Multitude of their Brethren Whereas they consider not that they are dispers'd up and down over the whole Earth like Sheep without a Shepherd not permitted to possess a Cubit of Land which they can call their own Contemn'd hated and made a Proverbial Scoff among all Nations Infamous Vagabonds Usurers Slaves and Pimps to other Men's Pleasures Men of no Fame or Character Finally in their present Circumstances the most Spurious and Ignoble of all the Sons of Adam except the Kafars of Ethiopia who feed on the Guts and Dung of Beasts 'T is true indeed their Ancestors made a Considerable Figure in the World in the Days of Solomon and other Victorious Kings during their Possession of Palestine And yet in those very Times they were often humbled and led away into Captivity by the more Fortunate Kings of Babylon Persia and Assyria and afterwards subdu'd by the Grecians till at last they were totally Ruined their Cities laid Waste their Temple burnt to Ashes and their Country quite dispeopled by the Romans If we ascend yet higher to their Celebrated Migration out of Egypt of which their own Historians make such a Noise and tell so many Fabulous Wonders We shall find a very Mean and Contemptible Character given of 'em by Egyptian Writers and those of other Nations Men of as great Authority as Josephus or any other Jewish Historian Manethos a Priest of Egypt calls 'em a Crew of Leprous and Nasty People and says they were expell'd the Country by Amenophis then Reigning and driven into Syria their Captain being Moses an Egyptian Priest A like Relation we have from Chaeremon an Author of good Credit among the Greeks who tells us That in the Reign of Amenophis Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand Lepers were forcibly banish'd out of Egypt under the Conduct or Tisithen and Peteseth i. e. Moses and Aaron And tho' other Writers differ in the Name of the King then Reigning in Egypt yet all agree in asserting the Israelites to be a Nasty Sort of People over-run with Scabs and Infectious Boils and that they were esteem'd the Scum and Filth of the Nation Tacitus a Roman Writer of Unquestionable Authority adds That Moses one of the Exil'd Lepers being a Man of Wit and Reputation among them when he saw the Grief and Confusion of his Brethren bid them be of good Cheer and neither trust the Gods or Men of Egypt but only confide in him and obey his Counsel For that he was sent from Heaven to be their Conductor out of this Calamity and to Protect them from all their Enemies Upon which the People not knowing what Course to take surrendred themselves wholly to his Disposal from which Time he became their Captain and Lawgiver leading them through the Desarts of Arabia where they committed great Rapine and Spoil putting Man Woman and Child to the Sword burning their Cities and laying all Things desolate Dear Dgnet What could be said worse of a Company of Robbers and Banditi Moses is gone to Paradise and when I mention his Name it is with a profound Reverence for he was the Greatest of the Ancient Prophets Yet give me Leave to have some Regard for my own Reason He was but a Mortal as well as I and without doubt was not exempt from Humane Frailties He had the Advantage to be Educated in the College of the Royal Priests at Memphis which none of his Nation could boast of besides himself Suffer me to tell thee my Thoughts frankly and without Disguise Magick and Astrology were the only Sciences then in Vogue And he being perfectly vers'd in all the Mysteries and Secrets of Egyptian Wisdom 't was no hard Task for him to possess the Rude and Ignorant Sont of Jacob with a profound Attach and Veneration for his Person And in that distress'd Condition to mold their flexible Spirits to what Discipline he pleas'd Suspect me not for an Infidel or an Atheist because I discourse with this Freedom I have heard some of our Mollahs say a great deal more in their Private Conversation And 't is a superstitious Timerousness not to be bold in the Exercise of our Reason which taught even the Prophet Moses himself the Methods of Conquest and getting a Fame which should know no End I am not Ambitious nor would I tempt thee to aspire at an undue Grandeur But let us not be less than our selves that is Men There is no reason we should be impos'd upon by Fabulous Reports of Interress'd and Designing Writers Or that we should give Faith to every Credulous Fool Doubtless there were many Nations establish'd on Earth before the Israelites and Great Prophets who were not of the Lineage of Abrahim The Date of the Olympiads is much more certain to a Day nay to an Hour than the Hejira of the Israelites since the Former is Demonstrated by the Eclipses of the Sun and Moon interwoven by the Gentile Historians in the Body of their History whereas the Latter is defective in this Material Point and is expos'd to a Thousand Disputes among Writers My Friend let not thou and I trouble our selves with Needless Controversies or be Zealous for Things of no Moment but Adoring One God and believing what is Rational we may possess our Souls in Tranquility and Peace Paris 11th of the 5th Moon of the Year 1660. LETTER VIII To the Kaimacham AT length after a long Alienation the Prince of Conde is restor'd to the King's Favour For which he is oblig'd to the King of Spain I have already intimated in one of my Letters That this was agree'd on in the Treaty of Peace between these Two Crowns as an Article Equivalent to that of the Duke of Lorrain's Release sollicited by the King of France Now 't is put in Execution and the Rebel Prince is receiv'd with Abundance of Caresses by the King Queen-Mother Cardinal Mazarini and the whole Court He is counted the Valiantest Man of this Age and was so pronounc'd long ago by the Mareschal Turenne who is a Souldier of no mean Character both for his Judgment and Courage He was once extremely belov'd by all the French But his Wildness and Inconstancy with the Destructive Effects of the Civil Wars which he rais'd chang'd their Affections for a while into Indifference Coldness and Ill-Will But now all 's well again He and his Brother the Prince of Conti seldom agree'd being often the Heads of Contrary Parties during the Minority of this King And the Younger being crump-Shoulder'd Conde us'd to be a little Sarcastick upon him threatning to shave his uncourtly Back into the Fashion with his Sword It is certain the Prince of Conde was very wild and profuse when Young but now he begins to take soberer Measures During his Father's Life he was call'd the Duke of Enguien And to reflect on the Parsimony of the Old Prince he us'd to take several Handfuls of Gold with one Hand and fill a Purse saying This is my Father's Practice Then he would turn the
the Moors from whom a great Part of that Nation are said to descend Every Country in Europe has suffer'd mighty Changes by the Incursions nd Conquests of the Moors Goths Huns and Vandals So that 't is difficult to trace the Original of any People in such a Hotch-Potch of Foreign Blood Neither have they any Care of their Genealogies as we Arabians have in the East Illustrious Aga tho' it signifies Nothing to spring of a Noble Stock unless we inherit the Vertues of our Ancestors as well as their Splendid Titles and Estates Yet 't is both profitable and pleasant to have by us a Register of our Families that reading their Characters and Heroick Actions we may imitate their Examples and add to the Glory of the Tribe from which we descend Paris 26th of the 8th Moon of the Year 1660. LETTER XIII To Dgnet Oglou I Know not whether I shall finish the Letter I begin or if I do whether it will be above Ground or in the Bowels of the Earth However I cannot forbear writing to thee my Dear Friend though both the Paper and I with the House wherein I lodge and all this Beautiful City may for ought I know be transported to another Region before Morning Nay 't is possible this very Hour may People Elyzium with a New Colony from France and Paris may descend with all her Magnificent Palaces to the Shades below changing the Banks of the River Seyne for those of Acheron or Styx and the Refreshing Airs of Champagne for the Choaking Sulphurs of Hell In a Word we have felt the Menaces of a Terrible Earthquake this Evening but as yet have suffered no Damage When I liv'd in Asia an Earthquake was almost as Common as the Yearly Revolutions of Summer and Winter And we took