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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51903	The eighth and last volume of letters writ by a Turkish spy who lived five and forty years undiscover'd at Paris : giving an impartial account to the Divan at Constantinople of the most remarkable transactions of Europe, and discovering several intrigues and secrets of the Christian courts (especially of that of France) continued from the year 1642 to the year 1682 / written originally in Arabick, translated into Italian, and from thence into English, by the translator of the first volume.	Marana, Giovanni Paolo, 1642-1693.; Bradshaw, William, fl. 1700.; Midgley, Robert, 1655?-1723.	1694 (1694)	Wing M565EA; ESTC R35024	164,847	384

Belov'd by his Mistress Whilst the Italian takes the nearest Course to be Belov'd by her in Reality The French-man loves a Pleasant Witty Maid tho' she be Deform'd The Spaniard prefers Beauty to Wit and Good Humour The Italian is for a Female of a Timorous Spirit Whilst the German adores a Virago The French-man by his Wandring Loves of a Wise Man becomes a Fool and exchanges his Health for a Thousand Maladies The German having profusely spent all in Amorous Liberalities at length from a Fool tho late becomes a Wife Man The Spaniard undertakes Heroick Enterprizes to please his Mistress Whilst the Italian despises Honour and every Thing else that he may enjoy her Certainly the Greatest Men in the World have been subject to this Soft Passion And have sacrific'd their Reputation Glory and Vertue with their very Reason to the Regards of Love How ensnar'd was Mithridates in Pontus by a Beautiful Woman How did Hannibal suffer his Courage to be Enervated with the Luxuries of Capua So Hercules of Old left the Glorious Toils of War and suffer'd his Arms to Rust for the sake of his Iole So Vlysses was Captivated by Circe Achilles by Briseis and Caesar by Cleopatra And thou know'st that our Annals record strange Things of the Amours of our Glorious Monarchs There is no Nation free from the Sentiments of Love Yet every Age and Region vary in their Conduct toward Women Here in the West they are all for Intriguing and Gallantry They accuse the Mussulmans for having more Wives than one and for Keeping as many Concubines as they please whilst they themselves have their Wives almost in Common and Lie with every Wench that comes in their Way Adultery passes with 'em for Good Breeding and Fornication is esteem'd as Innocent an Action as Eating and Drinking Whereas thou know'st among the True Believers these Crimes are punish'd with Death Promiscuous Copulation was forbid by Moyses Jesus and Mahomet and in General by all the Prophets It is a sufficient Indulgence That every Man may Marry four Wives and enjoy as many other Women as he either Takes Captives from the Enemy in Wars or purchases with his Mony But these Infidels had rather follow the Sentiments of the Old Heathen Law-givers and the Examples of Idolatrous Nations than obey God and his Messengers They applaud Solon the Great Law-giver of the Athenians calling him a Wise Man as he was plonounc'd by the Delphick Oracle and a Generous Patriot for procuring Harlots to accompany the Youths of the City and building a Temple to Venus out of the Mony they got by Prostituting themselves 'T is certain Whores were much esteem'd in those Days among the Graecians For the Magistrates built them Publick Houses on purpose and free for all Comers They also made Laws to protect them from Injuries And so great was the Veneration that Besotted People had for them that when Perses invaded Greece the Harlots of Corinth undertook to intercede for their Country in the Temple of Venus Nay whatsoever Extraordinary Favour they had to ask of that Goddess it was done by the Mediation of the Whores And there seems some Reason on their Side since Venus her self was Translated to Heaven and made a Goddess for being the Greatest Whore and Bawd that ever liv'd She first taught the Cyprian Women to prostiture their Bodies for Gain What a Work did Aspasia make who fill'd all Greece with Whores For the Love of her and her Wenches it was that Pericles begun the Peloponesian War that lasted so many Years and is so much talk'd of in Ancient History There were also Learned Whores as Sappho the Mistress of Phaon Sempronia Leaena and Leontium Who wrote publickly in Vindication of their Lewd Practice and inveigh'd against Marriage There were also Noble Whores as Rhodope who built one of the Egyptian Pyramids with the Mony given her by the King Thais the Corinthian who was so surpassing Beautiful that she scorn'd to Lie with any but Kings and Princes But Messalina the Wife of Claudius Caesar exceeded them all in the Salaciousness of her Temper I will not omit to mention Joan Queen of Naples who caus'd her First Husband to be hang'd because he could not satisfle