstrates that if he should pass the Alps his Heart would be left behind him in France and that he only aims to be establish'd in the Ministery with Universal Applause It makes me smile sometimes to see what pains he takes to entangle himself in Infinite Hazards and Trouble as if he were of a Constitution like that of a Salamander which cannot live out of a Fire The Great God encrease the Vertues and Graces of the Illustrious Kaimacham and of all the Ministers that stand by the Bright Throne of Justice the Seat of the Ottoman Emperors Paris 20th of the 4th Moon of the Year 1643. LETTER XIV To the Venerable Mufti Prince of the Interpreters of the Law and Judges of Equity A Cloud of Sorrow o'er-spreads the Kingdom of France their Sun is set the Mighty Lewis for whom all Europe had been too narrow had he liv'd is now confined within the Limits of a Grave He
the Laurels which composed his Crown from amongst Briars and Thorns His whole Life being one continued Series of War either at Home or Abroad and sometimes both But that which most exercis'd his Patience was the frequent Intestine Broils and Insurrections of his own Subjects of which he saw no less than Ten during his Reign some of them headed and abetted by the Princes of the Blood Nay as if Heaven had cut him out for the Toils of War when all Things else were in a Posture of Peace his own Mother and Monsieur his Brother several Times call'd him into the Field by taking up Arms against him When Victory had erected Obelisks and other Monuments of Honour to him in Italy and Spain and had cut Triumphal Arches through the Alps and Pyrenean Mountains for the Conquerours Return when he had made the Rhine to flow with German Blood and had every where both by Sea and Land left Tokens of his matchless Fortune coming to his own Country instead of Trophies and Honours to welcome home their Sovereign his Ears were always grated with the unwelcome News of Civil Wars in his own Kingdom Yet he that considers need not wonder at these Convulsions of the State in France or any other Kingdom so populous as that is In the Oeconomy of the Vniverse though it be governed by an Eternal Providence which cannot err yet we see the Elements at war with each other and that perpetually and out of this restless Strife and Quarrel arises the Health and good Constitution of the Natural World So is it in the Political World No Kingdom or Commonweath can subsist without Purgations of her peccant and superfluous Humours which War effects as the most Appropriate and Natural Remedy in such Cases Neither had Lewis any great Reason to be angry at these Disorders since through his Prudent Management they furnish'd him both with the Opportunity and Means to reduce this Kingdom to an entire Obedience which his Predecessors could never accomplish Thus they say the Palm the more it is oppressed with Weights shoots up the higher Kingdoms and Empires like Natural Bodies have their proper Time of Growth and the Genius of each Nation stimulates it with a strong Desire and Appetite of enlarging its Dominions which it never ceases to pursue till it be arrived to the Meridian and Height of Grandeur though it be often interrupted and retarded in its Course to Maturity by State-Fevers and other Maladies Thus France during the Nonage of her growing State felt various Shocks and Fits often threatned with a Dissolution by the high-wrought Blood of potent Factions Yet in her Constitution she had Antidotes as well as Poysons And her wise Kings had skill to check and curb a Popular Disease But none e'er rooted out the Cause till this great Lewis took the Cure in Hand He has awakned all the Vital Powers of State and rowz'd the very Soul of Government 'T is he alone has crush'd the last Head of that Factious Hydra which for so many Reigns had exercis'd the Arms of his Royal Ancestors Wouldst thou know by what Methods he has accomplish'd this Great Work I 'll tell thee in a Word by Rigour and Severity He fleec'd the Rich Plebeians of their Gold and kept the Poor in that Condition by continual Taxes and Impositions Yet he was a Prince of that admirable Temper in his Government that he acquired the Epithet of Just His Queen is now Regent according to the Law of France the Dauphin being but Four Years of Age. The Sovereign Arbiter of Fate grant to the Glorious Sultan Victory over all his Enemies that so these Western Nations when their Course is run may be subdued to the Sacred Empire of the True Believers Paris 17th of the 5th Moon of the Year 1643. LETTER XV. To the Venerable Mufti Successor of the Prophets and Messengers of God THY last Letter has confirmed the Effects of the former and given me a fresh Testimony of thy Paternal Affection and Friendship It is an evident Sign that thou takest Care of poor Mahmut when with an Authority full of Tenderness thou reprovest his Faults without leaving him Occasion to despair Such Reprehensions are a Sovereign Balm to a wounded Spirit and I hope after an Application sweetned with so much Clemency I shall never do any Thing which may merit or need the Discipline requisite to a Gangrene If I was negligent in performing the Penance thou before enjoynedst me I will now endeavour to make Reparation If the Account I gave thee of the Religion of these Western Parts was too Superficial and Brief I will now enlarge and present thee with the Chief Observations and Remarks I have made during my Residence here and my Captivity in Palermo I need not acquaint thee with that which causes the Greatest Rupture between the Roman and Greek Churches Cyril the Patriarch has said enough to thee on that Subject Thou knowest that the Grand Quarrel between them is about the Supremacy which the Roman Prelate claims over all the Churches in the World by a Divine Right But neither Cyril nor the Friars of Jerusalem with whom he contested would inform thee that this Supremacy where ever it resides is onely founded in Right of the Empire They would make thee believe That the Christian Bishops were from the Beginning Sovereigns Established by God Princes Independent of the Imperial Sceptre concealing that the First Founders of their pretended Monarchy were poor Fishermen who never dream'd of such a Grandeur as their Successors were afterwards invested with by the Liberality of the Roman and Grecian Emperours It would be a Reproach to themselves if they should let thee know how Holy and Harmless were the First Patriarchs of Byzantium and Rome who refused the Honours and Dignities of the World and were only Ambitious of Excelling one another in Vertue and a Pious Life Their very Addresses to thee are a Contradiction to the Examples of their Predecessors each Party offering Treasures of Gold thinking to bribe the Incorruptible Judge with the glittering Dirt. Assuredly the Seeds of an Irreconcilable Discord are sown in these Infidels they are setled upon the Lees of Error till the Day of Judgment As to the State of Controversie between them it is certain that while Rome was the Capital Seat of the Empire the Roman Bishops had the Superiority granted them but when the Imperial Residence was translated from thence to Byzantium by Constantine the Great from whom it derives the Name it now bears of Constantinople then the Ecclesiastical Supremacy was also transferr'd to the Patriarch of that City who enjoys it to this Day through the Favour of our Munificent Sultans who succeed the Ancient Emperours of Greece This Superlative Power the Popes of Rome would not recognize in any other but themselves being loath to part with the Authority they once possess'd whence proceeded the Schism between the Two Churches of the East and West And while the Patriarchs
the least Grudge will raise Armies and give the King Battel if he does not come to their Terms and make a satisfactory Composition Neither dares the King put any of them to Death for fear of the People who generally take their Part being greedy of Novelties and prone to rebel Wouldst thou know by what Means the Nobility of France arrive to such a dangerous Power I tell thee in a Word the Kings themselves have put a Sword into their Hands which they spare not to draw when their Ambition or Discontent prompts them to it They are freed from all Tribute and Homage have the Command of whole Provinces committed to them in which are great Numbers of Walled Towns Forts and Castles These great Charges procure them the Esteem and Veneration of the People living under their Government who honour them as Kings and readily take up Arms in their Vindication The Queen-Regent is fearful lest they should take Advantage of her Son's Minority and under Pretence of Reforming the State or serving the King's Interest they should involve the Kingdom in Civil Wars She keeps a strict Watch over the Duke of Orleans and observes the Prince of Conde's Motions Her Guards are doubled and she neglects nothing that may assure the Interests of the Crown Thou who standest by the Silent Fountain and art near the Person of the Grand Signior think of doing Mahmut some good Office who loves cordially serves faithfully and prays servently for the Health and Long Life of our Glorious Sultan and wishes thee thy Fill of Happiness Paris 27th of the 10th Moon of the Year 1643. LETTER XXIII To the Captain Bassa HERE are arrived several Hundreds of Slaves who have Manumitted themselves