as little Notice of it as we did of Lightning Hail or Rain Besides one Mussulman encouraged another and the General Faith of True Believers confirm'd us all That we ought to be resign'd to God and to the Appointments of Eternal Destiny whether it were for Pleasure or Pain Good or Evil Life or Death But now I have been so long disus'd to these Convulsions of the Globe for I have not felt one above these Two and Twenty Years and am also separated from the Society of the Faithful that I am become like the rest of the World and even like these Infidels Timorous astonished void of Reason and of little or no Faith My Mind at first stagger'd as much as my Body when I was walking cross my Chamber and felt the Floor rock under me with that Singular Kind of Motion which no Humane Art or Force can imitate I soon concluded 't was an Earthquake but knew not how to bear that Thought with Indifference Death is familiar to me in any other Figure but that of being so surprizingly buried alive It appeared horrible to sink on a sudden into an Unknown Grave I knew not whither Perhaps I might fall into some Dark Lake of Water or it may be I might be drench'd in a River of Fire or be dash'd on a Rock For who can tell the Disposition of the Caverns below or what Sort of Apartments he shall find under the Surface of the Earth We walk on the Battlements of a Marvellous Structure a Globe full of Tremendous Secrets And whether Nature or Destiny Providence or Chance occasion the Ruptures that we find are made in divers Parts of the Earth it matters not much so long as we are in Danger of tumbling in Such a terrible Fall would put the best Philosopher in the World out of Humour and Spoil all his Reasoning I 'm sure 't would vex me thus in a Trice to be plundered of my Thoughts Which makes me either wonder at the Vanity of Empedocles if he threw himself into the flaming Chasm of Mount Aetna only for the Sake of being esteemed a God as the common Report is or gives me Reason to conclude he had some other End in his Venturous Leap Since 't is not probable that empty Fame could be esteemed by that Great Sage as his Final Happiness A much easier way had Aristotle who disgusted at his Ignorance of the Flux and Reflux of the Sea threw himself in to put an End to his Disquisitions if the Story be true But I can hardly believe the Stagyrite was such a Fool. I guess of other Men according to the Experience I have of my self I am as little sollicitous about Death as any Man yet I should be unwilling to hurle my self out of the World headlong without a Firm or a Tefta I love New Experiments but am not very fond of such as take from us irrecoverably the means of trying any more We had News here of an Earthquake which has overthrown Part of the Pyrenaean Mountains some Days before this happened at Paris but few regarded it Calamities at a Distance frighten No-body Yet those which we feel put us all in Tears For my Part it has this Effect on me that I am improved in my Carelessness and become fearful of Nothing And I think there is Reason on my Side since all my Care Apprehension and Forecast can never defend me from the Underminings of the Omnipotent Paris 15th of the 11th Moon of the Year 1660. LETTER XIV To Hamet Reis Effendi Principal Secretary of the Ottoman Empire LET not the Distance of Time between my Letters prompt thee to conclude I forget my Duty or that I am careless to oblige so Illustrious a Friend I have many Obligations to discharge and therefore endeavour to husband my Hours to the best Advantage and so to divide my Dispatches That the Grand Signior may be served the Divan inform'd of all Material Emergencies and the Expectations of each Minister gratified As to the Reign of Lewis XIII It was shar'd successively between the Marshal D' Ancre the Duke of Luines and Cardinal Richlieu The First was the Queen-Mother's Favourite the Second was the King's As for the Third he was absolute Master both of King Queen and Kingdom During the King's Minority indeed Queen Mary de Medicis the Relict of Henry IV. took the Regency into her own Hands and managed Things in an Arbitrary Manner But the Princes of the Blood with other Grandees not able to brook the Government of a Woman conspired against her Among these were the Prince of Conde Father to the present Prince and the Duke of Bovillon The Former was a Bold Man and durst do any Thing that was Brave The Latter was a Cunning Statesman They Caball'd not so privately but the Queen-Mother was acquainted with their Meetings and the Duke of Bovillon was the First who knew his Party was betrayed This Intelligence was brought him from assured Hands whilst he was sitting with the Prince of Conde and other Nobles at the Place of their Private Rendezvous Whereupon he acquainted them with it exhorting all to abscond immediately lest they should be seized on the Spot But they retorting
Purse up-side down with t'other Hand and scattering the Gold among his Favourites would add This is my Humour Once as he was passing on Foot through a Town in France under his Father's Government the Chief Magistrate of the Place who was an Old Man met him and begun to make an Oration with the best Rhetorick he could But the Prince being in a Frolicksom Humour took Advantage of a very low Conge the Old Gentleman made him and leap'd over his Head and stood still behind him The Magistrate not taking any Notice of this wild Prank turned very gravely about and address'd himself with a new Obeisance but not so low as the Former However the Nimble Prince catch'd him upon the Half-Bent and setting his Hands on the Old Monsieur's Shoulders whipt over again the second Time Which quite spoil'd his intended Speech to the great Diversion of all the Spectators In his Youth he was much addicted to Women and took a peculiar Delight in debauching Nuns Which occasion'd the Queen-Mother to reflect on him something Satyrically once when he inform'd her that the Suisse Souldiers were guilty of great Disorders some of them getting into the Nunneries and violating the Chastity of those Consecrated Females For the Queen replied If you had told me they broke into the Wine-Cellars I would believe you for the Suisses are all known Drunkards But as for Amours with Nuns none is so likely to make 'em as the Duke of Enguien However all that I have said hinders not but that he is now a Prudent Man a good General and Fortunate in recovering his Sovereign's Favour In a Word this Court is so overjoyed at the Marriage of their King with the Infanta of Spain that they have no Room left for peevish Resentments All Crimes are forgiven And the Devil himself would be welcome at the Wedding provided he would be debonair and good Company The Nuptials are only Celebrated by Proxy as yet But here are vast Preparations making for the compleating the Ceremony What the Issue of this Marriage and Peace will be 't is not easy to divine But I doubt the Christians are hatching Evil against the Ottoman Port in Regard all the Princes in Europe are coming to an Agreement Illustrious Kaimacham Let not this Intimation pass away as a Dream For I tell thee again these Infidels are plotting of Mischief Paris 1st of the 7th Moon of the Year 1660. LETTER IX To the same I Believe thou wilt now receive from me the earliest News of a Mighty Change a Surprizing Revolution in the English Government Know then that he whom I have so often mention'd under the Title of King of the Scots in my Former Letters the Eldest Son and Rightful Heir of the British Kingdoms ' Charles II. is restor'd to the Throne of his Father's without Violence or Blood-shed by the Unanimous Consent and Earnest Desire of his Subjects This Young Prince has been an Exile for Twelve Years in Foreign Courts and has heard of as many several Alterations in the State of his Dominions during his Absence every Change producing a New Form of Government The Rebels had run over all Aristotle's Politicks and the Various Models of Plato and other Philosophers who treated of Common-Wealths to find out such Patterns as best suited with the Necessities and Genius of that Nation There is not a Species of Aristocracy Democracy and Oligarchy which they did not put in Practice to support the Frame of that Government whose Basis they had remov'd for it was founded on a Monarchy of a long and Hereditary Descent And therefore all their most Artificial Contrivances were Ineffectual