her Lust His Name was Andrew Son to Elizabeth Quen of Hungary Her Second Husband to repair the Fault of the First so wasted his Strength in the Conjugal Embraces that in a little Time he kill'd himself Her Third Husband was James King of Majorca whom she Beheaded for Lying with another Woman Her Fourth and Last Spouse was Otho Duke of Brunswick He liv'd to see her hang'd in the same Place where her First Husband had by her Order suffer'd the same Fate This was the Revenge of Charles Prince of Dyrachium Cousin-German to Andrew before-mention'd This Lascivious Queen would have the Company of Ten or Twelve Young Men one after another the same Night What shall I say of Semiram is Empress of the Assyrians Of Pasiphae Wife to Minos King of Crete or of an Hundred other Royal Whores When it is observable that the most Illustrious Heroes on Earth have sprung from Adulterous Beds Witness Hercules Alexander Clodoveus King of the Franks Theodoric the Goth William the Norman Raymir of Arragon and many more too tedious to be recited Nay few Kings or Princes are born of Lawful Mothers Doubtless the Infidel Nations live in great Corruption of Manners they confound and blend together Divine and Profane Maxims from whence result Monstrous and Abominable Practices and a General Uncleanness of Life in all Things But the Chaste Followers of Mahomet have all Customs in Abomination that desile the Soul and rob it of its Native Purity We obey the Traditions of Abrahim Ismael and the rest of the Holy Line who never touch'd any Women but their own Lawful Wives and Concubines resting contented with this Indulgence of the Omnipotent We put in Practice the Law brought down from Heaven and the Precepts of the Prophet which forbid all Adultery Fornication and Incest We preserve in our Veins the Pure and Unpolluted Blood of our Fathers and transmit the same to our Children and the Posterity to come That the Promises made to Abrahim the Glorious Patriarch of the East may not be disanull'd by the Sins of his Off-spring but may be verified till the Day when the Moon shall be cancell'd in the Heavens and all the Stars be blotted out Oh Sage Hamet We are of a Sacred Lineage an Illustrious Pedigree Our Progenitors were the Favourites of Heaven and Lords of the Earth by the Special Benediction of God The Light of the Eternal shines upon the Ottoman House and is reflected from thence on all the Empire I pray Heaven that we may not forfeit these Privileges by our own Folly and cause an ill Report to be whisper'd of us among the Angels Saints and Prophets and throughout the Precincts of Paradise I consign thee to the Custody of God and thy Guardian-Genius wishing

may get an Estate by oppressing the Fatherless and Widows or encrease his Wealth by ruining whole Families Tell him how he may over-reach some Silly Credulous Young Heir or outwit his Neighbour in a Bargain He cherishes a Spider in his Brain and his Heart is full of Webs To such a Temper as this I cannot be reconciled there is an Innate Antipathy an Immortal Contrariety in our Souls My Spirit is daunted and retreats within me at the sight of such an one A Languor and Faintness seizes my Limbs I am like one that has touch'd a Torpedo Surely there is no Species of Four-footed Beasts of Birds of Fish of Insects Reptiles or any other living Things whose Nature is not found in Man How exactly agreeable to the Fox are some Mens Tempers Whilst others are perfect Bears in Human Shape Here you shall meet a Crocodile who seeks with feigned Tears to entrap you to your Ruin There a sly Serpent creeps and winds himself into your Affections and when he is well-warm'd with Favours on a sudden he will bite and sting you to Death Tygers Lions Leopards Panthers Wolves and all the Monstrous Generations of Africk may be seen Masquerading in the Forms of Men. And 't is not hard for an observing Mind to see their Natural Complexion through the borrow'd Vizard The Physiognomy of Vice and Vertue are easily distinguish'd There are some secret Characters in every Face which speak the Nature of the Person So does Platonick Love with Eagle Eyes soon trace the Signatures of what is Amiable in the Soul We read the hidden Qualities of Men at the first Glance and hence are lasting Friendships often contracted I love my Friends without Reserve and because those are very few among our Mortal Race I contract Familiarities with the Harmless Animals I study like a Lover to oblige and win their Hearts by all the tender Offices I can perform I bear with Patience their wild froward Tricks till constant Perseverance vanquishes their stubborn Humours Then when we once begin to understand each other aright they make me a Thousand sweet Returns of Gratitude according to their Kind When I am Melancholy they 'll soon divert me with one pretty Trick or other as if they were sensible of my Pain But because my Love is large