by a Bold Adventure an Exploit which to give them their due has something in it of Bravery The Place of their Captivity was Alexandria thou knowest the Circumstances of that Haven What Hazards will not the desire of Liberty put Men upon There were several Thousands of Franks in the City whom the Restraint and Rigors of Servitude had made weary of their Lives Among the Rest a Native of Brabant who having been bred up in the Art of distilling Strong Waters his Patron hired him a Shop furnishing him with all Materials and Necessaries to prosecute his Calling in hopes of very profitable Returns To this Man's Shop there was a great Resort of all the Franks in the City by which Means he improv'd his Trade and thriv'd mightily He was a Bold Fellow and took a particular Pride in great Attempts and though he might have lived very happily and enrich'd himself by his own Occupation yet he had another sort of Chymistry to practise being resolved to draw his Fellow-Slaves who were now become his Customers off from the Lees of Despair and elevate them to a Resolution of seeking their Freedom He often harangu'd them on this Subject and a strict Intelligence was held between all the European-Slaves in that City At length it was agreed amongst them to seize a certain Vessel that lay in the Harbour and commit themselves to the Winds and Waves This was carried on with so much secrecy and so dextrous a Conduct that unsuspected above two Thousand of them got aboard and put out to Sea The Wind favouring them they first arrived at Candia where they Landed some Hundreds of their Crew after this they touch'd at Malta where they disposed of others then at Livorno in Italy and lastly came safe to Marseilles where the Remainder came ashore These are Natives of France England Brabant and Holland with Two Spanish Priests The Inhabitants of Paris are very Charitable to them especially the Merchants who traffick in the Levant of which there are great Numbers in this City The Clergy also have made a Collection for them and 't is said the Queen-Regent has ordered her Almoner to distribute three Thousand Crowns among them They inveigh bitterly against the Mussulmans cursing our Holy Prophet and thanking their good Stars for thus fortunately redeeming them from an Insupportable Slavery I cannot see wherein they merit Blame in all this it being Natural for all Men to covet Liberty and to rejoice when they have escaped any Misfortune I protest I cannot be angry with them in my Heart for any Thing but the Blasphemies they vomit against the Messenger of God The rest are Actions as Natural as to Eat and Drink Self-Preservation being common to all Animals there seems as much Reason to condemn a Bird that chirps and triumphs when she fee's her self upon the Wing ranging the Balmy Air being newly released from the Cage as to find fault with these Fellows for rejoicing that they have escaped the Confinement and Hardships of Captivity However it was an unpardonable Neglect of the Guards who belong to that City to suffer these Infidels thus to give them the slip So culpable a Remissness may cost some of them their Heads The Great God whose Power is manifested in the Ocean as well as on the dry Land furnish thee with as favourable Winds as these Fugitives had when thou sailest to execute the Orders of the Grand Signior Paris 20th of the 11th Moon of the Year 1643. LETTER XXIV To Mustapha Guir an Eunuch Page THIS Court has within these Three Days put on another Face than it had ever since the Royal Obsequies were perform'd One would hardly think it the same were it not for the Mourning they still wear on the Account of the late King's Death This is a Formality used all over Christendom in such Cases and serves for a Disguise to Hypocrites The French Grandees make use of it to masque their several Politick Designs They wear Black the Emblem of Sadness to denote their Grief for the Dead Monarch and yet they feast and revel to the end they may send more of the Royal Blood after him The Matter I am going to inform thee of is Tragical in it self and had been worse but for the Prevention of Providence Three Days ago the Princes of the Blood with divers of the Prime Nobility were invited to a Feast by the Queen's Order The Place where 't was kept is called the New-Castle It is needless for me to describe the Magnificent Entertainment thou mayst conclude all Things were performed with Great Cost and Majesty They Banquetted with Wine to Excess insomuch as the Duke of Orleans about Midnight walking through a Gallery was so inebriated with the Juice of the Grape that he fell asleep on a Couch which stood about the middle of the Walk he was wrapt in his Cloak a Garment well known in the Court by the large Diamond that button'd it before but no Body came by that way till two Hours afterwards a certain French Lord passing to his Lodging took Notice of a Man asleep on the Couch and drawing nearer knew it to be the Duke Wondering what should be the meaning of it he inquired of the Duke's Page that stood not far off who told him His
the turbulent Cardinal She Sojourned in Flanders Holland England and the Empire Her Travels being checquer'd all along with a Mixture of Good and Evil. Here meeting with Respect there with Indifference and Coldness if not Contempt In some Places her Misfortunes were pitied and the Cardinal blamed for Persecuting so Great and Good a Queen In others the Cardinal was Justified and her Conduct censured and condemned And she accused her self for raising him to the power of doing her these Injuries At length tired out with the Fatigues of State and grown sick of the World she betook her self to a Monastery in Colen where after she had spent some time in Religious Preparations for another World she expired the 3d. of this Instant Moon It was placed among the Remarkables by some that the same day she died the Cardinal of Richlieu fell sick which Sickness yet continues upon him But whether to appease the Ghost of his deceased Mistriss whom he had so unjustly persecuted or to mollify the Resentments of the People is uncertain Yet notwithstanding his dangerous Illness he every Day ventures to the Temple and performs the Mysteries of their Law for her Soul The whole Court and City is in Mourning for this Great Queen and general Murmurings and Complaints are raised against the Cardinal on this Occasion especially among the Common People who are so far from entertaining a better Opinion of him for his daily Appearance at the Altar on Behalf of the Queen's Soul that they esteem it but an Officious Hypocrisie a Medly of Priest-Craft and State Artifice Here is a Report about the City that the Queen 's Ghost appear'd to the Cardinal as soon as she was dead severely reproaching him with his Ambition and Ingratitude and telling him That tho' he was laying the Foundation of an Immortal Project yet he should never live to see it thrive but warned him to prepare for Judgment for that he should not see another Year in Mortal State upon which they say he immediately sickned And here are Prophecies privately scattered about foretelling his Death in a short time This is certain he labours under an unaccountable Distemper his Body strangely wasting as if it would evaporate it self into Air for he seems to be in a manner dried up My Duty and Devoir to thee Sage Minister would not let me be at Rest till I had prevented the Posts by giving thee a more timely Account of these Occurrences by a Merchant for whom his Vessel waits at Marseilles To morrow he takes his Leave of Paris and once aboard he makes directly for Constantinople whither he will bring the first News of the Death of one of the greatest Queens upon Earth in whose Royal Veins ran the Blood of the Emperors Ferdinand and Charles V. She was married to Henry the Great and besides her Son now Reigning in France she matched her Daughters to the Two Potent Monarchs of England and Spain The most High and Omnipotent sole Monarch of Heaven and Earth reward thy Services and Fidelity to our Invincible Sultan with the Supream Joys of Paradise Paris 20th of the 7th Moon of the Year 1642. LETTER VI. To the Venerable Mufti Sovereign of the True and Undefiled Faith PErmit me to enter into thy Presence and withdraw thy Ravish'd Eyes awhile from the Contemplation of Sublimest Objects to cast them on a Spectacle of Mortality It is the Great and Renowned Mary de Medicis Queen-Mother of France who lies now dead at Cologne I will not trouble thee with Impertinencies but because I know that various Reports will reach thy Ears concerning the Cardinal of Richlieu his being Instrumental to her Death by driving her to such a height of Indignation as was the Cause of her Voluntary Exile and wandring from France and from one Country to another I will here Insert a Letter from the said Cardinal to her Majesty wherein he vindicates himself and discovers if not his Integrity yet the best Counterfeit of that Vertue that I have seen any where penn'd It was written to her when she was in Holland and runs thus MADAM I Cannot but esteem it the greatest Infelicity that ever befell me that my Enemies have prevailed so far as to draw upon me Your Majesty 's displeasure That they have by all the Arts of Malice fastned the Publick Odium on me is a great Vnhappiness but this is the Master-piece of their Enmity to