and they might as well have endeavoured to make Buttresses for a Castle in the Air. In a Word the English found themselves so disjointed and weaken'd by Civil Wars Taxes and the other Usual Effects of Usurpation and Tyranny that they had no other Way left to save their Nation from utter Ruine but by bringing their Lawful King back again who is the Angular Stone whereon all their Welfare and Interest is built There is one Thing Remarkable in this Turn of English Affairs That their Sovereign landed and made his Triumphant Entry into that Island on the Anniversary Day of his Birth Which puts me in Mind of what is Generally discoursed here at Paris That on the Day of his Nativity there was seen a Bright Star in the Heavens when the Sun was just above the Meridian From hence the Astrologers of those Times predicted great Things concerning him And those of the Present Age who have seen his Fortunate Return to his Kingdoms presage yet greater Events to come God only knows what Embryo's are in the Womb of Futurity and we Mussulmans have no Reason to rejoyce at the Grandeur of any of these Infidel Princes Yet such a Sign as that of a Star appearing at Noon-Day just over the Place where a Mighty Queen was in Labour with a Prince has Something in it Extraordinary and full of Promising Circumstances It was an Appearance of this Nature which render'd the Birth of the Messias so Illustrious tho' otherwise obscure enough when the Eastern Magi directed by such a Star came and found Mary the Mother of Jesus in a Stable and the Infant-Prophet lying in a Manger instead of a Cradle So we are told That Eclipses of the Sun portend the Misfortune or Death of Great Personages and that all other Prodigies whether in Heaven or Earth have their proper Signification But whether these Observations be true or no 't is certain this late banished Prince is return'd with Abundance of Splendor and Advantage to his Native Royal Possessions And I thought it would be a Grand Neglect in me to let one Post-Day pass before I gave thee an Account of a Revolution so astonishing to all Europe and which is like to give a New Turn to the Affairs of most Christian Princes and States Besides I know there is an Ambassador from England residing at the August Port which determines the Quarrels of all the Nations on Earth There are also Abundance of English Merchants in the Imperial City They may have Feuds among one another The Interest of some of them is joyn'd with that of the English Rebels others are for their King Therefore knowing of his Restauration thou wilt be better able to adjust all Matters of this Nature according to Reason Equity and the Honour of the Majestick Port. For this King makes already a greater Figure than any of his Progenitors and therefore his Friendship is not to be contemn'd The Care of these Things rests on thee who art the Vicars Vicar of the Vicegerent of God Paris 3d. of the 7th Moon of the Year 1660. LETTER X. To Mehemet an Exil'd Eunuch at Caire in Egypt OH that I were in one of the Pyramids near the City where thou residest shut up in Tremendous Darkness in the most Obscure and Horrible Vault of the Royal Pile That I might converse with the Ghosts
the King as the fittest Man to succeed him in the Management of the Publick He was after the Death of Lewis XIII at first opposed by several Grandees but the Queen's Authority and that of the Prince of Conde supported him Whence arose a Common Proverb in those Days The Queen permits All the Cardinal Commands All and the Prince puts All in Execution For this last had then the Office of General This Minister was not esteem'd so Covetous as his Predecessor yet he heap'd up Vast Treasures Part of which he bestow'd in Magnificent Buildings and Furniture the Rest he sent into Italy to his Father who astonish'd at the Prodigious Quantities of Gold he receiv'd us'd to say Sure it rains Money in France However he made himself Odious to the Subjects of this Nation by his Continual Oppressions and they are glad he is gone 'T is a By-Word at Rome when any Pope dies to say Now the Dog is dead all his Malice is buried with him But I doubt it will not prove true in the Court of France at this Juncture For the King will either find a Minister Equal in Subtlety to the Deceas'd Cardinal who shall supply his Place or he will take the Administration of Affairs into his own Hands Be it which Way it will we are like to see the same Maxims pursu'd so long as Cardinal Richlieu's Memoirs are in Being who first taught this Crown to understand its own Strength Paris 14th of the 3d. Moon of the Year 1661. LETTER II. To the Vizir Azem at the Port. I Have sent a Dispatch to the Mufti acquainting him with the Death of the Cardinal Mazarini First Minister of State and the Greatest Favourite that ever liv'd Now I will inform thee of some Passages which I omitted in my Letter to that Venerable Prelate It is Necessary for me thus to distribute my Intelligence with a due respect to the different Quality of my Superiours Thou I suppose wilt require some Account of his Disposition and Morals with such a Character as may render this Great Genius familiar to thy Knowledge He seemed to place his chief Happiness in aggrandizing his Master whom he serv'd with a Zeal so pure and disinteress'd a Loyalty so Incorruptible and by such regular Methods of Prudence and Policy as if in his Days nothing were to be counted Vertue or Vice but what either favour'd or oppos'd the King of France's Interest He was of a Happy Constitution for a Courtier being by Nature Debonair Complaisant Affable and of a Sweet Deportment Yet Experience and Art taught him to improve these Advantages to the Height of Dissimulation You should see Courtesie and extraordinary Goodness flowing into every Feature of his Face You should hear Words breathing from his Mouth like the soft Benedictions of an Angel Yet at the same Time his Heart gave the Lye to Both. He meant nothing less than that a Man should find him as good as his Word He was ever ready to promise any Thing that was demanded of him But in Performance slow and full of Excuses Frugal of his Prince's Money and Liberal of his own Magnificent in his Buildings and the Furniture belonging to them Aiming in all Things to exceed other Men his Equals and in some to surpass even Mighty Princes his Superiours In a Word he was accomplish'd with all Qualifications requisite in a Fortunate Courtier and a good Statesman Yet after all this Sublime Genius yielded to Death But not like Common Mortals He died altogether like himself without so much as changing that settled Gravity and Serene Air of his Face as had been Remarkable during his Life He made the King Heir of his Estate and bequeathed abundance of Legacies To say all in Brief If he was Great in his Life he was much more so in his Death mingling his last Breath with the Sighs and Tears of the King who lamented his Departure with the Mourning of a Son for a Father Paris 26th of the 3d. Moon of the Year 1661. LETTER III. To Pesteli Hali his Brother Master of the Customs at Constantinople YEsterday a Dispatch came to my Hand from a very Remote Part of the Earth Our Cousin Isouf sent it from Astracan a Famous City for Traffick formerly belonging to the Crim Tartars but now in the Possession of the Moscovites He has been there a Considerable Time finding Profit by Merchandise For there is a vast Resort to that City from China Indostan Persia Moscovy and other Provinces of Europe and Asia The Roads to it are daily covered with the Caravans of Trading People And the River Volga can hardly sustain the Innumerable Multitude of Vessels that Transport Passengers with their Goods backwards and forwards between Astracan and the Regions round about the Caspian Sea into which that Mighty River discharges it self Isouf is Ingenious and has pitch'd upon some Advantageous Way of enriching himself which tempts him to take up his Abode in that City and there end his Travels or at least he will repose himself there till Fortune presents him with a fairer Opportunity of encreasing his Wealth In the mean Time I perceive by his Letter that he gets Money apace lives very happily and has the Wit to keep himself free from the Yoke of Marriage which embarass'd him so much formerly He soon put that troublesome Wife out of his Mind after he had Divorc'd her and he never fail'd to gratify himself with new Amours