and strong still seeking to dilate it self though still recoyling from the degenerate Race of Men I go into the Fields and Woods and make my silent Court unto the Trees and Flowers and sometimes I converse in Raillery with Eccho's I languish on the Banks of Chrystal Streams and pine away for an old Mossy Rock The Oak enflames me with a Sacred Passion when I behold her Venerable Bulk and Shade I could almost turn Druid for her sake and take my Residence up for ever in her hollow Trunk where the Kind Genii of the Air wou'd visit me and tell me Things to come instructing me in all the Mysteries of Nature for I 'm in Love ev'n with those Invisible Beings and often tell my Passion to 'em in the Woods or on some Mountain where the Courteous Winds transport my Words and waft their secret Answers back again Then is my Soul snatch'd up in Sacred Ecstasies because th'Immortals condescend to talk with me I often fall into a Trance and wake not till the Sun is got half way into t'other Hemisphere Then I resolve to pass away the Night in this sweet Solitude Had I the Tongues or Pens of Cicero and Demosthenes I could not to the Life express the Pleasures that I feel at such a Time when free and undisturb'd I can for several Hours behold the Motions of the Moon and Stars Oh God! What Thoughts what Contemplations rise within my Breast My Ravish'd Soul is ready to break Prison for Joy when 't is inspir'd with certain Demonstrations of the World's Etérnity Methinks at such a Time I hear the Noise and Bustle of the Worlds Above Methinks I see the Active Busie Tenants of the Moon and Stars trudging about their daily Business even like us Mortals here Below Then 't is I nauseate the narrow Principles of Ignorant Superstitious Men I hate to think of e'er returning to the City again there to prophane my Reason with the vain Discourse of Self-conceited Fools and Idiots I am cloy'd with Life and wish to die amidst these charming Speculations Thus do I pass the Time away till fair Aurora ushers in the Rosy-finger'd Morn Then I begin to reflect on my Duty as a Moselman and Slave to the Grand Signior I haste to wash my self in the next Stream and chearfully prostrate my self upon the Ground adoring the Eternal Source of all Things After which abundantly satisfied with these Nocturnal Pleasures I return to the City and to my Business considering That I were not wholly born for Contemplation Learned Hali I wish thee consummate Happiness in this Life and fortunate Transmigrations after Death praying also that I may merit one Day to enjoy thy Company in Paradise where we may discourse these Things more at large and in a clearer Light than what this Earth affords Adieu Paris 2d of the 5th Moon of the Year 1674. LETTER VI. To Kerker Hassan Bassa TO what Purpose am I kept longer in Paris Why do the Ministers of the Port put the Grand Signior to a needless Expence in maintaining here an Old Superannuated Slave not worth his daily Bread And yet God knows I eat not much neither can I taste any Pleasure in that little I eat My Refections are like the Entertainments of Magical Tables where the Eye is deluded with a fair shew of various Delicacies but the Stomach is not satisfied with any real Food nor the Body strengthened by any substantial Nourishment Only the languishing Imagination feeds on Phantastick Dishes mere Shadows and Enchanted Resemblances of Solid Meat while the Man is ready to faint for Hunger So I seem to my self to Eat and Drink but 't is with so little gust at present and I receive so little benefit from it afterwards that all appears no more than a Visionary Feast or a Collation in a Dream I have now pass'd the Grand Climacter of Human Life being enter'd into the Sixty Fourth Year of my Age. My Senses droop and all the Faculties of my Soul and Body decay apace My Bones are weary of supporting their accustomed Burden My Sinew and Muscles refuse to perform the Offices of Motion at least their Vigor is much slacken'd and impair'd In a Word the Infirmities of my Body have rank'd me under a new Predicament I am become a Three-footed Animal being forced to walk with a Staff to prevent the necessity of Metamorphosing my Hands to Feet and crawling on all Four Judge now Illustrious Arab after what I have said whether I am fitting to do the Grand Signior service in this Station As for the Intrigues of the Court I am quite tyr'd of them Besides here are now no more Richlieu's and Mazarini's in Being with