render me suspected by you I could pardon their frequent Attempts upon my Life by private Conspiracies and Assassinations though Humane Nature recoils at those who are our Murderers But to deprive me of that without which Life it self is a burden to me I mean your Royal Favour transports me beyond my self And I beg that it may pass for an Excuse of this Presumption I could easily have pass'd over in Silence all their barbarous Plots against me I could easily have parted with my Life and all those Honours and Dignities with which it has been bless'd But to rob me of your Esteem which first rais'd me to this Envied Greatness and which I value more than all the Grandeurs of the Earth breaks the Barrs which aw'd my Tongue and Pen and makes me bold to throw my self at your Royal Feet with All that I have for I received All from your Princely Hands Deal as you please Madam with your own Creature I cannot murmur at your proceedings But Madam let your Native Piety prompt you to favour the Purple of the Church with which your Bounty has Invested me Let it not lose its proper Lustre and Esteem because the Enemies of the Church and State have cast such Dirt upon it Is it possible that a Man the most obliged of all his Race should become the onely Pattern of the basest Ingratitude Besides the Ties of Conscience and the Natural Force of Inclination my Interest chains me to your Service How can I then withdraw my self from it and not proclaim my self at once a Traitor to the Rest of Queens and the most unaccountable of Fools to my self This Consideration Madam being well weigh'd is enough to acquit me of all Guiltiness before Your Majesty But if it be my Destiny to be condemned unheard I shall not appeal from your Royal Sentence since I owe a perfect Resignation to your Will I may complain to Heaven of my Misfortune but I will not expostulate with my Sovereign Patroness nor make the least Opposition against the Course of your Anger not even by carrying my Fortune to Rome For wheresoever I go all my study shall be to recover your Majesty's Favour if it be not a Crime And if ever I obtain that Happiness I shall not care whither I go tho' it be out of the World it self because I die hourly while your Majesty suspects that I am not what I ever was and still continue to be MADAM Your Majesty's Most humble Most faithful And most obedient Servant Armand Card. of Rich. I send thee this Transcript
should purchase a Piece of the Old Hanging when it is Yearly taken down This is his Fee and thou hast at once defrauded him of his Due frustrated my Hopes and weakned the Merit of thy Pilgrimage But I will not be querelous perhaps thou wert afraid of wanting Money in the Rest of thy Journey Thy Letter is very short and full of Reserves hardly vouchsafing to make an Apology for thy long Silence though it be now the Nine and Thirtieth Moon since thou first partedst from Constantinople without giving me any Account what was become of thee Sometimes I thought thou wert overwhelm'd in the Sands of Arabia or that some wild Beast had devoured thee At other times I imagined thou might'st die of Thirst in those dry and barren Desarts When the Caravan returned at the accustom'd Time and no Tidings of Isouf I could not divine that thou wert gone into Persia or that thou wouldst travel through all the East as thy Letter informs me I should be proud of my Kinsman were I satisfied what Improvements he has made in so tedious a Journey Thy Letter speaks thee not a Traveller thou art a Churle in not communicating to me thy Adventures and Observations in so many Countries as thou hast pass'd through Tell me Isouf what was the Motive which put thee upon such a hazardous Fatigue Thou wert a Man of great Faith to trust thy self to the Conduct of the Persian who invited thee along with him It is a Sign thou hast a Roving Soul or else thou wouldst not upon such easie Terms have abandoned the Company of thy Fellow-travellers and Friends to join thy self to a Stranger an Enemy to thy Nation a Heretick 'T is true a Peace was just then concluded between the Grand Signior and the Sophi of Persia and so there was no Danger of thy being snap'd for a Spy and Sacrificed to the Jealousie of State But thou exposedst thy self to the Capricio's of Fortune and the wavering Temper of a Man who for ought thou knowest might have some ill Design upon thee Tell me didst not thou meet with great Temptations at Ispahan couldst thou withstand the Charms of Persian Luxury It must needs be a surprizing Novelty to see the Ladies of the Court frolicking and revelling in the Houses of Pleasure without the City so contrary to the austere Customs of our Women at Constantinople Well! I will believe thee Chast in the midst of Courtezans sober in Company of Drunkards and that the Spark who pick'd thee up at Medina made no attempts to debauch thy Vertue yet thou canst not blame this Railery when thou considerest the dissolute Manners of that Nation And I will tell thee ingenuously that I find it very irksome to abstain from Wine in a Country where every Body drinks it but my self But thou givest me no Character of thy Persian Friend or his Quality He might for ought I know be some Knight Errant and thou his Squire and so you rambled together up and down Asia to seek Adventures For thou art not so complaisant as to tell me the Effect of thy Travels Had I been in thy Place I should have made it my Business to enquire into the Laws and Religions of those Countries through which I pass'd I should have taken Notice of the Strength and Situation of their Cities and Castles Their Manner of Building and Fortifications The Discipline of their Souldiers what Navigable Rivers they have and which were the most eminent Places of Commerce and Traffick When thou wert in the Court of the Great Mogul it had been worth thy Observation to see the Grandure of this Monarch who never goes into the Field with less than two hundred Thousand Men. Thou shouldst have remark'd also the Use the Indians make of Elephants in their Battels It had not been amiss to have cast an Eye into their Temples in this Country where thou wouldst have beheld the Execrable Devotions of these Idolaters who worship the Devil under hideous Forms But above all I should have been greedy to see the Indian Women throw themselves into the Funeral Pile after their dead Husbands And before I parted from the Country I should have sought the Conversation of their Gymnosophists or Brachmans These are in so great Reputation for their Wisdom Sanctity and Incorrupt Manners that the greatest Potentates have Recourse to them in all Difficulties as to Divine Oracles China also would have afforded thee Matter of Observation and Remark These People say of themselves that they see with both Eyes the Mahometans with one and all the rest of the World are stark blind But in my Opinion the Chineses can be but pur-blind themselves since they see no farther than the Mountains which environ their own Country it not being permitted to the Subjects of that Empire to travel Yet to give them their due they are a very Ingenious People envied by all the World for their Art in making Porphyry I should be glad to know if whilst thou wert in this Country thou ever sawest any of those Sailing Wagons which are said to be used there It would be very obliging to send me a particular Relation of thy Travels these three Years Thou wilt not be angry that I am solicitous for thy Good The End of Travelling is to gain Experience and Wisdom If thou hast attained this I shall rejoice The desire of Knowledge has caused many Famous Men to rome about the World This led Pythagoras into Palestine and Aegypt This made Plato leave Athens to go and learn of Archytas the Philosopher at Tarentum in Italy And the same Motive carried Apollonius through the greatest part of Asia and Africa But I would not have thee confine thy Search to their Measures For they only coveted to know the Mysteries of Nature Whereas if thou travellest again I would advise thee to acquaint thy self with the Constitutions of Kingdoms and States whereby thou mayst be serviceable to our Great Master the Grand Signior Lord of the seven Clymates for whose sake the Elements are restrained within their Bounds and Nature it self keeps on her Course Cousin I pray the great God to polish thy Soul with Rational Principles and make thee useful in thy Generation for no man is born for himself Adieu Paris 13th of the 8th Moon of the Year 1642. LETTER XVI To Mustapha Berber Aga at Constantinople I Sent thee a Letter in the Conclusion of the last Year concerning the Duke of Lorrain and the Loss of his Estate Since which he seems to have lost himself being Excommunicated by the Pope who is to the Christians what our Mufti is to true Believers If thou knowest not what it is to be Excommunicated by the Pope I will inform thee in few Words Those who lie under this Censure are forbid to enter into any of their Churches or in the least to partake of what they esteem Holy All Christians are commanded to shun their Company they are esteemed as bad as Hereticks banish'd