where-ever he came in his Travels He writes very Comically and I can't forbear smiling when he tells me He has had as many Concubines as the Grand Signior By which thou wilt perceive That Isouf is much addicted to Gallantry He frankly confesses That he first learned this Mode of loving at large in Persia especially at Ispahan where he says 't is a Mark of Honour for a Man to be good at Intriguing with the Ladies And he is call'd a Turk by way of Disgrace who frequents not every Evening the Gardens and Houses of Pleasure in the Suburbs But he adds that in India the Liberty of courting Women is much greater And that the very Nature of that Climate disposes a Man to this soft Passion In a word our Amorous Kinsman retains the same Humour still Yet this does not hinder him from prosecuting his necessary Affairs with Diligence and Alacrity He dispatch'd a Business for me at Archangel in Russia and another at Mosco very dexterously Which convinces me that he is not less Sedulous and Careful in Things which concern himself He says the Moscovites are the greatest Drunkards in the World Their Chief and most beloved Liquor is what the French call The Water of Life 'T is a Chymical Drink extracted from the Lees of Wine or other Strong Beverages such as thou know'st is common among the Greeks Armenians and Franks in the Levant When the Moscovites are once got into a House where this Nectar is Sold and are a little warm'd and elevated with it they will not
Second Repeal Which was granted him And then he took a wet Sponge and wip'd off all the Varnish he had daub'd on the Picture And the Crucifix appeared the same in all Respects as it was before The Pope who looked on this as a great Secret being Ignorant of the Arts which Painters use was ravished at the strange Metamorphosis And to reward the Painter's treble Ingenuity he absolv'd him from all his Sins and the Punishments due to them ordering moreover his Steward to cover the Picture all over with Gold as a farther Gratuity for the Painter And they say this Crucifix is the Original by which the most famous Crucifixes in Europe are drawn I need make no other Reflection on this Than that as the Suppos'd Murder of Jesus the Son of Mary is the Source of all the Christians Devotion so the real Homicide which this Painter committed has made it more intense and fervent by how much the Crucifixes drawn after this Pattern excel all that were seen before them in the Tragical Portraiture of the Martyr'd Messias And from this Reason it is that Painters are in so great esteem among the Italians because they form the Gods which those Infidels Adore It is no wonder therefore that the Chief Head of their Church should so easily Absolve Murder in a Painter as a Venial Sin especially when it is done in Ordine ad Deum as the Jesuits say that is to promote God's Glory as the Pope easily persuaded himself this was Since Idolatry is the main Engine which supports the State and Grandeur of the Roman Court And all the World knows that Holy City is a Type of Heaven or at least the Crafty Priests would fain represent it so My Friend thou and I have seen enough of their Tricks and Holy Frauds in Sicily Praise be to God they had not Power to pervert us Our Faith remains inviolate We still possess the Integrity of Mussulmans the Native Attach we owe to the Prophet who was sent to Exterminate Idols In a word we Adore none but One God Creator of the Worlds May that Incomprehensible for ever keep us in the same Faith and Practice till the Release of our Souls Paris 13th of the 9th Moon of the Year 1661. LETTER VIII To Lubano Abufei Saad an Egyptian Knight THIS Court is now at Fontainbleau and all seems to be dissolv'd in Joy for the Birth of a Dauphin The Queen was delivered of this Young Prince on the First Day of this Moon There 's Nothing but Feasting Dancing and Revelling on this Account with Bonefires and Congratulatory Addresses Only the Duke of Orleans the King's Brother has little Reason to be over-merry since he was the next Presumptive Heir of the Crown in Case the King died without Issue Male For the Laws of France exclude a Female from Reigning Yet this Duke dissembles his Inward Grief for being thus put by his Hopes and appears as Joyful as the Father himself He huggs and admires the Royal Babe wishing him Health and Long Life in a Compliment whom he really could rather wish out of the World or at least that he had never come into it So violent are the Temptations to a Crown so strong the Desire of Empire That the Nearness of Relation which endears the Rest of Mortals one to another enranges the Hearts of Princes from those of their own Blood if they stand in the Way of their Ambition And I can assure thee the French do not spare to say the Duke of Orleans has enough of this Vice to attempt great Things were not his Genius over-aw'd by the Matchless Fortune and Spirit of his Brother Neither is the King himself Insensible of this remembring with what Warmth the Duke received the Flattering Addresses of some Courtiers during his Brother's dangerous Sickness when the Physicians had well-nigh given him over for a Dead Man I was acquainted with this Passage but lately by Osmin the Dwarf who watches all the Motions of this Court. He tells me that the King being inform'd a Rumour was whispered among the Grandees of his Death caused them all to be sent for and to pass through his Chamber whilst the Curtains of his Bed were drawn open that they might see their Sovereign alive tho' in a bad State of Health He says moreover That the true Reason why several Lords of late have been removed from their Offices about the King is because he resented ill the too early and passionate Court they made to the Duke of Orleans on the Report of his Brother's Death 'T is natural to all Men to love themselves and to desire the Disposal of their own Affairs No Man would be content to have his Estate given away by his Servants at their own Discretion And Sovereign Monarchs are the most Jealous of all Men in such Cases Particularly the King of France is known to be a Prince very sensible of his Honour and soon touched in that Point by the least Appearance of Dis-respect in his Subjects and of Encroachment in his Neighbours As for the Duke of Orleans he is a Prince of no great Character either as a Souldier or a Statesman Neither has he been much talked of in the World till the Beginning of this Year when he Married an English Princess by Name Henrietta Daughter to the late Murder'd King of that Nation We have had another Match here also between the late Duke of Orleance's Daughter and the Prince of Toscany These things occasion various Discourse among those who pretend to weigh exactly the different Interests of Christian Courts especially of such as are concerned in the New Alliances For the Greatest Monarchs here in the West marry only for Profit and Advantage to Fortify themselves by a closer Union with the House to which they are Ally'd Whereas our Eastern Princes only indulge their Passions in the Choice of their Wives admitting none to their Embraces but the most Exquisite Beauties that can be found And where they once pitch their Phancy they neither regard Riches Honour or any other Recommendation save what their Love suggests being themselves Inexhaustible Fountains of Wealth Nobility and good Fortune to all who have the Happiness to be in their Favour They scorn to sell themselves and prostitute the Glory of their Diadems to a Foreign Prince for the Sake of a little Gold and much Trouble with a proud Female whom perhaps they never saw Yet this is the common Practice among the Princes of the Nazarene Belief Who consider not that instead of a Wife a Partner of their Empire and a Friend they often entertain a Snake a Traytor an Enemy Especially if she be a Woman of Wit and Intrigue as most of them are This made the now Queen-Mother the Relict of Lewis XIII suspected by her Husband and the present Queen of France is under the like Circumstances And it will always be so where Princes Match themselves after this manner and cannot debar their Wives from holding a