their Loss on the 22d of the 4th Moon following when the famous de Ruiter was kill'd and several of the Dutch Ships Sunk Burnt and taken Yet that which makes the greatest Noise was a Battel fought on the 2d of this present Moon between the Mareschal de Vivonne Commander of the French Fleet on the Coast of Sicily and the United Naval Forces of Spain and Holland I have a Particular Account of this Combat and because I know thou delightest in Relations of this Nature I will acquaint thee in short how they first encounter'd each other and what Methods the French us'd to gain a glorious Victory over Two Fleets much more numerous in Ships than their own It was not far from the Old dangerous Streight between Charybdis and Scylla where the Duke de Vivonne descry'd the Hostile Navies making toward the Place where he lay with his Fleet at Anchor The Alarm was quickly giv'n and all Hands to the Cable As soon as they had weigh'd they made all the Sail they could toward the Enemy The Spaniards and Hollanders had Tewenty Seven Ships of War Nineteen Gallies and Four Fire Ships The French had but Nineteen Ships of War Seven Gallies and Five Fire Ships These got the Wind of their Enemies and attacqu'd them so fiercely that they drove several of their Capital Vessels on those dangerous Rocks and Sands where they were lost and they burnt Thirteen more of their Best Ships among which were the Admiral of Spain and the Vice-Admiral of Holland I cease to say more of this remarkable Fight save that it is esteem'd only Second to the Famous Battel of Lepanto Prince of the Sea I wish thee equal Success when ever thou fightest against the Enemies of God and his Prophet Paris 14th of the 6th Moon of the Year 1676. LETTER VI. To the Sage of Sages the Mysterious Eremite the Great Mohammed of Mount Uriel in Arabia THere is no Man in this Mortal Life who has not chang'd his Opinions one Time or other And whether it be an Argument of Wisdom or Folly Knowledge or Ignorance to be thus Mutable in our Thoughts we find few tenacious in their Old Age of the Notions they entertain'd in their Youth We have some Natural and Proleptick Idens born with us others impos'd upon us by our Parents Nurses and Tutors Our Infant Fancies are tender flexible and receptive of any Impressions like Gold that yeilds to every Stamp and Coin of a new Sovereign So in the Mint of Human Conversation our Thoughts are molded and form'd by each prevailing Genius that keeps us Company Nay a New Book that we have an Inclination for shall quite obliterate all that before was current Reason with us and transform our Faculties into another Figure So true it is That Mankind delights in Novelty Whether it be an Effect of this General Weakness in Human Nature or of my own particular Inconstancy or in fine of more correct and mature Consideration I will not determine But this I am sure of That I cannot think now of several things as I have done formerly without offering great Violence to my present Reason I am as apt now to suspect my self of Dotage at these Years as other Men are inclin'd to flatter themselves into a Conceit of their own Wisdom and to boast of it to others at the same Age. However it appears evident to me That every Man's Experience perfects his Speculations And he who trafficks in the Mart of Philosophy on the Stock of his own Discoveries is in a fairer Way to improve himself than a Man that trades altogether on the Credit of other Mens Conceptions The latter is but Wisdom's Factor or he may be call'd a Brother in the Sciences or a Banquier of other Mens Imaginations He frequents the Common Exchange or Burse of Learning reads the Books of the Ancients converses with the Wits and most accomplish'd Spirits of the present Age. Yet after all he has but a Retail Profit Nor shall he ever have better so long as he dares not venture something of his own Whereas the former is a Rich Substantial Merchant dealing on his own Bottom He ventures on the wide Ocean of the Worlds peevish censorious Humour runs the Hazard of Shipwreck and Corsairs The Winds and Storms of human Malice do not fright him nor all the Rocks of Superstition establish'd by the Laws of Nations No Sands or Shelves or any undermining private Interest can baulk his Courage whilst he has the Gales of Truth and Tide of Primitive Reason on his side For then he knows the Common Fortune will be his Pilot and steer him safe through all From what I have said thou wilt expect some new refin'd Thesis to drop from my Pen some very solid Dogma to be broach'd after such a tedious Praelude But I tell thee plainly I hardly know what I 'm to write next save only that I have some general Notions different from what I had before concerning the Eternity of the World It was formerly my Opinion and I pass'd it upon all my Friends That not only the Matter of the World is everlasting but its present Form also But now I believe the contrary on more rational Grounds It is not so perfect as I esteem'd it Every Year of my Life convinces me of its Decaying State It manifestly droops and crumbles away Therefore by proportion of Argument we ought to conclude It is corruptible in its first Principles and consequently had a Beginning and shall have an End I do not believe it shall be annihilated or reduc'd to nothing Nature abhors that Thought