Twelve Thousand Turks besides Moldavians Walachians and Tartars But now they begin to change their Notes and to admire the Invincible Force of the Ottoman Arms which hew their way through the most Formidable Difficulties to lay Empires Kingdoms and States at the Feet of our Victorious Sultan I have received a particular Account from Nathan Ben Saddi of the taking of that City He tells me That at the News of those great Preparations which were making by Land and Sea against it the Inhabitants being denied the Protection of the Moscovites which was their sole Refuge in this Extremity abandoned the Town carrying with them their Goods and demolishing their Houses so that there was but small Prey left for our Soldiers It is the General Discourse of this Court that there is a Son born to Sultan Ibrahim I should heartily rejoice were I assured the News were true but there is no Dispatch as yet to confirm it Besides I have received Advice from Constantinople which almost discourages me from ever hoping so fortunate an Event God lengthen thy Days and make thee Happy both in this World and in Paradise Paris 25th of the 8th Moon of the Year 1642. LETTER XIX To Mustapha Bassa of Silistria THOU hast no Reason to repine at the Exchange of thy Government though thy present Power be circumscribed within narrower Limits than it was in Aegypt That Granary of the World never afforded thee such a Harvest of Laurels as thou hast reaped on the Banks of the Black-Sea The Conquest of Asac has loaded thee with Honours and the Moderation thou hast in the midst of Triumphs has captivated greater Numbers of the Cossacks than could the Dint of thy Cymetar Though the Foundations of Kingdoms are laid in Blood yet the Superstructure is cemented with Clemency and the Roman Caesars by timely sheathing their Swords fastned to their Empire the Provinces they had won by drawing them I am bound to write often to the Ministers of the Port and all my Moments are consecrated to the Service of the Grand Signior who has a Right to command all Mankind Yet the Fame of thy late Victory reaching these Parts and giving occasion of Discourse I stole this time from my self not from my Great Master it being the Hour of Sleep to tell thee what the World says of thee They do not compare thee to Hannibal Scipio or Alexander the Great thou thy self wouldst take him for a Flatterer that should use such an Expression But they say the Method thou hast taken to sweeten the Calamities of the Cossacks and invite them back to their abandoned Habitations has some resemblance with the Conduct of Selim a General of Orchanes's Army who after he had taken the City of Prusa forbid his Soldiers on pain of Death to touch the Goods of the Inhabitants or commit any Insolent Action The Moderation of this Conqueror not only rendred the Citizens easie and willing to submit to their New Lord but the Fame of it spreading abroad he with little Bloodshed reduced all the adjoining Countrys under Subjection It is reported of the Great and Victorious Saladine That he took more Pleasure in winning the Hearts of his Enemies than in conquering their Persons This Prince had a Saying very common in his Mouth That he did the Office of a Barber and Gardiner shaving the Superfluities and pruning the Excrescencies of Overgrown Kingdoms and States not destroying them Root and Branch 'T is certain he endeavoured in all his Conquests to mollify the Aversion of his Enemies by Acts of Generosity Thou wilt expect some News from a Man in my Post and I cannot entertain thee with more agreeable Intelligence than what is the common Theme of Discourse at this Time Edward Duke of Parma has entered into the Pope's Territories with Three Thousand select Horse where he marches Dragooning up and down the Country bringing Terror and Confusion where-ever he comes He Conquers without drawing his Sword the Pope's Army flying before him This Prince is by Nature very Fierce and Active and has a peculiar Gift of obliging his Souldiers by treating them with a frank affable Carriage free from the stately Reservedness to which Men in Authority are accustomed By this Deportment he has insensibly stole their Affections they are ready to follow him all over the World When the Princes of Italy fall out with one another they generally engage the French and the Spaniards in the Quarrel But the Duke of Parma refused the Assistance which the former profer'd him of Two Thousand Men provided they might be disposed in Garrisons he was Jealous lest the French design'd to play their old Game and that when they were once Housed in his Cities and strong Holds it would be difficult to Unkennel them He has a new way of winning Towns carrying with him neither Infantry Cannon Ammunition nor any other Provision necessary to a Campaign Yet when he approached towards Smola in his Road to Bologna the Governour sent the Keys of the Town to him in his March which he made no other use of than to give his Troops a Passage through the Place resigning them up again By these Noble Acts he paved himself an easie Way through the Ecclesiastick State his Army being furnished with Victuals in Abundance without Plunder or Insolency The first Occasion of this Quarrel proceeded from some Contempts put upon the Prince of Parma at the Court of Rome by the Nephews of Pope Vrban And the Disgusts have since been improved to that Height as to Engage the State of Venice the Grand Duke of Tuscany the Duke of Modena and other Princes in the Care of the General Interest of Italy They proceed with Mediations and Overtures of Peace in one Hand while the Sword is brandish'd with the other amuzing one another with Treaties to gain Time The Loss of Castro a strong Town on the Borders of the Ecclesiastick State spurs on the Duke of Parma to Revenge himself on the Barberini's while the Republick of Venice strives to mitigate his Fierceness and accommodate Affairs espousing his Cause but fearful of his Rashness lest his impetuous Humour should carry him to the Walls of Rome and bring things to Extremities For all the Princes in Italy profess an Inviolate Obedience to the Pope who seems to Inherit the Authority of the Ancient Roman Emperours Thou maist comprehend by what I have said how easie it were at such a Juncture when all the Principalities in Italy are as it were disjointed to bring them under the Yoke of a Foreign Power This is what the Spaniards and French have for a long time been nibling at and whereof the Rebublick of Venice are so Jealous that they never side with one Party to the Ruine of another but endeavour to keep all the Interests of Italy in an Aequilibrium till they are Reconciled and United lest the Party which finds it self most weakned should seek the Protection of one of those Potent Crowns who would not
the vain Hopes of seeing that Royal Line extinct it being blaz'd abroad in all the Courts of Christendom that Sultan Amurat by excessive Use of Wine had quite enervated his Natural Vigor and rendred himself incapable of getting any more Children And the private Charge which he gave to the Bassa's and Grandees of the Empire That in Case he died Issueless they should translate the Imperial Diadem to the Tartar was no Secret here Every Man look'd upon our present Happy Sovereign Sultan Ibrahim as a Man design'd for a Sacrifice to his Brother's Hatred and that he would not long survive the Fate of his Uncle Mustapha I have heard a grave and experienc'd Statesman say that he hoped to see the Ottoman Empire after the Death of Amurat rent into as many and fatal Divisions by the Ambitious Beglerbegs Bassa's and other Govenors of Provinces as the Empire of Alexander the Great was by the Commanders of his Army after his Death who shared it among themselves and Catonized it into as many Principalities as there were Captains to make Pretensions either by Merit or the Sword But Praise be to God Lord of the Vniverse the Sovereign Protector of the Empire established by his own Hands the Hopes of the Infidels are defeated Ottoman is not left without an Heir to sit upon the Throne an Heir of his Blood as well as of his Empire The Birth of Sultan Mahomet is no small News to Europe after it had been generally reported that his Father Sultan Ibrahim was Impotent The Ladies of the Court here begin to entertain a better Opinion of him And the Grandees frame more Masculine Idea's of our Glorious Monarch God augment the Imperial Off-spring and perpetuate the Ottoman Sway till the Day of the Balance I bow my Forehead to the Carpets whereon thou treadest and kiss the Hem of thy rich Vest God encrease thy Graces and Felicities Paris 12th of the 9th Moon of the Year 1642. LETTER XXIII To the same IT is not lawful for a Slave to pry into the Actions of his Sovereign Lord much less to censure his Conduct with Boldness But miserable is that Prince who amongst all his pretended Friends and Servants has none so Faithful and Discreet as to warn him of Dangers which are ready to devour him I cannot but highly applaud the Severity of thy Justice in taking away the Life of that Persian Traytor last Year who by his accursed Insinuations and Example hastened the Death of our late Victorious Sovereign Sultan Amurat upon whom be the Mercies of God That Heretick though an Emir of the Race of our Holy Prophet and adorned with the Immarcescible Colour which is appropriated to Sanctity and Vertue yet refrained not from Idolatry being a daily Votary to Bacchus He it was who first taught the Vnfortunate Sultan to drink Wine which he afterwards practised to that Excess as betray'd him to many Inconveniences