the Eâ—… of Asia and Letters with them are as significant as Words with the Europeans They shew'd him Globes and Maps of the World done by several Hands and in various Languages with particular Charts of all the Maritine Regions on Earth But to no other Purpose than to excite his Devotion afresh to the Moon whose Resemblance he saw on some of those Papers He wou'd smile at that Sight kiss his Fore-finger and with a Religious Complaisance touch the Figure of that Planet Then seeming to be in a wonderful good Humour he wou'd turn round and fall a dancing with his Arms stretch'd and turn'd in the same Posture as those who use Castanets or Cymbals Singing all the while a Sort of inarticulate Sounds but surprizingly Musical and Sweet So that No-body knew what to make of him He appear'd very temperate modest and resign'd refusing no Meats or Drinks that were offer'd him yet neither eat nor drank to Excess Neither was he discontented at his Lodging or any other Usage though they tried to vex him several Ways that they might see how he would vent his Passion But he smiled at all and submitted patiently to every Thing they impos'd on him One thing was observable That where-ever he saw any Water he wou'd run to it immediately and wash himself as well as he cou'd in those Circumstances never forgetting to sprinkle some toward that Part of the Heaven where the Moon was visible And when they led him into the Fields or Gardens he wou'd crop the Grass and Flowers and with a compos'd Look wou'd throw them up in the Air adding such Reliious Gestures as convinc'd every one That he did it in Honour of some Power above Various were the Conjectures of Men about him some were of one Opinion and others of a quite different No-Body cou'd positively conclude any Thing Neither is it possible as I 'm inform'd for the Wisest Men in those Parts to find out this Mystery Perhaps he 's such another as Imaum Rapibabet a Persian Writer mentions who in the Year of the Hegira 502. was taken up by a Merchant-Ship of India in the Streights of Babel-Mandel pretending to be dumb but capable of Hearing Writing and expressing himself several other Ways if any Body cou'd have understood his Language At last he was found to be an Ethiopian Slave run away from his Master an Ingenious Fellow and one that spoke all the Languages of those Parts and therefore that he might be admir'd wou'd be sure to write in a Character of his own Invention which the greatest Sages cou'd not read Mighty Bassa thou encounterest on that Element with strange Monsters and Creatures under no Name or Predicament that is known yet none so terrible and dangerous as Cheats and Impostors From which I pray Heaven defend thee and me For they infest both the Sea and Land Paris 17th of the 2d Moon of the Year 1663. LETTER XXI To Nathan Ben Saddi a Jew 〈◊〉 Vienna THE Term of our long mutual Silence enjoyn'd us by our Superiours is now happily expir'd and we have with good Success manag'd our separate Parts without holding any Cerrespondence together This was only a Tryal of our Fidelity Conduct and Obedience Or perhaps 't was no more than a Caprice of Policy or a vain Whim of State For 't is usual with great Men thus to practise Experiments on those whom they design to employ in the most important Affairs Whatever it be we have acquitted our selves like Trusty Slaves and that 's enough for us This comes to thy Hand by an Armenian Merchant One in whom I confide Here are Abundance of that Nation in Paris and other Parts of France They travel up and down from one Country and City to another under the Pretext of Trading but are really Spies sent from the Princes of the East to observe the Counsels of these Western Courts the Designs of Nazarene Monarchs and to take an exact Estimate of the Strength and Riches of these Infidels For though they outwardly profess themselves to be Followers of Jesus yet in their Hearts they believe the Alcoran and Honour Mahmut our Holy-Lawgiver There is a Kind of Magick in Truth which forcibly carries the Mind along with it Men readily embrace the Dictates of sincere Reason Yet those of thy Nation are obstinate and shut their Eyes wilfully against the very Light of Nature You over-value your selves and your Lineage because you are the Posterity of Isaac the Son of Sarah the Free-Woman and Wife of Ibrahim reproaching us that we are the Off-spring of Ismael the Son of Hagar a Concubine and Slave You consider not that Ismael was the Eldest Son of that Glorious Patriarch and that by the Law of Moses it is enacted That the First-born Son shall inherit his Fathers Patrimony though he were the Son of a base abject Slave or hated Concubine Did Moses make a Law contrary to that of his Fathers Or cou'd Ibrahim the Beloved of God do any thing contrary to the Divine Will How then cou'd he be guilty of disinheriting Ismael his Eldest Son the Flower of his Strength and First-Fruit of his Vigor Doubtless the Majesty and Light of God which pass'd from Adam to Seth Enoch Noah and Ibrahim rested also on Ismael Heir Apparent of the Divine Promises Father of many Princes and Noble Nations Let those therefore of thy Nation cease to boast of their Pedigree and exalt themselves above the Victorious and Triumphant Ismaelites Children of a high Stock a Race wherein shines forth the Lustre of the Ancient Renown and the Right of Primogeniture A Lineage of Illustrious Honour multiply'd as the Leaves of the Trees numerous as the Stars of Heaven prosperous in all Things by the Special Benediction of God Whereas thou knowest the Israelites never made any great Figure on Earth and are now reputed no better than Vagabonds throughout the World Your Rabbi's reply to this by owning that our Father Ismael was indeed a Great Prince but that he was withal a Wild and Salvage Man who supported his Nobility and Grandeur by Rapine and Blood dwelling altogether in Desarts and unfrequented Places robbing the Caravans of Merchants and Travellers oppressing the Poor and murdering the Innocent In Fine they give this Character of him That his Hand was against every Man and every Man's Hand against him To this Accusation they also add another That the Princes of the East who descend from Ismael have all along even to this Day established their Thrones in Cruelty Massacres and Patricides Fathers bereaving their Children of the Lives they gave 'em and Children putting their Parents to Death Brothers murdering Brothers and sacrificing their nearest Relations to the Maxims of a Barbarous Policy the Restless Suspicions of State And that all this is more especially manifest in the Sublime House of the invincible Ottomans These are the Charges of Hebrew Spight the Slanders which your Doctors cast on the Progeny of Ibrahim even on Ismael and his Children
to this Day But I would have thee Nathan reflect impartially on Things and suffer not thy Judgment to be imposed on by the Sophistry of your Scribes Look back to the Primitive Times of Israel examine the Written Law the Records of Moses and the Seniors There thou wilt meet with frequent Examples of those very Crimes which you lay to our Charge true Parallels of the supposed Tyranny and Inhumane Actions with which you tax the unblemished Ismaelites Did not your Father Jacob supplant his own eldest Brother Esau Did he not cheat his Uncle Laban of his Sheep What was wanting to him of Ismael's Valour and Fierceness he supplied with a Fox-like Craft and Subtilty Yet how often did he plunder the Children of Hamor And boasted afterwards of the Preys he had taken from them with his Bow and Spear When your Fathers came out of Egypt what a Carnage did Moses their Leader commit when he commanded the Sons of Levi to arise with their Swords in their Hands and every Man to kill his Brother his Friend and his Neighbour so that there fell that Day at the Foot of Mount Sinai Three and Twenty Thousand Men Yet for the Sake of this detestable Tragedy he bless'd 'em saying You have consecrated your Hands this day in Blood every Man in the Blood of his Neighbour Behold the Original of your Priesthood which is the Highest Rank of Nobility among the Jews Remember how your Fathers almost cut off the whole Race of Benjamin so that there were not above Six Hundred Men of that Tribe left alive Forget not also how Abimelech of the Tribe of Menasse got the Sovereignty by Massacring Seventy of his own Brothers on one Stone Your own Records say That God gave you Kings in his Wrath among whom there was not one who was not a Man of Blood And in the whole Catalogue you can scarce find Four who were not tainted with Sacrilege Idolatry and other enormous Vices In a Word Nathan both the Sons of Ismael and Isaac were but Men and