But it shall be chang'd metamorphos'd and transform'd Vna dies dabit exitio One Day shall consign it to Ruin as Lucretius says and the same shall give it a brighter Form than ever it had when the Earth shall become pure Crystal and the Stars shall out-shine the Sun and the Sun himself shall be dissolv'd into his Eternal Principles of Light The Philosophers who have spoke of the Last Day agree that the World shall be calcin'd by Fire especially those of the East and South for they positively assert That when the moisture of the Vniverse shall be exhausted and spent The Elements will pour forth Flames says Hermes Trismegistus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Scribitur in Fatis c. a Treasury of Fire says Sophocles And Ovid asserts That the Seas shall be dried up and all the Firmament shall appear like a Furnace Heaven and Earth shall be mingled Pell-mell together The Greeks say The World shall boil up and scum off its Impurities 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with a Noise like that of a Tempest or a Woirlwind The Italians express it otherwise by the Sound a Clock makes just before it strikes the Hour for it moves in an even and regular Course and has a steady Pulse till then but when the last Minute is expir'd the Wheels rush all together with a louder Noise So shall the Orbs above and

these inferiour Elements when their Course is done break all their Harmony and with confused Cracks and Ratlings disgorge their Essences into the Lap of their eternal Chaos there to be renew'd and chang'd again into far nobler Forms although the original Substance still remains the same for I believe the first Matter to be unchangeable and eternal without Beginning or End But there have pass'd many Millions of Ages in the Production of such an infinite Variety of Forms Perhaps the Grounds of Astrology are true and that there were of old certain Periods of Time affix'd first for the Product of the Heavenly Signs and Constellations then for the Planets and afterwards for the Nativity of all the other Beings below the Moon But Moyses the Law-giver and chief Philosopher of the Jews is of a contrary Judgment for he says The Vegetables had Existence before the Stars And so one does not know what to think among 'em all For ought I know any Man's Reason might be received with as much Applause as that of Moyses who should assert That there are certain Horses formed of the purest Light galloping up and down the infinite Expanse for an indeterminate Series of Ages the Dust of whose Feet first raised the Elements out of Nothing and then their Hoofs striking against the original Flints of Nature begat the Sparks which shall set the World a-fire at last And God knows whether the late Conflagration at the Imperial City was not owing to a Scratch of one of those Horses Nails though they are pleased to lay it on the Giaurs and Kysilbaschi By my Soul I believe all Things proceed from eternal Chance All that we admire so much in the World is a mere Higgle-de-Piggledy of Things which may be or may not be only they are and so we must not quarrel with any Thing that has Existence We behold the Sun Moon and Stars over our Heads they give us their successive Light by Night and Day We trample upon the Earth under our Feet and sail on the open Sea to which we can give no great Trust At the same time we know not the Natures of these different Beings The Sun may be but an eternal Carbuncle for ought we know and the Moon but a crested Saphir the rest of the Planets but the Refractions of these bright Essences and all the Fixed Stars but so many Splinters of the eternal Torch which lights the World And after all the rest this Earth whereon we tread may be but a Wart or Mole a little silly Excrescence or superfluous Tumour of the Elements if not a Gangrene in Nature Oh Mohammed I have said too much to a Man of thy abstruse Speculations but thou wilt pardon one that speaks with Faith and Sincerity Let me put in one Word more with thee Oh Chief of the Solitaries Trince of the Sylvans Glory of Arabia Thou Hidden one of the East Thou Phoenix of all Generations No Body was born for himself No Body is Wise at all Times And this is a particular Season wherein the Grand Signior's Service requires me to be as it were a little foolishly merry Therefore begging thy Pardonn and Prayers I bid thee Adieu Paris 13th of the 8th Moon of the Year 1676. LETTER VII To Pesteli Hali his Brother Master of the Customs and Superintendent of the Arsenal at Constantinople IT will do thee no hurt to carry the following News to Hamet Reis Effendi I entrench on the Post's Time and my own Health it being very late in the Night on purpose that the Ministers of the Port may have the earliest Account of the Taking of Philipsbourg from the French by the Confederate Princes and States This is a Town of great Importance and very strong The