Business regularly observing Order in all his Affairs Yet they say he was Covetous having heaped up great Treasures by a Parsimony which none of that Blood had ever before practised On his Death-bed he recommended Two Things to the Practice of his Son the Duke of Enguien Never to revenge a Private Injury And freely to hazard his Life for the Publick Good I chose to transinit to thee the News of this Prince's Death with this brief Account of his Life and Character of his Disposition in Regard thou hast seen him in Germany and I remember to have heard thee speak in his Praise Continue to love Mahmut who is never forgetful to oblige his Friends Adieu Paris 15th of the 11th Moon of the Year 1646. LETTER XIX To the Kaimacham THE Posts from Catalonia came in last Night laden with ill News from the Army which has been forced to decamp from before Lerida leaving the greatest Part of their Artillery to the Spaniards That Place was always fatal to the French Yet the Passion of the Court vents it self on the Count d' Harcourt because he could not reverse the Decrees of Destiny All his Former Meritorious Actions seem now to be cancell'd by this one Disgrace though it was unavoidable So peevish are Princes when their Expectations are cross'd Some suspect him guilty of private Correspondence Others tax him with Cowardise All this is during the Heat of their Resentments The same Persons it may be will change their Censure when they consider that he had lain before it Seven Moons even till the Trenches of his Camp were filled with Snow and that his Soldiers died of Famine or Cold For the Winter began to be insupportable and the Country was barren of all Things necessary to sustain such an Army I cannot see wherein this General deserves Reproach unless it be a Crime to be a Man and to have the Command of such as are made of Flesh and Blood as well as he In Italy the French have taken Piombino and Portolongone This Latter is the most important Town in the Isle of Elbe Yet was not able to sustain above Nineteen Days Siege They say there is a Fountain in this Island whose Waters flow at the Sun-rising but in the Evening are dryed up The Superstitious have odd Conceits of this Fountain relishing of the Ancient Pagan Vanities but the Learned attribute it to Natural Causes So the Jews tell of a River in the East that stands still on the Seventh Day of the Week This they adduce as a Confirmation of their Law which commands them to rest from Labours on the Seventh Day because on that Day God rested from forming the Creatures of the World They say also That the Satyrs and other Monsters of the Desart shun the Light of the Sun that Day hiding themselves in Caverns of the Earth and Cursing the Sabbath because it surpriz'd God before he had quite finish'd their Forms for which Reason they are Imperfect and Monstrous to this Day The Divine Vnity who is the Root of all Numbers and has consecrated the Number Seven to many Mysterious Ends grant that neither thou nor I may forget the Answers we must give to the Seven Questions of the Porter of Paradise Paris 7th of the 12th Moon of the Year 1646. LETTER XX. To Bajazet Bassa of Greece IT appears to me by evident Symptoms that there is some deep Design afoot in this Court The Grandees assemble often and sit late Extraordinary Couriers are sent out and come in at all Hours of the Night Strange Reports are industriously spread about the City Trading is at a Stand the Banquiers reserv'd and little Money stirring which makes the Populace murmur They complain of the Times as is usual in Publick Discontents The Old discourage and incense the Young by making Comparisons of this Age and Reign with the Happy Days of Henry the Great They fill their Ears with Golden Stories of former Times and inspiring into them a Love of the Past they equally introduce a Hatred of the Present Government These are the Common Artifices of Faction And though none appears yet under any distinct Name or Title yet 't is easie to Prognosticare from these Preludes That are long the Masque will be taken off and Sedition will shew her self bare-fac'd Tother Day a Follow run Crying through the Streets God save the King but the Devil take the Italian He was followed by a few and those of the most Contemptible Yet no Officer or Magistrate in this City would cause him to be apprehended or attempt to suppress the Mutiny he was raising The Citizens smil'd at his Boldness and Money was brought him from unknown Hands The Women bless'd Him as a Prophet and the Virgins fell down before the Altars on his Behalf The Temples were crowded with Votaries or rather with the Fautors of this new Sedition as if they strove to draw their Gods into the Cabal and would make Heaven it self abert their Tumults His Train encreas'd as he