if thou hast nothing else to object against the Former but what thou must confess the latter were equally guilty of I advise thee henceforth to lay thy Hand upon thy Mouth and cease to speak Evil of those against whom No-Man can sharpen his Tongue or Pen and prosper Paris 22d of the 2d Moon of the Year 1663. LETTER XXII To the same I Concluded my other Letter something imperfectly and short of my Design being interrupted by a sudden Deluge of Humours overflowing my Eyes accompanied with a Tempest in my Head which at once took from me the Power of thinking regularly and of seeing how to Write I am often subject to these Weaknesses of late and to many other Maladies My Body sensibly decays Age and Care Watching and Sickness with a Thousand Casualties beside have almost dissolv'd this congeal'd Medly of the Elements Methinks I aw now no more than a poor Skeleton to which Nature and Fortune have left a dry wither'd Skin for Modesty's Sake to cover its Nakedness with a few evacuated Veins and Arteries shrunk Sinews Tendons Muscles and Cartilages to tack this Machine of Bones together and keep it in Motion In a Word I seem to my self to be only a Hobgoblin or Ghost in Disguize I cannot say Incarnate for I 've lost all my Flesh but only bagg'd or clouted up in the most contemptible Shreds Rags and antiquated Reliques of Mortality like a Maudlin or Scare-crow I hang together by Geometry Yet such as I am at these Years I still possess at certain Seasons more serene and vigorous Thoughts than in the Days of my Youth when I was full of Marrow and good Blood I can feel my Soul sometimes fluttering her Wings and briskly shaking off the heavy slimy Cloggs of Earth of Sleep and of enchanted Life or living Death She struts and plumes herself she mounts aloft and glides in Happy though but Momentary Foretastes of Eternal Bliss And then lur'd down again by Charms of her accustom'd Ease and Pleasure in the Flesh she comes to Hand at Call and being hood-wink'd from the Radiant Light of Heaven she tamely perches on the meanest sensual Appetite which easily conveys her to her wonted Darkness This is the changeable State of Mortals and we must not expect a fixed Condition on this side the Sepulcher The Noble and the Vulgar are equally liable to these Inconstancies of Spirit neither can the most exalted State of Sovereign Monarchs Privilege them from the common Frailties of Mankind They are no otherwise distinguished from the Meanest of their Slaves than only by the Vastness of their Possessions their numerous Retinue their unlimited Power and the vain Pageantry of external Honour If we examine the Origin of Nobility and Royal Grandeur if we trace the Genealogies of Princes and Potentates up to their Fountain we shall find the First Fathers of these noisy Pedigrees to be cruel Butchers of Men Oppressors Tyrants Perfidious Truce-breakers Robbers and Parricides In a Word the most Primitive Nobility was no other than Potent Wickedness or dignified Impiety And all the successive Continuations of it by Inheritance Election or otherwise even to those Modern Times are but so many Traducts of exorbitant Power and Honour acquir'd and propagated by the most enormous Vices by Practices unworthy of Men and of which the Authors themselves are always asham'd Therefore they cover their unjust Encroachments and Invasions with the specious Pretexts of Justice and Vertue calling that Conquest which is no other than down-right Robbery and professing themselves Patrons of Mens Liberties and Rights Religion and Laws whilst in Effect they are the greatest Oppressors Hypocrites Atheists and Out-laws in the World This is not only true in the Race of Ismael and Isaac of whom I made mention in my other Letter but in all the Families which have ever made any eminent Figure and Noise in the World What were the Four renowned Monarchies but so many Empires of Banditi Governments of Free-booters Pyrates and Licens'd Thieves As Diomedes told Alexander the Great I says he because I play the private Corsair and cruise up and down the Seas with one single Ship am accus'd as a Pyrate Thou that dost the same Thing with a mighty Fleet art call'd an Emperour If thou wert alone and a Captive as I am they wou'd esteem thee no better than a Thief And were I at the Head of a numerous Army as thou art I shou'd be reverenc'd as an Emperour For as to the Justice of our Cause there is no other Difference but this That thou dost more Mischief than I. Misfortune has compell'd me to be a Thief whereas nothing but an intolerable Pride and insatiable Avarice puts thee upon the same Course of Life If Fortune wou'd prove more favourable to me perhaps I might become better Whereas thy continual Successes make thee but the worse Alexander admiring the Boldness of the Man and the Resoluteness of his Spirit gave
him a Command in his Army that so he might rob and Plunder from thenceforth by Authority But I shou'd have begun higher in Antiquity with the Empire of the Assyrians founded by Ninus in the Blood and Slaughter Ruine and Destruction of all his Neighbours and increas'd after the same Methods by his Wife Semiramis who begging of her Husband that she might reign for Five Days and he granting her Request she put on the Royal Ornaments and sitting on the Throne of uncontroulable Majesty commanded the Guards to degrade and kill her Husband Which being done she succeeded in the Empire adding Aethiopia to her other Dominions carrying a War into India and encompassing Babylon with a Magnificent Wall at last was kill'd by her Son Ninyas Thus was the Assyrian Monarchy established in Regicides Massacres and Carnage And by the same Methods 't was translated by Arbactus to the Medes He having caus'd Sardanapalus the last and most effeminate of all the Assyrian Kings to die in the midst of his Concubines Thus was Treachery and Murder handed down with the Sovereign Power till at length Cyrus the Persian transferr'd them to his Country Whose Son Cambyses rais'd the Second Vniversal Monarchy on the additional Ruines of many other Kingdoms cementing it with the Blood of his Brother and his Son Yet after all it was translated to the Macedonians by Alexander the Great not without an equal Guilt of Parricide and other Exorbitant Vices From whom at last it devolv'd to the Romans What need I mention the scandalous Birth of Romulus and Remus the Twin-Sons of an Incestuous Vestal Or their debauch'd Education under a common Prostitute fabulously veil'd by the Roman Historians under the Title of a Wolf to render the Origin of their Empire Miraculous Why shou'd I recount the Horrid Fratricide committed by Romulus on Remus his Brother or the celebrated Rape of Sabine Wives Virgins and Widows It will seem invidious to call to Mind the detestable Murder of Titus Tacius the Good old Captain of the Sabines with many other Barbarous Massacres Yet these enormous Crimes were the Foundations of the Roman Grandeur and Nobility so formidable afterwards to the whole Earth And the Superstructure was answerable through all the various Changes and Revolutions of Government even to the Reign of Augustus Caesar under whom Rome gain'd the Title of the Fourth Vniversal Monarchy This Emperour though he was esteem'd the most Merciful and Just Prince on Earth yet he establish'd his Throne in the Blood of his Kindred sacrificing the Children of his Uncle to the ends of State And that he might not deviate from the Royal Ingratitude of other Princes he barbarously extinguish'd the Off-spring of his Fathers Brother who had adopted him to the Inheritance of the Imperial Dignity Scorning by an unkingly Tenderness to spare the glorious Names of Antony and Cleopatra to whom he was so nearly related and who had invested him with the Power of being so inhumane I will not make thee sick by rehearsing the abominable Lives and wicked Actions of the Nero's Domitian's Caligula's Heliogabulus's Galienus's and the rest of those Royal Monsters History it self blushes to recite such Prodigies of Impiety and their very Names are odious to all Generations If we pass from these mighty Empires to Kingdoms of less Note we shall still trace the Foot-steps of the same Vices Both Ancient and Modern Records are full of these Tragedies The Original Kingdom of the Greeks took its Rise from the Parricide of Dardanus and the Female Empire of the Amazons began in the barbarous Massacre of their