Spaniards became Masters of it in the Year 1633 through the Treachery of the Governour Next Year following the Suedes put it again in the French King's Hands but that Monarch not being able to repair its Fortifications by reason of the Winter it was surpris'd by the Imperialists on the 23d of the first Moon 1635 in whose Hands it remained till the Year 1644 when in the 9th Moon it was taken by the Duke Enguyen now Prince of Conde after he had routed the Duke of Bavaria at Friburgh The French have had it in Possession ever since th●t time till about four Days ago it was Surrendred upon Conditions to the Imperialists who had block'd it up above a Year and formally Besieg'd it four Moons It is a Loss which this Court resents with no small Grief Philipsbourg being a Town of more Value than twenty others in those Parts The French have taken Conde Bouchain and Aire but they do not think these an equivalent Reprizal neither can this Campaign last long enough to give them an Opportunity of seeking farther Satisfaction Brother I must conclude abruptly because the Post tarries God have thee in his Keeping and preserve thee from the Snares and malicious Ambuscades of Devils who are let loose from their Infernal Dens to range above ground from this Hour to the Crowing of the Cocks Paris 12th of the 9th Moon of the Year 1676. LETTER VIII To Sephat Abercromil Vanni Effendi Preacher to the Sultan ABout five Years ago I sent thee a Dispatch containing an Account of the kind Reception thy Doctrins found in Europe and of the swift Progress they made in Converting the honester sort of Nazarenes I also acquainted thee with the Opposition that was made against the Writings of Francis Malevella by the Jesuits and Dominicans Now I shall inform thee farther of the prodigious Advances this Sacred Institution of Life his made in Italy France and Spain with Germany and other Regions in the West There is an eminent Man in Rome whom they call Father Petrucci a Person of great Learning and conspicuous Knowledge His Piety indeed has been by him industriously concealed as much as lay in 's Power But yet his most recluse good Works took Air and all Men of Integrity conceive a Veneration for him He having read the Works of Malevella grew enamour'd of so sublime a System of spiritual Rules and wrote to all his Friends by way of Recommendation of the Author and his Subject Those Letters afterwards were put in Print and 't is not to be exprest what powerful Influence they had on all impartial Readers He published also many learned Treatises in the Defence and Praise of a Contemplative Life And the Reputation of this refin'd Theology daily encreas'd and spread abroad in every Corner of the Christian World Among the rest of learned Proselytes a certain Spanish Priest and Doctor of the Christian Law whom they call Michael de Molino appear'd upon the Stage and the last Year publish'd a comprehensive Treatise of Mystical Religion The Book was approv'd and Licens'd by the Archbishop of Rheggio by the General of the Franciscans an Officer of the Inquisition and by Martin de Esparsa an eminent Jesuit belonging to the same Court and

Distinct a Motion of their own How come they to Rise and Set at certain Hours every Day and Night varying only as the Heavenly Bodies do in appearing earlier or later one Day than another according to the Successive Alteration of the Four Seasons of the Year that so they may pass like them through all the Signs of the Zodiack If the Earth moves and these Comets be in the Air they must needs be carried round with the Motion of the Whole Vortex But it is apparent to Human Sight That they are not thus whirl'd round with the Atmosphere but have a distinct and sometimes a quite contrary Motion They are Statick Direct and Retrograde like the Planets which is almost a Demonstration That their Seat is in the Heavens at least above the Intersecting Orb of the Moon And if so I shou'd be glad to have an Account of their Generation and Original For the Substance of the Heavens being Immutable and not Subject to any Change or Corruption it is Impossible That any New Posthumous Being can be generated there There may I believe in every Age be disclosed and uncabineted some Glittering Forms in the Heavens which before lay hid and lock'd up in the Treasures of the most High But they are as Old as the World it self That 's my Creed Let other Men think what they please If I could wonder at any Thing it would be at the mistaken Piety of those who to avoid the Charybdis of Atheism which attributes all Things to Nature or Chance fall into the Scylla of Fanaticisin and Religious Dotage Whilst they vainly assert that every New Alteration in the World is an Effect of God's Immediate Creative Power Not a Child is conceiv'd but God then and there creates a Soul for it Not a Plague Fire Pestilence or any other Common Calamity happens but