measured the Streets till at length he was seiz'd by the Royal Guards the Rabble dispersed and all Things restored to Quiet That Night a Double Watch was kept throughout the City the Fellow was strictly examin'd and put to the Rack yet no Confession could be extorted from him save That the Publick Good induc'd him to take this Course That the Tyranny and Oppression which Cardinal Mazarini exercised were Insupportable and That he was ready to sacrifice his Life for the Welfare of his Country He is condemn'd to the Gallies during his Life And great Endeavours are used to find out the Authors of this Novelty For he is look'd on but as an Instrument set at Work by some Malecontents of higher Quality and the Forerunner of some more formidable Insurrection Proclamations are issued out to forbid all Discourse of State-Matters but the People spare not to whisper their Sentiments The Young King is taken ill which augments the Publick Jealousie Men shake their Heads and look dejected as they walk along the Streets Some menace Revenge with their furrowed Brows others speak openly That the Kingdom is sold to Strangers A General Consternation and Disorder has seiz'd all while their Fears prompt 'em daily to expect a Change To obviate the Mischiefs which these Popular Passions threaten Soldiers are drawn from divers Parts of the Country by Mazarini's Order and by insensible Companies quarter'd up and down Paris Between these and the Citizens there happen divers Quarrels frequent Murders are committed while the Night which covers all Things with Darkness serves to shroud their mutual Outrages and private Revenges Thus the Publick Calamities are cherish'd What will be the Issue Time will evince In the mean while the Affairs of Germany and Suedeland seem to be in a fair Way of Composure Divers Treaties are on Foot in Order to a General Peace in Christendom The Embassadors and Deputies of the several Contesting Crowns have frequent Conferences But each Party
they relate many Examples Among the Rest A certain Cook among the Franks of that City was accus'd of dressing and selling putrify'd Flesh whereby many that eat thereof were infected with the Plague Complaint being made of this to the Bassa he sends for the Cook and examines him about it He reply'd That he sold none but good and wholsome Meat for if it happen'd That at any Time he was forc'd to keep any Flesh in his House above Three Days he so season'd it with Spices and Herbs as made it very savoury and without any ill Scent The Bassa not having Patience to hear any more of this foetid Apology commanded his Arms and Legs to be cut off and the Veins to be seared up Ordering that during the short Time he had to live he shou'd have no other Food but what was made of his own Limbs They relate one more Passage of a Complaint that was made by a Peasant whose Daughter this Bassa's onely Son had ravish'd The Bassa compell'd him to marry her with this Charge Let me hear no more Complaints of thee unless thou art resolved to leave me without a Son It is reported here That the King of Persia has made a Peace with the Great Mogul and that they will both turn their Forces against our August Emperour Here is also a Courier arriv'd from Marseilles who brings News of the Revolt of Cavarra the Inhabitants of that Place having shaken off the Obedience they owe to the Sultan and put themselves under the Protection of the Venetians and that General Grimani has taken Four Ships of Ragusa laden with Ammunition for our Army He adds also That Morosini has Thirty small Vessels besides Galleys under the very Walls of the Dardanells I long ago suggested to the Vizir Azem That the Weakness of those Castles would one Time or other encourage the Christians to perform some notable Exploit in the Hellespont But Mahmut's Counsel was not regarded Now the Event justifies my Advice the Port will consult the Security of 〈◊〉 Avenue I wish they do not practise the Tâ—… Wisdom The Venetians have a powerful Fleet If they block up the Hellespont and hinder our Ships from sailing into the Archipelago and the Cossacks in the mean while cover the Black Sea with their Barks committing a Thousand Piracies and Ravages What will become of the Imperial City Whence will they provide Sustenance for so many Millions of People as inhabit that City and the Parts adjacent These Things are Worthy of Consideration And thou who hast the Care of that Capital Seat of the Ottoman Empire wilt not blame Mahmut for putting thee in Mind of the Danger which threatens even the Seraglio it self at this Juncture However I have done my Duty Sage Minister and refer the Rest to thy Wisdom My Letters are all register'd and if Affairs shou'd succeed ill it will be manifested That Mahmut who watches Night and Day to serve the Great