Grain Pulse Meal and Flower are sold pays Yearly into the Treasury 14 Purses of Money each Purse being worth a Thousand Six Hundred Thirty and Three Zequins The Egyptian Merchants who bring their Goods from Alcaire to sell them at Constantinople pay 24 Purses The Fraught of all Foreign Merchant Ships makes up 180 Purses of Gold I have mention'd the Value of each Purse before The Great Shambles without the City pays 32 Purses There serve in this Place 200 Butchers over whom there is a Praefect or Master without whose Consent no Man can kill any Beast unless it be in the Case of Corban Nay so great is the Authority of this Praefect that the Jews themselves are forc'd to ask his Leave to kill their Beasts after their own-Fashion The Reason why the Shambles is without the City is for Purity's Sake lest the City be polluted with Blood It is Impossible to cast up the Prodigious Revenue which arises to the Grand Signior from the Sale of Hungarian Sheep and Oxen in the 10th and 11th Moons But thou may'st comprehend that it is very Great when sometimes in one Days time there are sold 25000 Oxen and 40000 Sheep Neither is it more easie to reckon up his Incomes from the Sale of Houses Skiffs Galleys Saicks and bigger Vessels Besides it would be too tedious for one Letter What shall I say of the Tribute which the Jews and Christians pay amounting Yearly to a Prodigious Sum of Money Time Paper Ink and Human Patience it self would fail in rehearsing so many Particularities But thou may'st frame a Regular Judgment of the Immense Riches which the Grand Signior is possess'd of when thou shalt know that there is a Mint in the Imperial City where Four Hundred Men perpetually labour in coining new Money having a President or Overseer who supervises the Work who must be a Graecian by a special Privilege granted to that Nation by our Munificent Emperors because the Mines of Silver and Gold are within the Limits of the Graecian Empire So that none but Greeks are admitted to assist at this curious Artifice The President is oblig'd every New Moon to send into the Serail Ten Thousand Zequins of Gold and Twenty Thousand in Silver For such is the Pleasure of the Great Sultan that the Royal Palace should always abound with fair New Money Sage Musu assure thy self that Constantinople is the Grand Treasury Exchequer or Banque of the whole Earth Where all the Riches of the East West North and South and of the Seven Climates are refunded and laid up as in their proper Center But I have more to say in another Letter concerning this Glorious City Only Time just now gave me a Prick with the end of his Scyth to put me in Mind of an Urgent Affair not to be neglected this moment Wherefore in hast Adieu Paris 21st of the 8th Moon of the Year 1673. THE END BOOKS lately Printed for Hen. Rhodes in Fleet-street 1. MOnasticon Anglicanum or The History of the Ancient Abbies and other Monasteries Hospitals Cathedral and Collegiate Churches in England and Wales With divers French Irish and Scotch Monasteries formerly relating to England Collected and Published in Latin by Sir William Dugdale Knt. late Garter King of Arms. In Three Volumes And now Epitomized in English Page by Page With Sculptures of the several Religious Habits In Folio Price 10 s. 2. The History of Father La Chaise Jesuite and Confessor to Lewis XIV the Present King of France Discovering the Secret Intriegues by him carried on as well in the Court of England as in all the Courts of Europe to advance the Great Designs of the King his Master with Letters that pass'd betwixt the Dutchess of Portsmouth Father La Chaise and the French King Made English from the French Original In 12 s. Price 2 s. 6 d. 3. An Antidote against a Careless Indifferency in Matters of Religion Being a Treatise in Opposition to those that believe That all Religions are Indifferent and that it Imports not what Men Profess Done out of French With an Introduction by Anthony Horneck D.D. Chaplain in Ordinary to Their Majesties 4. The Present Court of Spain or The Modern Gallentry of the Spanish Nobility unfolded In several Histories And Seventy five Letters from the Enamour'd Teresa to her Beloved the Marquis of Mansera By the Ingenious Lady Author of the Memoirs and Travels into Spain Done into English by J. P. In 12 s. Price 2 s. 6 d. 5. The Triumph Royal Containing a short Account of the most Remarkable Battels Sieges Sea-fights Treaties and Famous Archievements of the Princes of the House of Nassau c. Described in the Triumphal Arches Pyramids Pictures Inscriptions at the Hague in Honour of King William III. of England c. Curiously engraven in 62 Figures in Copper Plates with their Histories In 8 vo 6. Voyages and Travels over Europe Containing all that is most Curious in that Part of the World Done out of French In Two Parts In 12 s. All Printed for Hen. Rhodes at the Star the corner of Bride-lane in Fleet-street FINIS