and at last to Death it self But suffer me to ask thee why thou dost not also take an equal Revenge on Mustapha Bassa who was as guilty as the Persian being not only a Companion but a zealous Promoter of the Royal Debauches It was he who first propos'd that Fatal Match of drinking which cast the Sultan into a Mortal Fever of which he died in less than a Week I should not presume to say these Things to thee nor to call past Miscarriages to Remembrance were I not certainly inform'd that the same Mustapha is practising his old Trade with the present Sultan Ibrahim endeavouring to enervate the Royal Blood and withdraw the Sultan from the just Observance of our Holy Law to the Impious Prophanations of the Infidels I am commanded to give Intelligence of all Important Affairs to thee and the other Great Ministers of State I thought none more weighty than that which Regards the Life of my Sovereign I have done my Duty I leave the Process to thee who art the Oracle of Government God direct thy Feet in the Path of Justice which will assuredly lead thee to the Gardens of Eden where thou shalt enjoy Eternal Repose and Supreme Felicity Paris 16th of the 9th Moon of the Year 1642. LETTER XXIII To the Venerable Musti Prince of the Religion of the Turks I Received the Dispatch of thy Sanctity wherein thou hast renovated my Soul and restored me to a sound Consistence of Spirit My Doubts are vanished I am no longer racked with torturing Scruples about my Conduct Thy Absolution has obliterated the Sentence my Fears had pronounced on me As to the Penance thou hast enjoined me it is Rational and adapted to the Quality of my Crime I have counterfeited a Christian that I might the better perform the Duty of a Mussulman I have seemed devoutly Attentive to the Roman Missal that I might be Instrumental to propagate the Alcoran And for this Religious Fault thou requirest that I should inform thee how the Christians behave themselves in their Temples where I have been so often a Spectator of their Ceremonies I submit with an absolute Resignation and a willing Compliance to thy Venerable Injunction and will briefly relate what I have observed These Infidels seem to be Ambitious of imitating the Vndefiled Religion and yet they proved but bad Mimicks for as we are taught to wash our Bodies before we enter the Sacred Mosque so they at the Entrance of their Churches dip their Fingers in certain Vessels filled with Water and Salt and sprinkle their Foreheads therewith as though their Purity lay in a Swound and was thus to be recovered to life again or that the Uncleanness of their whole Bodies were contracted into the Face They esteem the Water Holy and yet they trifle with it as an Indifferent Thing One would think they should be desirous to bath themselves all over and let every Pore in their Skin imbibe the Sanctified Liquor But they seem rather to use it as a Charm for after they have sprinkled a few Drops on their Faces and muttered to themselves Two or Three Words they think they have chased all Impurity from them in a Fright and boldly present themselves before the Altars Herein also they deviate from the Practice of Former Christians who if their own Church-Histories be true were accustomed to wash their Arms and Feet in certain Cisterns before they entred the Temples whereof the Fountains and Lavatories remaining yet on the South Side of the Holy and Magnificent Mosque of Sancta Sophia at Constantinople are a standing Testimony For the Greek Inscriptions shew That some of them at least were contrived by the Builders of this Glorious Temple in the Time of Justinian the Emperor for the Purification of such as came thither to Worship By which 't is manifest That these Modern Infidels degenerate from those more Ancient ones Another Thing offends me also which is this They believe the Divinity is present in their Temples after a peculiar and extraordinary Manner and yet they suffer Dogs to Prophane them with
under the Command of the Duke of Longueville This Place was surrendred on the Twenty-sixth of the Eleventh Moon There has been a long Difference between the Princes of the House of Savoy which is at length composed by the Marriage of Prince Maurice Cardinal of Savoy with his Niece the Daughter of the Dutchess Regent This is that which has warm'd the Courage of the French Army at this Frozen Time of the Year For upon this Match the Cardinal of Savoy's Brother Prince Thomas joined his Forces to the French and took several Strong Castles and Towns from the Spaniards whom before this Prince had assisted And now last of all to wind up the Year they have made themselves Masters of this Tortona a Place environed with Rocks and Mountains By which thou maist perceive that there is no Difficulty so great which may not be overcome with Courage and Perseverance I recommend my self to thy Protection and Favour Illustrious Bassa and desire the Heavens to remunerate thee with an Encrease of Joy and Felicity both here and in Paradise Paris 10th of the 12th Moon of the Year 1642. LETTER V. To Darnish Mehemet Bassa SInce the Death of the Cardinal of Richlieu here is great caballing and changing of Places at Court His Successor in the Pilot-ship of the State is Cardinal Julio Mazarini an Italian of a Generous Extraction Neither comes he short of Richlieu in all those rare Qualities and Endowments which form a Compleat Statesman having accomplish'd several Negotiations with great Success and Applause Now the old Officers begin to be cashier'd to make room for the Creatures of this New Minister the King absolutely resigning the Conduct of the Publick to him And it is no wonder to see the King thus flexible if what is privately whisper'd be true That the Queen has yielded to the Cardinal in Points of greater Reserve And curious Eyes pretend to discern the Features of Mazarini in the Dauphin's Face who is not much above Four Years Old being born the Fifth Day of the Ninth Moon in the Year 1638. according to the Christians Hegira The Cardinal is of a Grave and Majestick Aspect full-fac'd having a piercing Eye he is something inclined to fat being a great Eater as they say T'other Day he had like to have been choak'd by a Piece of Beef one Part of which hung fast in his Teeth and the other just reach'd the Passage to the Lungs and as it were barring up the door of that Passage hindred his Respiration so long that his Nose suddenly started out a-bleeding his Face grew black and he was ready to drop down dead had not one of his Attendants forcibly thrust his Fingers into his Mouth and fastning on the Morsel pull'd it out of his Throat He that is Lord of Life and Death preserve thee from all Perils and make thee happy in the Service of our Great Master who will in Time I hope curb the Insolence and punish the Vices of these gluttonous Infidels Paris 14th of the 1st Moon of the Year 1643. LETTER VI. To Isouf his Kinsman I Believe thou and thy Cousin Solyman take me for a Marriage-Broker or a Gossip Is there no Body in Constantinople can instruct you how to manage your Wives that you send for Counsel to Paris or do you lay Snares for me by extorting such Advice as will draw the Revenge of Women upon me Believe me I have no Mind to run the Fate of Orpheus or that the Tragedy of the Ciconian Wives should be acted upon me I rather expected a Compleat Journal of thy Travels in the East but I perceive thou hast not yet received my Letter Thou talkest of going to Aleppo in the Spring If thy Resolution hold I desire thee when thou art there to make an Offering for me to Sheh Boubac the Santone whose Sepulchre is about a League from that City a Place of great Devotion and resorted to from all the Cities in those Parts Without doubt Sheh Boubac is with God and his Prayers are heard for such as honour his Vertues and approach his Sepulchre to pay their Devotions there with Humility and Faith Likewise I desire thee to destribute Three Hundred Aspers to the Poor of Aleppo who beg in the Streets for the Sake of Syntana Fissa If thou hast not heard of this Female Saint I will relate to thee how she came to be Canonized This City was the Place of her Nativity and Residence When she came to the Age of Sixteen Years she was married to a Spahee called Griuli Eben Sagran But the first Night as her Husband was going to Bed with her he fell into a Trance wherein he saw Paradise opened and the Holy Prophet leading Syntana Fissa his Wife in one of the Allies of Eden Whereby when he came to himself and missing his Wife who was never after to be found he was satisfied that she was one of the Daughters of Paradise Since which time the People have esteem'd her as a Saint or rather an Incarnate Female Angel The Moors relate this Story otherwise and make a Second Mary Magdalen of her of whom the Grecians say that she was a Common Prostitute at first but on a time being asked her accustomed Favours gratis and for the Love of God she by granting it merited the Grace of Conversion and so became a Saint But I would not have thee regard this Fable though it be common in the Mouths of the Ignorant at Aleppo If thou bearest any Respect for thy Uncle Mahmut let me have a Proof of it in giving me an Account of thy Travels I do not require a Chart of the Regions through which thou hast pass'd being no Stranger to the Geography of Asia Neither would I have thee tell me how many Leagues Courses or Forlongs there are between such and such Cities These are the Remarks of every Carrier or Muccerman But that which I aim at is to know what Natural Moral and Political Observations thou hast made in so vast a Tract of Ground as thou hast measured comprehending the Greatest and most Celebrated Part of Asia This is the Second Letter I have sent thee since thy Return to Constantinople Let thy Answer be adequate to my Expectation In the Interim I counsel thee first to get an Absolute Conquest of thy self and then thou wilt easily govern thy Wife May the Most High God adjust your Differences happily and make your Lives to be as innocent and contented as those of Philemon and Baucis Thou knowest the Story Adieu Paris 20th of the 1st Moon of the Year 1643. LETTER VII To Mahomet Bassa of Damascus HERE is a Genouese Merchant in this City with whom I often converse as I do with all Strangers that are Men of Intelligence learning sometimes from them Advices which are not common He tells me that Mansour the Youngest Son of Old Facardine the brave Emir of Sidon whom his Father had given in Hostage to Sultan Amurath is now living in the Court