Master of the World has not been wanting to give timely Notice of what might be advantageous to the Monarchy of the True Faithful Thou who art celebrated for thy Justice and Probity pardon the Liberty which my Zeal for Thy Master and Mine renders worthy of Excuse Paris 19th of the 5th Moon of the Year 1646. The End of the First Book LETTERS Writ by A SPY at PARIS VOL. III. BOOK II. LETTER I. To the Most Magnificent and Illustrious Vizir Azem at the Port. OSmin the Dwarf whom I formerly mentioned remains still in the Court and continues his good Offices in communicating to me such Passages as come to his Knowledge He has a subtle Wit and bears no hearty Love to the Christians though he be One himself in Profession He frequently visits me and trusts me with his Secrets One Day he convinc'd me by evident Circumstances That Cardinal Mazarini was projecting to give some secret and sudden Blow to the Ottoman Empire for which Osmin seems to be concern'd by a Natural Inclination being as I told thee born of Mahometan Parents He was uneasie till he had acquainted me with his Apprehensions and I gave him such Instructions as I thought most proper on this Occasion I set my Thoughts on the Rack to prevent so dire a Mischief And having premeditated well on this Affair I pitch'd on a Course which would at once clear me from the Cardinal's Suspicion and by seeming to favour his Designs would absolutely overthrow them I went to him boldly one Day and being admitted to his Closet I thus address'd that Politician THERE are now Nine Years elaps'd Great Minister since I first breath'd the Air of France during all which Time I have not only shar'd in Common with the Natives the Benefits which have accru'd to this Noble Kingdom under the Auspicious Ministry of Cardinal Richlieu and his no less Eminent Successor but have also receiv'd many particular Honours from that Illustrious Prince of the Church to which Your Eminence has been pleased to make some undeserv'd Additions 'T is to you both I owe the Character which has introduc'd me into the Acquaintance and Favour of the Nobility who on that Score have thought me Worthy to Instruct their Children in the Greek and Arabick Tongues have vouchsafed to admit me to their Salt and to encourage me with the Hopes of finding a Comfortable Repose in the Bosom of the Gallican Church after a tedious Peregrination from my own Country When I reflect on all the accumulated Blessings I enjoy under the Protection of Your Eminence Blessings equally transcending my Ambition as they do my Merits I apply all my Studies to find out some acceptable Way of Acknowledgment to my Gracious Benefactor And because nothing can be more Welcom to the Guardian of France than the Means of advancing the Publick Good of the Kingdom committed to his Care I now presume as a Testimony of my Gratitude to propose to Your Eminence some Speculations which if put in Execution will in my Judgment not only render France the most Formidable and Absolute Monarchy on Earth but also tie the whole Catholick World in Eternal Obligations to her and give just Reason to change the Style of his Most Christian Majesty from Eldest Son of the Church to that of Father of all Christendom Your Eminence will not wonder at the Zeal of a Stranger or the Care that Titus of Moldavia takes for France In being Sollicitous for this Kingdom I consult the Welfare of my own Country and of all the Nations which profess the Faith of Jesus since it is ealie to see That in the Fate of France that of all Europe is involv'd It is a long Time since the Dismember'd Reliques of the Roman Empire bordering on Asia found themselves too weak to resist the Puissance of the Ottoman Arms. All Greece was soon o'er-run by the Warlike Turks Transylvania Walachia Moldavia with the greatest Part of the Vpper Hungary quickly became Tributaries to the inveterate Enemies of the Christian Name And
themselves This is a Vegetable of which the Italian Proverb says Mushromes well pickl'd with Spices may do no Harm but can do no Good God who has commanded us to separate the Clean from the Impure and has taught us what we may eat without Pollution grant That we may not either through Necessity or to indulge our Appetites taste of any Thing which has in it the least of the Seven Maledictions Paris 14th of the 9th Moon of the Year 1646. LETTER XIII To Abubechir Hali Merchant in Aleppo THOU tellest me a Tragical Story of One of thy Wives That she is become a Fugitive and gone away with thy Slave Lorenzo whom I remember to have seen at thy House at Constantinople Either thou wert too Unkind to them both or gavest 'em both too much Liberty Whichsoever of these Ways thou hast exceeded thou art in the Fault Too great an Indulgence either to a Wife or a Servant makes them