Husbands All Ages and Nations afford us Examples of this Nature and the highest Honours Dignities and Commands were ever acquir'd and maintain'd by the Highest Injustice Therefore Honest Nathan let thou and I never envy the Nobles and Grandees of the Earth but contented in our Humble Posts sitting under the Vmbrella's of a happy Obscurity let us serve the Grand Signior with Integrity and a Zeal void of Injustice Paris 22d of the 2d Moon of the Year 1663. LETTER XXIII To Codarafrad Cheik a Man of the Law THou wilt approve the Sentence that was Yesterday executed on a Frenchman in this City who said he was the Son of God and had perswaded a great many poor Ignorant People to believe him He was burnt alive for his Blasphemy and his Ashes kick'd into a Ditch Had he been convicted of this horrid Impiety in any of the Grand Signior's Dominions he had undergone the like or a more terrible Punishment For the Alcoran expresly says That God has neither Wife Son Daughter or Companion And that those shall suffer Eternal Pains who teach any such Doctrine Doubtless there is but One God and the Eternal Vnity cannot be divided or multiply'd to make more Gods in Faction or procreate an Off-spring of diminutive Dieties He the Father of all Things dwells in Eternal Solitude and from an Infinite Retirement beholds the Various Generations of the Vniverse they are all equally his Off-spring and 't is Blasphemy to affirm he has a Son or a Daughter or a Companion like unto himself For he is increated unbegotten and entire Sole Possessor of his Own Glory without Rival or Competitor There was none before him neither shall there be any after him He is without Beginning or End But these Infidels harbour strange Opinions about a Trinity of Gods and follow the Doctrines of Hermes Trismegistus Plato Plotinus and other Pagan Philosophers who asserted a Triad in the Deity and on that Basis founded all the Polytheism of the Gentiles Hence Pythagoras drew his Tetragrammaton by playing the Chymical Arithmetician and extracting a Quaternity out of Three But the Poets not puzzling their Heads with the Mysteries of these Divine and Vnintelligible Numbers deliver'd their Theology in plain gross Fictions suitable to the Capacities of the Vulgar One midwifing a Goddess out of Jupiter's Brains Another starting a God from his Thigh But this silly Fellow could not derive his Pedigree so near as from a Little Toe of the Divinity Therefore he was deservedly reduc'd to his First Atomes and spurn'd out of the World The French have various Kinds of Punishments for Malefactors but none more terrible than Breaking on the Wheel This is inflicted only on Notorious Criminals and the Manner is thus The Party condemn'd is fasten'd to a Wheel with his Arms and Legs extended to their full Length and Wideness Then comes the Executioner and with an Iron Bar breaks one Bone after another till the miserable Wretch is in the Agonies of Death and so he is left to expire in unutterable Torments For some Men of strong Constitutions will retain Life in this Condition for Twelve or more Hours together Honourable Codarafrad Though the Executions of the East are more swift and surprizing than those in the West yet they are not Comparable to them for Cruelty The worst Death being but a Minutes Pain Sage Cheick I reverence thy accomplish'd Knowledge
their Mother's Breasts Toil and Recreation with them are one and the same thing since they know no other Pleasure but what consists in Riding Fighting and Conquering or else in Death which they believe translates them to new Joys and those more poignant than they knew before Therefore they bravely court it at the Point of a Sword or the Mouth of a Cannon Nothing being more scandalous or hateful than a Coward among them I protest the very Idea of Palus Maeotis and Taurica Chersonesus with the Rest of those Horrible Fens and Marshes on the North of the Black Sea which encompass the Dominions of the Tartars affects me with a Passion or rather such a Medly of Passions as I know not how to name Those ample Desarts those untrack'd Solitudes appear to my Imagination like the Limits of this old Habitable World and the Frontiers of some new strange and unknown Region some Terra Incognita where an Universal Desolation and Silence keep their Seat for ever Where no Voices are heard but those of uncouth Satyrs Fauns and other Exotick Tenants of the Woods and Moors No other Sound but the whistling and roaring of the Winds No Prospect but that of Trees which have appear'd from the Infancy of Time and where those are wanting the Eye is wearied in a long endless Waste which nothing seems to bound but the declining Arch of distant Skies or low black melancholy Clouds skirted with Mists and Fogs Eternal Mantles of the Northern Climes This is the Figure of those solitary Tracts where I wou'd chuse to live rather than in a City which stifles me with too much Plenty of every Thing but fresh Air and honest People Isouf the Contrarieties which we find in Earthly Things give a Gust to each other And the most Magnificent Palace wou'd seem a Prison were a Man always confin'd to live in it Cousin I wish thee perpetual Liberty and Happiness Paris 7th of the 2d Moon of the Year 1665. LETTER XXI To Hamet Reis Effendi Principal Secretary of the Ottoman Empire AMidst the Variety of Obligations which I have to discharge I forget not to obey thy Commands I have already in my former Dispatches acquainted thee with the Characters and some Remarkable Passages of Henry IV. Lewis XIII Lewis XIV Cardinal Richlieu Cardinal Mazarini and the Prince of Conde Now I will say something of the Famous Mareschal de Turenne whose Fame reaches wheresoever the French Wars have been talk'd of for these Forty Years The Name of this great General is Henry de la Tour d' Auvergne Son to the Duke of Bouillon When his Father was near his Death he call'd for both his Sons whereof this was the youngest And among other Exhortations he recommended in a special Manner Three Things to their Practice Never to renounce or change their Religion Never to take up Arms against their Sovereign Nor to provoke the First Minister As to the First the Mareschal de Turenne has hitherto kept it inviolably but he has faulter'd in both the other having revolt-from his Master's Service during his Minority and oppos'd the Interest of Cardinal Mazarini when the Parliament persecuted that Minister However this hinders not but that he is a Great Souldier and besides he is since reconcil'd to the King He seems to be born for Martial Affairs And they relate of him That when he was but Ten Years Old and his Governour missing him had sought up and down every where for him he at length found him fast asleep on a Cannon which he seem'd to embrace with his little Arms as far as they wou'd reach And when he ask'd why he chose such a Couch to lie on he made Answer That he design'd to have slept there all Night to convince his Father that he was hardy enough to undergo the Fatigues of War though the Old Duke had often perswaded himself to the Contrary And to speak the Truth no Man was more Careless of his Body than this Prince At Fourteen Years of Age he was sent into Holland to serve in the Army under the Prince of Orange who was his Uncle There he apply'd himself to all the Discipline of War doing the Duty of a Private Soldier Which is the common Way that Cadets or Younger Brothers take to rise to the most Eminent Offices He was equally forward in Labours and Perils never shunning any Fatigue or Hazard which might bring him Glory yet he was not rash the Common Vice of Youth but temper'd all his Actions with an extraordinary Prudence and Solidity of Judgment beyond what was expected from him at those Years Yet on the other Side his Counsels were not slow and Flegmatick being of a very ready Forecast and he seldom fail'd in his Contrivances He was soon promoted to a Place of Command And the Exactness of his Conduct rais'd him a vast Reputation so that by Degrees he at last arriv'd to that Height of Power and Honour he now possess He appears Indefatigable in his Body and of an Invincible Resolution He hates Flatterers that think to gain his Friendship by praising him And is equally averse from making Use of such fawning Insinuations to others though the Greatest Princes of the Blood or the First Minister himself He has also a certain Stedfastnese of Spirit which