up her Martial Genius and leave off her dreaming Theory when Spain was so busie with the Practick These are the Arguments that may be alledged in Vindication of the King of France's Conduct toward Spain And not much less is to be recriminated upon the Emperor of Germany his seizing the Dutchy of Cleves and Juliers with many Towns and Bishopricks in the Counties of Luxemburgh and La Marck as also in the Frontiers of Suisserland and Lorrain His Conquest of the Palatinate with the chiefest Cities Forts and Passes of the Grisons his reducing the Lives and Liberties of that People to their last Gasp and Period was a sufficient Motive to the French King to put a speedy Check to this encreasing Grandeur of the House of Austria I leave the Determination of these Matters to thy Sage Wisdom Great Arbiter of Justice and bowing my Head to the Dust awfully retire Paris 15th of the 5th Moon of the Year 1643. LETTER XIII To the Reis Effendi Principal Secretary of State THREE Days ago Lewis XIII King of France and Navarre was arrested by the King of Terrors and forc'd to pay the Grand Debt to God and Nature I will not say before it was due but sooner than the accustomed Time of Payment being not full Forty Three Years old Yet Heaven was so Indulgent as not to suffer the Grim Messenger of Fate to snatch him hence without a previous Summons His Distemper being a lingring Consumption which gave him frequent Intimations of his fading Strength There are not wanting such as whisper That he was hurried out of the World before his Time by some unnatural Artifice And the Common Sort say that Mazarini's Scarlet looks of a more Sanguine Hue than it did Four Days ago The Reason of this Jealousie I suppose is grounded on the Familiarity that has been observed between the now Queen-Regent and the Cardinal both also being Strangers to the French Blood she a Spaniard and he an Italian I will not determine how far these Reflections are justifiable because I know it is impossible for Persons in their Circumstances to avoid the Censure of busie prying Minds in such a Juncture as this Yet some who move in a Sphere above the Vulgar cannot forget by whose Instigations his Royal Father Henry the Great was sent out of the World The known familiar Access which the Marquis Spinola gave to Ravillac at Brussels the private Entertainments between them a little before that Murderer gave the fatal Blow together with other Circumstances amounted to more than a strong Presumption with the French that Spain was the Principal Author of that Tragedy And the sudden Exclamation of Francesco Corvini an Italian Astrologer the Night before the King was kill'd made some Men cast an Eye of Suspicion beyond the Alps. For he standing on the Leads of his House in Florence as though he were observing the Stars on a sudden stamp'd with his Foot and said To Morrow the Most Potent Monarch of Europe will be kill'd But some curious Heads imagine he had his Intelligence nearer Hand than from the Heavens and that rather some of the Great Italian Stars had made him thus Prophetick Hence by comparing these Times with those the present Regency of a Spaniard and Superintendency of an Italian creates a like Suspicion in the French concerning the Death of Lewis XIII who though he died in his Bed yet might as well be murder'd by a Drug as his Father was by a Knife These are the secret Surmises of Cabals not a little heightned by reflecting on the Time of both their Deaths both dying in the same Month the same Day of the Month and much about the same Hour of the Day Yet notwithstanding these Murmurs when his Body was open'd and his Intrails taken out and search'd the Physicians gave their Sentence That he died a Natural Death His Bowels are carried to St. Denis a Town above Three Leagues from Paris there to be buried and his Body is Embalmed in order to its Sepulture in the same a Place there being Magnificent Church where all the Royal Blood of France is commonly Interr'd Yesterday I was in Company with one of his Physicians and entring into Discourse of the King's Death the common Theme of all Companies at present he told us that the King 's Wasting and Death proceeded from the Disproportion of his Moisture to his Heat the latter being predominant in his Constitution so that not meeting with a sufficient check from Natural Humidity it kindled constant Fevers in his Body which never left him till he left the World He was a very devout Man in his Religion and free from Vice at least to outward Observation A remarkable Instance of his Piety he gave in his Youth when entring a certain Country Village the better Sort of Inhabitants offered to attend him with a Canopy he answer'd I hear you have no Church here neither will I suffer a Canopy of State to be born over my Head in that Place where God hath not a Consecrated Roof to dwell under For these Nazarenes believe that God dwells in their Temples He was temperate to a Miracle in the Midst of Royal Dainties not suffering his Palate to betray his Vertue He scorn'd those Pleasures which debase the Mind And took more delight in the noise of Drums and Trumpets and the Roaring of Cannon than in the soft Blandishments of Love He was adorned with many other Vertues which gained him the Love of all and more especially the Favour of Heaven Yet after all his Victories Successes and Triumphs all that can be now said of him is He is dead Thus passes away the Glory of the Greatest Potentates God preserve our Invincible Sultan ever Glorious Prosperous Renowned and Immortal Paris 17th of the 5th Moon of the Year 1643. LETTER XIV To the Kaimacham I Am plac'd as an Echo in Paris to remit to the Ottoman Port the Sanctuary of the World whatsoever makes a Noise in Christendom I have sent a Dispatch to the Venerable Mufti as also to the Principal Secretary of State containing the News of the Death of Lewis XIII King of France and Navarre I need not repeat here what I have said to them Because I know they will communicate to thee my Letters Yet suffer me to say something of this Great Monarch who had his Nature been more durable would in all probability have exceeded all his Royal Progenitors both in his Conquests abroad and his Absolute Sway at Home Of which he gave an early Presage appearing at the Head of Armies at those Years when other Princes are but learning the Rudiments of War in the Academy When he was little more than Twelve Years of Age he began to discover his Valour and Conduct in subduing the Rebels of Poitou and Bretaigne leading an Army against them in his own Person Yet that Success did not discourage others of his Subjects from attempting fresh Insurrections against him Fate decreed that he should gather
of Grief streight disappear Not that I would have thee think I am fond of dying but I consider Death as the unavoidable Fate of all Men and that therefore it is reasonable to be chearful since that which no Man can escape will one Time or other release me and every Man from the Miseries of this Life This Thought recovers me from the worst Effects of Melancholy and I believe the Damned themselves would sometimes be in a good Humour if they had but the least Glimpse of Hope that they should one Day be deliver'd from their Torments For whatsoever sorts of Men there are in this Life I cannot think there be any Stoicks in Hell And now I have entertained thee with Company and Solitude with Books and Men with Life and Death with Earth and Hell let us take one Step farther and refresh our selves with the Remembrance of Heaven the Joys of the Bless'd in Paradise which certainly is the best Relief of Anxious Thoughts the most perfect Cure of Melancholy the Guide of Life and the Comfort of Death God grant that thou and I may see each other and drink together in the Arbours of Eden and kiss the Daughters of Paradise Paris 14th of the 8th Moon of the Year 1643. LETTER XIX To the Testerdar or Lord Treasurer KIngdoms and Empires like Men have their Lucky and Unlucky Seasons Spain seems for a considerable Time to have been under a Cloud as if her Guardian Fate began to droop and were not strong enough to check the rising Grandeur of France It has been an old