presumptuous And too great Severity hardens them to Despair However since it is so I advise thee to comfort thy self with this Thought That thou art rid of Two Evils Had they prov'd Faithful they would not have merited that Title but now they are neither worthy of thy Grief nor of thy Revenge But if thou art resolv'd to pursue them ask not my Counsel or Assistance in this Place where I should have as much Reason to apprehend Danger as they 'T is true I know thy Slave but were I to meet him in the Streets of this City I should be very unwilling by discovering him to be made known my self Besides thy Passion has made thee forget That the Nazarenes would commend his Wit and rejoice in his Fortune who being a Slave to one whom they esteem an Infidel has now by his Wise Conduct purchas'd both his Liberty and a Beautiful Mate with no small Treasure I rather advise thee to apply thy self to Jasmir Sgire Rugial the Little Astrologer in Aleppo who perhaps may tell thee some News of ' em There is not a Star in the Eighth Sphere can stir without his being privy to it And he pretends to behold in their Motions whatever is done on Earth But to be serious thy Slave was an ungrateful Fellow thus to abuse all thy Favours Thou hadst made him in a Manner Master of all thy Riches only reserving thy Wives to thy self And if the Desire of Liberty tempted him to escape he ought in Justice to have sacrific'd his Lust to the Regards he ow'd thee But every Slave is not a Joseph Lorenzo's Villainy puts me in Mind of the Continence of an Italian Marquis This Young Lord fell in Love with a Dutchess of singular Beauty but knew not how to make her sensible of it At length Fortune favour'd him with an Opportunity beyond his Expectation One Evening as he return'd from Hawking he pass'd through the Fields of that Dutchess bordering on the Palace The Duke her Husband and she were walking together as the Young Lord came by The Duke seeing his Train and what Game they had been at ask'd him some Questions concerning their Sport and being of an Hospitable Disposition invited him into his Palace to take a Collation Nothing could be more agreeable to the Young Lover He accepted the Offer and here commenc'd an Acquaintance which made Way in Time for an Assignation between the Dutchess and Him He was let into the Gardens one Night and so conducted privately to her Chamber where she lay ready in Bed to receive Him After some Compliments the Dutchess said My Lord You are obliged to my Husband for this Favour who as soon as you were gone from our House the first Time we saw you gave you such Commendations as made me conceive an immediate Passion for you Is it true Madam replied the Young Lover already half undress'd Then far be it from me to be so ungrateful to my Friend With that he put on his Garments again and took his Leave But it cannot be expected that so much Vertue should be found in a Slave I would not have thee vex thy self for what cannot be recover'd Adieu Paris 14th of the 9th Moon of the Year 1646. LETTER XIV To Solyman his Cousin I Cannot approve thy Singularity in prescribing to thy self a Rule of Life different from that wherein thou wert Educated and from the Laudable Manners of all True Believers Thou hast not done well in deserting the Publick Congregations of the Faithful to follow the Superstitions of New Upstart Sects Who whilst they profess greater Purity than others do secretly undermine the Credit of our Holy Law-giver reproach all the Mussulmans throughout the World and introduce Libertinism and a Contempt of the Majesty which cannot behold Vncleanness Are they Wiser than their Fathers who for so many Ages have obey'd the Sacred Traditions Or will they pretend to correct the Messenger of God He commanded us to observe the Purifications taught by the Angel Whence do these Innovators derive their new-founded Authority of Dispensing with the Positive Injunctions of Heaven Will they enter into the Blasphemy of 〈◊〉 Infidels and say the Prophet was a Seducer and that the Alcoran is but a Collection of Fables If they believe the Pages replenish'd with Truth and Reason why do they seek to retrench the Divine Commandments and traverse the Law transported from Heaven Is it an Argument of their Piety that they carve out to themselves such a Religion as suits with their Licentious Spirits And that they pick and chuse such Precepts as indulge them most in a Careless Life Is this to be Mussulmans that is Resign'd when they will not obey the Sovereign Lawgiver of Heaven and Earth but upon their own Conditions Cousin I counsel thee to beware of these Schismaticks who by breaking the Vnion of the True Believers secretly oppose the Eternal Vnity it self on which our Mighty Empire is founded and rests I am obliged to the Post who