they must disturb the Rest of the Eternal Deity and make him have a particular Chief Hand in the Conspiracy So of Comets they presage Tremendous Things as if God had immediately created them to warn this Lower World of some approaching Judgments Whereas according to the dictates of more Impartial Reason they are the products of his first Fiat when he made the Vniverse Only he has reserv'd the Revelation of them to certain Periods of Time But these sort of People Affront God really for Fear of Affronting him They injure his Goodness to save his Omnipotence and by a Back-blow they strike at both in defence of his suppos'd Arbitrary-Will Let not my Soul sit down in their Cabal nor my Mind listen to the Secrets of their Divinity O Sage Osman I believe that all things flow from God by an Emanation without Beginning and Subsist on him by a Dependance which shall know no End With him the Causes of all Fleeting and Decaying Things have a permanent Stability In him reside Immutable Springs of whatsoever is subject to Change In his Eternal Essence do live the Principles and Models of all Beings but he is no daily Labourer 'T is a Grand Contempt of the Divine Majesty thus to invade the Rest and Sabbatism of the Most High who dwells for ever in Infinite and Eternal Solitude and Bliss To make him the Drudge of his Creatures who has Ten Thousand Thousand Myriads of Angels to Execute his Will Undoubtedly he has contriv'd the Universe with such Ineffable Art That his whole Pleasure is perform'd by Second Causes This Infinite Machine is full of Wheels and has an Eternal Motion whereof he is the Original Spring If I may descend to so low a Comparison observe but the Course of a Miller when once he has turn'd the Cog of his Mill he has no more to do but stand still and look on The Work goes forward of it self without any more of his Labour till he Stop it So the Supreme Artist when he had once set the Primum Mobile a-going had no more to do but to enjoy himself in Eternal Beatitude It is an Indignity to the Omnipotent God to say or think he was not able to make a World as perfect as a Mortal Man can frame the Imagination of Now I think 't is very easie to conceive That as a Hand-Mill which continually requires the Attendance of some body to keep it in Motion has less of Artifice in it than a Water or a Wind-mill which go of themselves So a World that must always have its Maker Slaving and Drudging Toyling and Moyling at the Product of every Individual Generation and Corruption of every New Event or what appears to us to be so is not so Excellent and Perfect as one that can perform its own Task by the Necessary Force which one contiguous Atom has upon another like Wheels upon Wheels To conclude all Undoubtedly the Works of God are most perfect and full of Wisdom He made all Things from Eternity and they Obey his Law He has appointed the Times and Seasons of Good and Evil. The Symptoms whereof appear to Mankind in Various Manners In Dreams and Visions by Night in Ominous Accidents by Day in Prophecies and General Whispers in Apparitions Spectres and Monstrous Forms in Heaven and all the Elements Finally in Comets But Oh Learned Adrooneth Does it therefore follow that these Signs these Apparitions these Comets c. are freshly created for the sake of Mankind Are not various Ends and Uses of all Things Are there not the Fixed Stars and the Planets according to their different Configurations and Aspects Signs of Good and Evil as well as Comets and are not the Stars as Old as the World Why may not the Comets be so too though they are revealed at certain Stated Periods of Time There 's one Comprehensive Reason for all in that double Query and I 'll say no more to the Sage Adrooneth for whom a Word is Satis I pray Heaven divert from thee the Influence of Evil Stars and that whilst thou Contemplatest their Order Motion and Efficacy thou may'st not tumble into a Ditch ' as did Anaximenes and Thales the Milesian Astrologer Adieu Paris 9th of the 2d Moon of the Year 1681. LETTER VII To the Mufti THE People of Rome having established the Government of Kings transferr'd the Sovereignty on Brutus and Collatinus the Champions of their Liberty altering both their Right and Title For they call'd them Consuls not Kings And ordain'd that their Power should last but a Year which being expired new ones were elected in their Stead And the Reason why they had Two was that if one prov'd guilty of Evil-Administration Injustice or Tyranny The other having Equal Power might curb him and rectify the publick Affairs They were also call'd Consuls to put them in mind that they were to do nothing Arbitrarily but in all Things of Importance to Consult their Fellow-Citizens So great was the Joy of the Romans upon this Recovery of their Freedom that they could scarce believe it was true But as it usually falls out in any surprizing Happiness all seem'd