Observation That those whom God consigns over to Ruine he first infatuates It was a Grand Oversight in Don Francisco de Melo to constitute the Duke of Alburquerque General of his Horse For he thereby so disgusted the Spanish Officers in his Army that emulating the Honour of this young Portugueze the greatest Part of them deserted in the very Nick of Time when their Presence was most necessary to confirm the Battalions already shrinking from the furious Onset of the French This gave the young Duke of Anguien an intire Victory and has crowned him with glorious Laurels while Don Francisco de Melo by this ill Conduct has quite lost his Reputation and is forced to resign up his Commission to another This Battle was fought before Rocroy and may be reckoned as a Parallel with that Bloody Battel of Leipsick between the Imperialists and Suedes on the 7th of the 9th Moon of the Year 1631. A Day which was remarkable at Constantinople on the Account of that terrible Lightning which surprized the late Sultan Amurath in his Bed Many other extraordinary Events signalized this Day in England France Germany and other places which occasioned the great Astrologer Herlicius to call it a Day of Blood Such another was this Unfortunate Day to the Spaniards at the forementioned Battel of Rocroy where they lost an infinite Number of Men with all their Field-pieces and a Hundred and Fifty Colours He that created the Moon and the Constellations in Heaven to distinguish the Times and Seasons guard thee from the Influence of Malignant Stars and from the Destroyer who ranges the World on certain Critical Days Paris 12th of the 9th Moon of the Year 1643. LETTER XX. To the Vizir Azem at the Port. IT is Time it is high time most Sage Minister for the Ottoman Sword the Sword of Justice to be unsheathed not against an open Enemy but against its professed Friends and Subjects The Head of the Bassa of Cyprus is become a Burden to him as likewise those of Mitylene Sio and Lemnos They plot Mischief against the Throne that is established in Equity they are ungrateful to their Sovereign who hath exalted them they are become unworthy of the Honours with which they are dignified I could hardly believe the first Reports of this Treason till I were at length fully convinced by undeniable Testimonies that it was too true Yet it is a Secret even in the French Court I alone have discover'd this Mystery by the Means of a Jew and a Grecian both my Agents in those Parts and Men whom I can confide in The Business is this The Bassa's and Governours of the Isles before-mentioned have conspired together to divide themselves from the Body of the Ottoman Empire and to make the Islands of the Aegean Sea a Commonwealth Independent on the Throne which governs the World The Bassa of Cyprus is the Ring-leader of this Conspiracy and that Island is to be the Capital Seat of their New Republick The Governours of the Five Greater Isles are to be called the Sovereign Counsellors of State By these all the Affairs of the Archipelago are to be managed Onely the Bassa of Cyprus shall be supreme and have the casting Voice in all Cases of Dispute The enclosed Papers contain the perfect Model of their New Government the Articles and Propositions on which this Rebellious designed Commonwealth is to be built with the Names of the Chief Conspirators subscribed Permit me Sage Minister to set before thy Eyes the Occasions of these Treacherous Designs It has been the Custom of the Port to connive for a considerable time at the Oppressions Rapines and Exactions of the Bassa's and Governours of Provinces to suffer them to harass the People under their Jurisdiction to pillage and spoil them of their Moneys Goods and Estates till they have amass'd together vast Sums of Money And then it has been as usual for the Sultans upon the least Complaint to send the Bow-String to the Criminal Bassa Whatever may be pleaded in Defence of this Method in former Times my Opinion is that it may prove dangerous now And if I may be permitted to speak freely I have Reason to think that this was one Ground of the designed Treason in the Isles of the Aegean Sea Formerly those who were removed to these Commands were not so well versed in the Maxims of Policy nor so apprehensive of the Cabinet Secrets of State But now the Age is refined Men are more subtle jealous and selfish than they were Nature teaches all Men to preserve their Lives with utmost Diligence The Bassa of Cyprus who is the Ring-leader of this Conspiracy has been let alone in a long Course of Tyranny and Oppression over his Subjects by which means he has heap'd to himself prodigious Treasures His guilty Mind told him that Complaints would be made against him and that one time or other he must be strangled He knew that his Gold would be thought better to become the Sultan's Seraglio than his own and that he had been long enough in his Office to serve the Politick Ends of State Revolving these things in his Mind he quickly concluded that the Crimes he had been guilty of in his Government would draw upon him inevitable Ruine unless he prevented it by committing greater And that as Oppression of his Subjects had made him Rich so Treason against his Sovereign must make him safe He
his Staff bawled out That he could safely take his Oath he was the Person who had never been in Love Whereupon the Muezin taking him by the Sleeve presents him to the Country-Man saying Here Friend I have found your Ass the Pig is mine Rejoyce with me for the Recovery of my Liberty and believe an experienced Man when he tells thee that a Man's Love to his Friend though it be not so violent and strong as that to his Mistriss yet is more solid and lasting Paris 12th of the 11th Moon of the Year 1644. LETTER XXIV To the Invincible Vizir Azem at the Port. SInce thou who art the Center and Source of all dignity hast drawn back one Ray of Honour into thy Self whose Emanation before made some of thy Slaves Illustrious with the Title and Power of Captain Bassa Since thou thy self I say who art always Generalissimo by Land vouchsafest also at this Juncture to become Bassa of the Sea I wish that both Elements may prove propitious to thee and Fate crown thy Arms with the Height of Success May the King of the Waters proclaim a Nesiraum where-ever thou sailest and may the Winds pay Homage to the Banner of the Ottoman Empire In a Word may yielding Waves and timely Gales convey thee safe and prosperous to Venice and may Fortune always attend that Courage which never forsook thee when thy Master's Honour lay at Stake The Empire of the Osmans is highly obliged to Providence for such a Valiant and Experienced Leader of their Armies There is need of the Resolution of Alexander the Great to encounter with all the Formidable Difficulties and Hazards of this War Thou art not marching against the soft and effeminate Persians Men drown'd in the Luxurious Debaucheries of Asia and enervated by continual Voluptuousness But thou must combat with the fierce Rascians hardy Servians the valiant Inhabitants of Dalmatia and Istria Men inur'd to Toils and Fatigues and steel'd in Blood and Slaughter I tell thee there is no State in the World that takes more Care to breed her Subjects up in all the Discipline of War than this Republick Thou hast heard of the famous Arsenal of Venice wilt thou believe what Adonai the Jew has told me concerning that Nursery of War He is newly come from thence and says That this Arsenal alone is half a League in Circuit that there is but one Gate and Channel into it by which their Vessels pass in and out That in this Place as in a Seminary are bred up an infinite Number of Slaves who are a little Common-wealth by themselves Some of these are employ'd all the Year round in making Gallies Galliasses Pinnaces Brigantines and other Shipping with all Materials belonging to them as Masts Oars c. Others make Bullets Chains Anchors Cannon and all kinds of Artillery A Third sort are busied in making Ropes Sails Shrouds and such like Naval Implements He says moreover that in this Magazine are contain'd 40000 Pistols 200000 Daggers 60000 Partizans Javelins 100000 Cross-bows 30000 Long-bows 50000 with 500000 Swords Musquets 200000 1000 Cannon as many Sacres 500 Culverins All these are preserv'd as a Treasury of War besides Infinite Quantities of all Manner of Weapons and Ammunition which are daily carried from hence to furnish their Ships by Sea and their Armies and Forts by Land Thou wilt conclude from hence That this is a Wise and Martial Nation and that the Conquest of Venice will cost much Sweat and Blood Wilt thou hear what this Jew says of their Publick Buildings which are all made of the best Marble He counts Sixty six Parish-Churches Fifty two Monasteries Twenty six Nunneries Eighteen Chapels Seventeen Hospitals and Six Schools He numbers Fifty six Courts of Justice Ten Gates of Brass Four hundred and fifty Stone-Bridges Eighty Thousand Boats which cannot be served with less than double that number of Water-men The Inhabitants of this City are computed to be 800000. By all this thou mayst comprehend the Greatness and Wealth of this Republick and that it is no Inglorious Enterprize to carry on a War against it These Infidels give Publick Toleration to Harlots which is practised not only in this City but all over Italy and brings a vast Revenue into the