waits at my Door till I have finish'd my Dispatches Therefore I cannot now answer thy Letter at Large Another Time expect a more ample Expostulation Mean while I advise thee to return to the Practice from which thou art fall'n Go to the Assemblies of those who pour out Devout Oraisons Keep a Clean Skin and a Pure Heart And make not thy self a Companion of Swine Paris 24th of the 10th Moon of the Year 1646. LETTER XV. To Hasnadar-Bassy Chief Treasurer to the Grand Signior THIS Day Paris makes a Figure like Ancient Rome when that Mistress of the World honour'd her Generals with Publick Triumphs at their Return from the Conquer'd Nations The Streets are hung with Tapestry and strew'd with Lawrels The Shops are shut up The Young Men and Virgins are cloathed in their best Array They walk up and down in Consorts singing the Duke of Enguien's Praise Whilst the Old and Decrepid sit at their Doors to see the Hero make his Entry and rehearse the Memoirs of their former Years With Tears of
and the Truth of the Sent of God I behold at this Time an evident Sign of his Vnity in the Heavens it is the New Moon just rising from the Lower Hemisphere At the Sight of this Planet the Messenger of God has commanded me to fall on my Face and adore the Eternal Wherefore praying that her Influences may prove propitious to thee whilst thou art on the Ocean I bid thee adieu Paris 23d of the 6th Moon of the Year 1647. The End of the Second Book LETTERS Writ by A SPY at PARIS VOL. III. BOOK III. LETTER I. To Bedredin Superior of the Convent of Dervises at Cogni in Natolia NOT more welcom are the Rich Perfumes of Arabia to a Soul almost expiring through Grief and Melancholy than is thy Letter to Mahmut wherein is contain'd the Certificate of thy being yet on this Side the State of Invisibles Methinks all Nature flourishes while thou art alive And I feel a Spirit within me prompts me to presage That thy Death like the Fall of Leaves in Autumn will prove the Harbinger of the World's Last Winter Whilst thou livest thy Prayers and Merits support the drooping Elements Which are now almost ready to fall into their Primitive Chaos and Inactivity The Angel of the Trumpet in Contemplation of thy Virtue delays to found the Grand Tremendous Blast which at an Instant shall puff out the Light of Sun Moon and Stars and blow the Breath out of the Nostrils of all the Living Generations That Day shall be a Day of Darkness Horror and Silence till the Hour of Transmigration comes When at the Second Blast the Firmament shall rent asunder like the Opening of Curtains this Old World shall fly away like a Shadow to the Right Hand and to the Left Then shall Naked Souls hang hovering in the Empty Space 'twixt Paradise and Hell The Throne shall be plac'd Judgment shall be given And to wind up the Mysteries of Fate A New and Immortal World shall at a Moment spring forth from the Womb of Eternity and possess the Place of the Former I write not this to Instruct thee Venerable Bedredin who art a Mine of Knowledge but to satisfy thee That tho' I live amongst Infidels yet I conserve Inviolate the Faith of my Fathers believing the Book brought down from the Eternal Archives Thou fearest that I shall turn Christian being accused by Some of Levity in my Opinions by Others of Prophaneness and Atheism by All of discovering too favourable an Inclination to the Nazarenes Suffer me O Holy President of the Servants of God to purge my self from these false Imputations the Product of Envy and Malice Permit me to lay at thy Sacred Feet a Modest Apology for my Faith Let not that Description of the Christians Messias which I sent thee in my last Letter create in thee an Opinion to my Disadvantage nor prevail on thee to think I can ever swerve from the profound Attach I owe to the Sent of God I Honour Jesus the Son of Mary and so I do all his Brethren the Prophets in Paradise This I am taught in the Alcoran Where is then my Crime If I give Virtue its due Praise even in the Infidels am I therefore a Nazarene If I speak with Reverence and Modesty of Christian Princes am not I therefore a Mussulman Or does the Book of Glory teach us Arrogance Surely my Traducers will blush when they shall consider That Our August Emperors themselves who are Sovereigns of All the Kings on Earth when they vouchsafe to write to Christian Princes they dictate their Letters in a Style full of Affection and Regard They give them Magnificent Titles at the Beginning and at the Conclusion they wish them Encrease of Felicity both Here and in Paradise And would it become a Slave to treat Crown'd Heads with less Respect than does the Master of the Vniverse If I have contracted Friendship with some of the Christian Dervises it was to serve the Ends of the Sublime Port and perform the Rites of Gratitude