cannot be warp'd by any Artificial Addresses though made to his own apparent Advantage if they propose to him any Thing that has the least Semblance of what is base and dishonourable Thus he wou'd never consent that the Honour of taking Dunkirk some Years ago should be ascrib'd to Cardinal Mazarini tho' that Minister privately courted him to it offering him the Greatest Commands in the Kingdom if he would do him that Service and the Mareschal knew it might prove his Ruin if he did not Yet such was his Integrity and Love to the Truth that by no means would he be brought to condescend to this Meaness of Spirit Yet perhaps it might only proceed from the Aversion which in those Days he had for the Cardinal Many times it is evident That a Natural Passion is made to pass for a Moral Vertue Besides perhaps he was unwilling to be depriv'd of the Glory due to him for that Important Service He is a Man of few words and so secret in all his Counsels that no-body knows any thing of his Designs till he puts them in Execution Every Man esteems him the most Liberal Prince of this Age having no other Regard for Money than as it serves the Necessities of his Family and enables him to oblige his Friends In a Word whatever Vices he may have he is yet endu'd with so many Good Qualities and Vertues that he is belov'd by all the Nation and in Particular Favour with his Sovereign who treats him not as a Subject but as one of his most intimate Friends May God who has rais'd up this Great Genius to aggrandize the French Monarchy continually supply the Grand Signior with Valiant and
Salvation all that are not within the Pale of the Roman Church I am a Christian and a Chatholick as well as you I honour the Apostles and Martyrs with all the Primitive Saints Confessors and Holy Doctors of the Church But I can never be perswaded that a Man for being a Murderer Traytor an Inventor of Cruel Devices or a learned Sycophant can merit Heaven tho' he may be rank'd in the Red Lines of the Calendar Much less can I believe that all Men shall be Damn'd who are not in Communion with the Bishop of Rome Certainly the Catholick or Vniversal Church is not shut up within the Narrow Confines of the shattered Roman Empire Consider Greece Armenia Egypt Moscovy Aethiopia and all the Spacious Territories of Europe and the East How many Millions daily say the Pater-Noster and pray in Jesus's Name yet never paid Obedience to any but their own Patriarchs and Bishops Were not all the Apostles equally in Commission were not the Churches they founded and establish'd equally Holy and Orthodox Where then commenc'd the Mighty Schism but in the morose Pride of Victor who for the Sake of Paschal Niceties affronted all the Churches in the World and was for that Reason severely reprov'd by a French Bishop of his own Obedience besides the Reprimands of Polycarp and other Prelates of the East Was not St. John the Beloved that rested his Head with Divine Honour on the Breast of Christ as privy to the Laws of his Master as Peter Paul or any other Abortive Apostle Remember the First General Council at Jerusalem where James the Brother of our Lord sate President decreeing Abstinences exactly opposite to the present Roman Faith and Practice And believe at the same time that 't was Imperial Vanity and Pride which first begot the Fatal Separation Heresy was but the Bastard of the Apostolick Canons cherish'd and too much countenanc'd by Constantine and his Successors till the Fatal Time of Phocas whose untimely Death made all things ripe for the intended Usurpation Oh! Guicciardine How truly hast thou writ the State of Modern Rome Worthy as Horace of Eternal Honour Thy Faithful Prose equals his Courtly Verse and merits New Augustus's to Patronize it Believe me Father William I have no Spight or Enmity against the Roman High-Priest I reverence him equally with his Brethren the Patriarchs of Constantinople Jerusalem Alexandria and Antioch I would go beyond this for the sake of Conformity to Ancient Custom and in Obedience to the Celebrated Council of Nice I would willingly acknowledge him the Primate of the World Let him have the first Place in God's Name among the Patriarchs of the Vniversal Church But let him not ride on the Necks of his Equals Let him not pretend a Power to cancel the Apostolick Canons reverse the Traditions of the Fathers repeal the Decrees of General Councils dispense with the Laws of Nature Grace Reason Morality and the very Institutions of his Predecessors Men without Question as Infallible as he This is not the way to make Proselytes to the Roman Faith unless it be of Fools and Knaves The World has receiv'd New Lights Father William and Men begin to hiss Religious Bantering off the Stage Nay even they who are most guilty of it I mean the Roman Courtiers Cardinals and Priests cannot forbear laughing at the Folly and Credulous Easiness of those on whom they impose their Pious Frauds The bigotted Laity are by them esteemed no better than silly Asses tamely couching under the Burdens of their Ecclesiastick Lords and Drivers Therefore 't is time for thee to open thy Eyes lift up thy Head and lay aside Monastick Simplicity I do not Counsel thee to turn Libertine or imitate the Italian Gallantry which has taught the Priests instead of Sacred Continence to squint a Benediction on some Charming Lady from the Altar in the Name of Dominus Vobiscum or Sursum Corda even whilst they are preparing for Divine Revels to banquet on the Flesh and Blood of God Oh! Monstrous Perfidy and Execrable Profaneness Nor if thou art affronted and revengeful would I advise thee to time the Execution of thy Wrath like the Sicilian Vespers and make the Bells become the Signals of thy Cruelty which ought and were design'd and consecrated on purpose to drill on Harmless Souls to Church with their dull sleepy jangling Chimes and with their more Triumphant Lofty Musick on the Festivals of Saints to make devouter Christians dream they 're going to Heaven instead of to a Massacre I would not have thee hope to merit Paradise by sending thither in Obedience to the Pope or General of thy Order the Majestick Souls of Kings or Emperors in Vehicles of Sacred Poyson or Envenom'd Eucharists Believe that those Prelates Priests or Monks who are thus Divinely Profane and Mercifully Cruel shall become Mitered Vested Cowled Monsters in the fiercest and most violently glowing Dens of Hell there with the most exalted Arsenicks Mercuries and whatsoever gives the highest Pains to languish pine and rack away Ten Thousand Thousand Thousand Ages in Penances of slow Effect which expiate but very late the crying Sins of guilty Murderers and Bloody Hypocrites Yet such as these since Modern Times are the only Men thought worthy to be Canonized for Saints which made a certain Honest Cardinal cry out in Presence of the Pope These New Saints force me to doubt the Old ones Father William the same Thought begins and ends my Letter Yours was upon the stretch extolling far too high the Largeness of the Roman Church the Infallible Power of Popes the Miracles of these New Saints c. And I for my Part am a Man abhorring Bigotry I cannot believe things contrary to my Reason I wish the Differences of Mankind in Point of Religion were rationally compos'd and that the Good of all Sects Factions Parties Churches and Communions were united in this Life as they surely will be in the next In the mean time to the Father without Beginning to the Son without a Younger Brother to the Holy Ghost the First and the Last to the Virgin Mary the Mother of the Entire Deity I recommend thee and all good Christians hoping to see you in Heaven tho' we cannot it seems think alike on Earth Paris 1st of the 12th Moon of the Year 1665. LETTER III. To Nathan Ben Saddi a Jew at Vienna ACcording to thy Desire I have procur'd and sent thee the Alcoran with other Writings of our Holy Doctors Books which will conduct thee into the Right Way Thou wilt find in these Volumes a Spirit of Life and Power There breathes in them a certain Vital Principle of Reason so that whosoever reads them attentively may feel if I may so speak the very Pulse of intellectual Wisdom beating in every Sentence There is a vast Difference between these Writings full of Arguments Clear and Intelligible and the Whimsies of thy Rabbi's who abound in Sacred Fables and Divine Romances Who can peruse your Celebrated Misnâ—… without