Treasury The Whores-pence of Venice is said to amount Yearly to 100000 Zechins The Multitude of Jews also does mightily enrich that City who have no less than Nine Synagogues there They are Masters of Infinite Wealth and engross the greatest Part of the Levantine Traffick whereby Venice is become superlatively Wealthy and has required the Epithete of Rich. This is grown a Fashion in Italy That every City has its peculiar Title as Rome the Holy Padua the Learned Milan the Great Naples the Proud and Venice the Rich. One Thing extremely pleases me and had it not a shew of Idolatry I could not but applaud it as an Argument of the Generosity of this State Adonai tells me That there are no less than 165 Marble and 23 Brazen Statues erected by the Order and at the Charges of this Republick in Honour of the like Number of Valiant Soldiers who have merited well of the Publick This is an efficacious Encouragement to Others a Spur to Vertue the Cherisher of Martial Ardor And Venice herein seems to imitate the Gratitude of Ancient Rome which never spared any Cost to honour her Heroes and render their Memory Immortal God grant thee Victory over these Infidels that at thy Return laden with the Venetian Spoils thou mayst rejoice in the Royal Caresses and Favour of our Glorious Sultan and that not only Constantinople but all the Ottoman Empire may celebrate Triumphs for the Success of thy Arms. Paris 21st of the 11th Moon of the Year 1644. LETTER XXV To Dgnet Oglou IT appears by thy melancholy Letter thou hast not forgot the Loss thou formerly sustainedst by Fire but still continuest to disturb thy self with dismal Apprehensions of spending thy Days in ignominious Poverty I am afraid thou didst set thy Heart too much on thy Wealth which makes thee so uneasy under thy Misfortune Perhaps thy Money was thy Master and God in removing it from thee has made thee free and thereby fitted thee for the Contemplation of the Vniverse Never fear Want the same Providence which took Care of thee before thou camest into the World will never be wanting to thee now thou art in it It is but a Little that we need and it will not be long before it will be impossible for us to want any Thing Poverty never meets the thinking and industrious And a Man may satisfy Nature without the least Obligation to Fortune who when she seems most angry with us scarce ever denies us Necessaries The Belly indeed is a troublesome Creditor yet is quieted with a Little Seneca tells us That Epicurus confined himself to a narrower Allowance than that of the severest Prisons to the most heinous Offender and found himself at Ease too in a stricter Diet than
forced to make frequent Decimations and send Colonies abroad to make Room for the ever fresh Glut of his new Guests For my Part who was Educated in the impartial Rudiments of Truth in the serene Principles of the Mahometan Faith I believe That there are some saved of all Religions and that at the Day of Judgment there shall be erected a Fourth Banner for such to resort to who never heard of Moses Jesus or Mahomet Assuredly there is no Malice in the Omnipotent and he will not Damn Men for their Involuntary Ignorance of his Revealed Laws provided they live up to the genuine Dictates of Nature and Reason which are the truest Standards of Vertue and Positive Religion The Christians have a Heaven for their Saints and a Hell for Sinners in this they agree with the Mussulmans They have a Limbo for Infants that die unbaptized and another for the Vertuous Israelites who lived before the Messias Their Charity had been complete had they provided a Third for Just and Vertuous Men of all Religions whom it is too hard to damn on the Score of what they know not so long as they unblameably practise whatsoever Good they know The Chapter of Prisons in the Alcoran seems to contain a more equal Distribution of Justice when it assigns a Middle-Place between Paradise and Hell to those who have led an indifferent Life equally checquer'd with Vertue and Vice They there shall behold the Joys of the Blessed and the Torments of the Damned yet shall neither taste of the One nor feel the Other but pass their Time in a tedious Neutrality between the Height of Bliss and the Depth of Misery But what Mussulman will question the Salvation of the Gentiles when the Book of Glory it self tells us That Alexander the Great was an Holy Prophet and yet we know he neither was of the Seed of Abraham nor was he so much as Circumcis'd My Converse with the Learned Dervises in this City has taught me some of their School-Distinctions among which they use a pretty one in the Damnation of Unbaptized Infants teaching That such are damn'd to the Pain of Loss but not to the Pain of Sense I am apt to think this Distinction may very well be adapted to the Case of many Men who as their Vertues are not of that Heroick Stamp as to carry them directly to Paradise so neither are their Vices of so black a Tincture as to sink them immediately to Hell I believe there are Proportionate Rewards and Punishments for all Sorts and Degrees of Vertue and Vice and that the Souls of the Departed are marshall'd and disposed in Receptacles agreeable to their proper Rank and Quality And if I can but get to Virgil's pleasant Greens and shady Woods the fortunate Mansions of Innocent and Just Men I will not envy the Heroes nor desire to be canoniz'd among the Gods Elyzium or Paradise are much One to me I seek not the Name but the Nature of Bliss Provided I may but gain a Place of Rest and Refreshment and be admitted into agreeable Company I will not complain nor disturb the Peace of the Blessed with an Ambitious Quest of the Highest Dignities in Heaven as if a Man could not be Happy unless he be made a Vizir of the Bench above Let thou and I dear Egry live in such an exact Conformity of Manners here that when we go hence we may by the Divine Numen be both disposed in the same Apartment and Society carry our Friendship along with us to that other World and let us make a Covenant That whosoever dies first shall soon appear to the Surviver and give a hirn true Account of his State if it be in the Power of the Dead to perform such Bargains In the mean Time I counsel thee to make much of this present Life not by sordid Voluptuousness and Vice from which I know thy natural Aversion but by borrowing from each Element an Occasion of improving thy Science and Vertue This is the Way to be raised above the Elements in which at present thou art a Sojourner and to attain thy Native Skies and Kindred Stars where the Renown'd Poets Philosophers Lawgivers and other Vertuous Men are gone before us expect our Coming and are ready to welcom us to the Rights of their happy Society Adieu Paris 13th of the 4th Moon of the Year 1645. LETTER XXX To the Selictar Aga or Sword-Bearer IT is apparent that the States of the World are void of Compassion and that they are altogether actuated by a Principle of Interest Monsieur la Tuillerie Ambassador from France to the King of Denmark arrived at that Court with specious Pretexts of Mediation promising to do his utmost to accommodate the Differences between the Two Crowns of Denmark and Suedeland will all possible Advantages to the former But when the Business came to the Tryal when he saw King Christian advancing into the Field against Gustavus with an Army of near Twenty Thousand Men which in all likelihood would have given the Suedes occasion to repent their rash and unjust Incursions he charmed the good-natur'd old King with such fair Promises and subtle Insinuations that he caused him to retreat at the Moment of giving Battel In the same Manner dealt Galasso with the King who did but make a show with his Forces without doing any effectual Service For when he might have compelled the Suedish General either to Fight or Retire he suffered him freely to pass through Holstein and return into Germany The Curious and Inquisitive lay the Blame of this Treachery on Cardinal Mazarini whose Pistols they say had corrupted Galasso and made him run counter to his Master's Instructions But in my Opinion this is an unjust Censure of the Cardinal who was afterwards known to be Instrumental in spurring on the Hollanders to compose these Quarrels Which at last was accomplish'd by the dextrous Mediation of this Great Minister I wish the Differences between our glorious Sultan and the Venetians were as well adjusted with Honour to the Ottoman Empire Paris 13th of the 4th Moon of the Year 1645. LETTER XXXI To the Reis Effendi Principal Secretary of State THE Wars of Germany and Suedeland are the Principal Subject of Discourse all over Europe especially in this Court which has a great Interest in the good Success of the Suedish Arms the House of Austria being the most formidable Enemy that France has in the World General Torstenson marches about like another Scanderbeg Victorious where-ever he strikes 'T was to his own Ruin that Galasso suffer'd him to pass quietly through Holstein when in Conjunction with the Danish Army he was in a Condition to give him Battel or compel him to retire No sooner was Galasso separated from the Danes and Encamped near Magdeburgh but Torstenson began to observe his Motions and lay down not far from him between whom there passed many Skirmishes which very much lessen'd the German Army Besides they were extremely incommoded for want