I thought it no Crime to receive a Kindness from any Man or to return it without examining his Religion But perhaps they suspect the Intimacies I had with Cardinal Richlieu and still have with his Successor Mazarini Rest assured O Holy Dervise That my Access to these Princes of the Roman Church is so far from being Criminal that without it I never had been capable of penetrating into the Counsels of the Infidels nor of doing any effectual Service to the Grand Signior The Countenance which my Familiarity with these Two Great Ministers affords me has all along facilitated my Designs And whilst under their Umbrage I am taken for a Zealous Christian I secretly lay a Foundation whereon in due Time shall be built even in the Heart of Christendom Triumphal Arches for the Victorious Mussulmans 'T is strange methinks that after all this I should be suspected That notwithstanding I have patiently endur'd Nine Years Confinement to an Obscure and Private Life a Melancholy Banishment to a Strange Country yea to a City for which I have a Natural Aversion a City the most Unclean Noisy and Vain in the whole Earth to be shut up for the Sake of avoiding Discovery in a Chamber so Narrow that Suspicion it self nay even Thought the Mother of that Little Passion would sweat and be stifled when once Circumscrib'd within these Walls and after all this to be made a Prisoner of State on Jealousy of being a Mahometan To abide that Punishment so many Moons unmov'd uncorrupted and at length to be released to the Advantage of the Ottoman Interest and yet to be traduc'd at Home for a Traytor to God his Prophet and my Sovereign has surely something in it of Inconsistent What is then my Crime Or why am I thus aspers'd Let my Slanderers hereafter be silent Unless they will lay it to my Charge That in some of my Letters I have discover'd a Mind free from Superstition That I put a high Value on Reason and have no low Esteem for some of the Ancient Philosophers That I endeavour to guard my Sence and will not suffer it to be muzzled with the Impositions of Ignorance and Prejudice That I do not think it a Necessary Qualification of a Mussulman to pursue with Inexorable Hatred all Men that differ from me in Opinion In fine That in all my Conversation I strive to comport my self as One who asserts the Vnity of the Divine Essence the Plurality of his Prophets the Determinate Number of the Elect and who is resolv'd and prepar'd rather to die a Thousand Deaths than voluntarily to commit any Impiety against these Principles or the Interest of the Grand Signior who has a Right to command all Mankind If these be Crimes I must own my self Culpable If not let my Accusers lay their Hand upon their Mouth And continue thou Sage Doctor of our Holy Law to instruct me with thy Counsels to assist me with thy Prayers and to
should be written on any Schedule that she should have no Power to hurt the Infants they dismiss'd her After this God compassionating Adam's Solitude gave him another Wife call'd Eve This Tradition confirms the Vision of the Prophet and we need not doubt That the Earth was Inhabited before Adam's Time And if that be granted why might it not be Peopled for Millions of Ages as well as for the smallest Term that Ignorance or Error may assign to its Duration I have discoursed with several of the Jewish Rabbi's and Christian Doctors on this Subject Men of abstruse Learning and sublime Thoughts Yet I can find but a few who are emancipated from the Prejudices of a Superstitious Education They have been from their Infancy prepossess'd with a false Notion of the Works of God believing them to be Finite both in Extent of Space and Time They circumscribe this Visible World within I know not what Flaming Circle and believe the First Matter it self to be but Five Days Older than Adam taking each of those Days for the Space of Four and Twenty Hours wherein the Sun finishes his Diurnal Circuit through the Heavens They consider not That according to their own Bible there was Light and Darkness and consequently Day and Night before the Sun was Created But how long those Days and Nights were is not determin'd by Moses Yet in another Part of their Bible it is said That a Day with God is a Thousand Years and a Thousand Years is a Day So that according to this Interpretation Adam was not Created till above Five Thousand Years after the Beginning of the World Yet when I bring this Positive Place of their Own Scripture against the Nazarene Sages they shuffle it off with empty Evasions and rather than believe the Indesinite Antiquity of the World they contradict their own Sence and Reason invalidate the Testimony of a Prophet deny their Faith and appear Unmask'd Insidels Both they and the Jews have corrupted the Truth with many Errors and we must seek farther for the Original Science of Nature The Illuminated of God have always taught That the Earth was Inhabited long before the Appearance of Adam And all the Eastern Sages believe a Series of Generations to have dwelt on this Globe for Indeterminate Ages I have a Brother lately come from the Indies He relates strange Things of certain Books which are onely in the Hands of the Brachmans They are written in a Language which none understand but these Priests yet a Language as Copious as any other and taught in their Colleges by Rule These Books contain a History of the World which they say is above Thirty Millions of Years Old They divide the Term of its Duration into Four Ages Three of which they say are already past and a good Part of the Fourth Now I would fain know who wrote these Books and at what Time and where this Language was spoken They call it the Holy Language saying that it was the First spoken on Earth It is strange That no History should mention so Divine a Speech We have the Chronology of the Latin and Greek and can give an Account when and where they were spoken though they are now grown Obsolete and no otherways to be learn'd but in the Schools and Academies This argues the Antiquity of the Bramins Language and Books in Regard they fall not within any other Record save their own which says they are as Old as the World For if this Assertion were false the Imposture would have been discover'd as soon as broach'd and the Learned Sages of the East would quickly have disprov'd so manifest a Lye There seems to me something Extraordinary in this Pretension of these Indian Philosophers and I would gladly be convinc'd of the Truth Methinks it is an Illustrious Idea of the Divine Perfections when one conceives all this Vast and Endless Concatenation of Beings to flow from the Eternal Nature as Rays from the Sun And that they can no more be separated from it than those Beams can from that Visible Fountain of Light It will not be difficult then to Interpret the History of Moses by this Register of the Bramins and reconcile the Six Days of the one with the Four Ages of the other since a Day in the Divine Sence may amount to Millions of Years as well as to a Thousand And it will be more congruous and agreeable to believe that after the Birth of the First Matter there elaps'd Many Ages before it was wrought into such an Infinite Variety of Appearances as we now behold and that the Five Days which Moses computes before the Production of Adam might be some Millions of Years In which Time the Divine Architect gradually drew from the Abyss of Matter the Sun Moon Stars Plants and Animals which may serve also to Illustrate the Vision of thy Holy Ancestor with which I begun this Discourse Adieu Sublime Intelligence of the Torrid Zone and favour Mahmut with a Transcript of thy Thoughts concerning these Things But if thy Silence shall condemn my Presumption and Importunity I will wait for thy Answer till the Platonick Year when according to the Doctrine of that Philosopher we shall all be alive again Paris 19th of the 4th Moon of the Year 1648. LETTER XIV To the Mufti IN a former Dispatch to thy Sanctity I have acquainted thee with the Insurrections in Palermo mentioning the Fear of the Viceroy lest the French in that Island should then take their Opportunity to revenge the Proverbial Cruelty of the Sicilian Vespers If thou art unacquainted with that Tragedy I will inform thee in Brief About Three Hundred and Threescore Years ago there Reign'd in Sicily one of the Royal Blood of France they call him Charles of Anjou He had French Garrisons in all the Cities of that Kingdom But these Soldiers committed so many Insolencies as rendred 'em Odious and Insupportable to the Natives who therefore resolved to exterminate them The French are very Licentious in their Conquests neither sparing Men in their Anger nor Women in their Lust They make no Difference between the Noble and the Vulgar but sacrifice all the Regards of Honour and Civility to their Impetuous Appetites They were guilty of innumerable Rapes and Violences in Sicily among the Meaner People and sometimes extended their Rudeness to Persons of the Best Quality It was common for them to affront both Virgins and Matrons as they went along the Streets by thrusting their Hands under their Garments on Pretence of searching for hidden Arms. Among the Rest the Wife of a certain Lord in Palermo going to pay her Devotions at the Temple was seiz'd by the Command of the Captain of the Guards and strip'd Naked before all the Soldiers in Order to discover certain Treasonable Papers which they suspected she carried about her But finding none she upbraided the Captain with Inhumanity in offering so gross an Affront to a Lady of her Rank He seeming to be sorry for