Ancient Roman Pontiffs Of the Pope's Great Power Strength and Authority XVI To Nathan Ben Saddi a Jew at Vienna 76 Of the Conversion of Sabbati Sevi to the Mahometan Faith XVII To Dgnet Oglou 85 He informs him that Daria is deceitful and how by mere Accident he found out 't was her Husband who would have Stabb'd him in the Streets one Night whom therefore he kill'd XVIII To the Kaimacham 89 Of the Arrival of the Cardinal Duke of Vendome at the French Court in Quality of Legat de Latere from the Pope Of the Alterations in Portugal XIX To Abdel Melec Muli Omar President of the College of Sciences at Fez. 92 He thanks him for his New System of the Heavens extols its Accuracy and incites him to make some Corrections of Geography XX. To Osman Adraoeneth Astrologer to the Sultan at Adrianople 98 He discourses of Ptolomy's and Copernicus's System XXI To the Venerable Mufti Principal Support of Learning and True Science 104 He humbly Recommends That a Complets History of the World should be collected out of the most Ancient and Sincere Writers and digested into Annals from the Beginning of Time down to the Reign of the present Emperour BOOK II. LETTER I. TO Mehemet an exil'd Eunuch at Alcair in Egypt 113 He Sympathizes with his Sufferings and advises him not to siâ—k under the frightful Idea's of Melancholly II. To Mohammed the Illustrious Eremit of Mount Vriel in Arabia the Happy 121 He opposes Aristotle and the Peripateticks who asserts That Virtue consists in Mediocrity Expresses his Aspirations after a solitary and abstinent Life III. To Hamet Reis Effendi Principal Secretary of the Ottoman Empire 129 Of the present State of the German Empire with Characters of the People The strange Epitaph of Frederick Brother-in Law to the Emperour Sigismund written with his own Hand on his Death-bed IV. To Nathan Ben Saddi a Jew at Vienna 134 He reproves the Methods of the Malecontents in attempting to poyson the Emperour and set the Palace on Fire Exhorts him to be moderate and Neutral Of the Counts Serini Frangipani and Tatembach V. To Pesteli Hali his Brother Master of the Grand Signior's Customs at Constantinople 138 He acquaints him with the Marriage of Oucoumiche his Mother and Eliachim the Jew as also with her sudden Death VI. To Hamer Reis Effendi Principal Secretary of the Ottoman Empire 141 Of the German Wealth and Plenty both Natural and acquir'd by foreign Traffick VII To Hebatolla Mir Argun Superior of the Convent of Derviches at Cogni in Natolia 145 He presents him with a full Relation of the Life of St. John Baptist and explains the Meaning of the World Locust VIII To Hamet Reis Effendi Principal Secretary of the Ottoman Empire 155 He gives an Account of the great Preparations the Christians were making for the Relief of Candy Of a Triple League And of the Birth of the Infanta of Portugal With a farther Description of Italy IX To Hamet Reis Effendi Principal Secretary of the Ottoman Empire 159 Of Don John of Austria's being made Governour of the Low-Countries The Grounds of Nitard's juggling with him His Character X. To Hebatolla Mir Argun Superior of the Convent of Derviches at Cogni in Natolia 162 He acquaints him with the King of Poland's Religious Retreat from the World and of his being made Abbot of the Abbey of St. Germains near Paris XII To Vseph Bassa 169 Of the Deaths of the Cardinal Duke of Vendome a Dutchess of the same Title and Henrietra Maria late Queen of Great Britain and Dowager of Charles I. Of the Arrival of the King of Poland and Prince of Toscany at the French Court. XIII To the Kaimacham 173 Of the Arrival of Solyman Ismael Mutafaraca with Expresses from the Grand Signior to the King of France Solyman's Character and Praise Of a Plague at Soissons and an Earthquake in Sicily BOOK III. LETTER I. TO Mehemet an Exil'd Eunuch at Alcaire in Egypt pag. 181 He perswades him not to be Melancholly Advises him to travel II. To the Same 186 He pursues the same Discourse earnestly pressing him to leave Egypt and survey the Rest of Africa III. To the Mufti Venerable Patron of Learning and Knowledge 190 He presents him with an Historical Epitome of the Assyrian Babylonian and Persian Monarchies IV. To Mirmadolin Santone of the Vale of Sidon 201 He discourses of the Vanity and Insufficiency of exteriour Religion Of Spiritual Abdication from the World V. To the Selictar Aga or Sword-bearer to the Sultan 204 He entertains him with the Description of an Excellent Play acted before the King and Queen of France during the Carnaval Of a Peace concluded between France and Algiers Of the Conquest of Lorrain VI. To Isouf his Kinsman a Merchant at Astracan 208 He disswades him from his Melancholly Resolution of turning Eremit Faquir or Dervich Of Ilch Read Hu the Indian Philosopher and his Mysterious Habitation VII To the Chiaux Bassa 216 Of the Arrival of an Embassador at the French Court from the King of Arder in Africk VIII To Mohammed the Illustrious Solitary of Mount Vriel in Arabia 220 He asserts and endeavours to prove That the Brutes are endu'd with a Species of Reason and Knowledge IX To Zeidi Alamanzi a Merchant at Venice 225 Being inform'd that Zeidi is commanded to travel through Italy he gives him good Counsel in Order thereto X. To Dgnet Oglou 231 Of a Strange and Vnaccountable Accident which happen'd to Mahmut on his Sick-Bed XI To Sephat Abercromil Vanni Effendi Preacher to the Sultan 236 Of the Quietists and the General Entertainment their Doctrine finds in Europe Mahmut seems highly to favour it and affirmâ—…â—…as recommended by all Religions in the World XII To Cara Hali Physician to the Grand Signior 242 He asserts the Immortality of the Soul from which Discourse he makes a Digression and treats Allegorically of Natural Things XIII To the Mufti 249 He presents him with a Continuation of Remarkable Passages during the Persian Monarchy A Memorable Saying of Darius on his Death-Bed BOOK IV. LETTER I. TO Pesteli Hali his Brother Master of the Customs and Superintendent of the Arsenal at Constantinople pag. 261 He advises him not to be discourag'd by Reason of his Son 's Amorous Temper his keeping Company with foreign Merchants and Travellers And tells him a Story of a Father's Extraordinary Contrivance to reclaim a Prodigal Son II. To Codarafrad Cheick a Man of the Law 268 Of a Huguenot that assasinated a Priest as he was saying Mass in the Church of Nostre Dame at Paris and of his Punishment III. To Dgnet Oglou 272 Of the Roman Casuists Of Mahometan Hypocrites Of Interiour Devotion and Piety IV. To the Kaimacham 281 Of a League between the Kings of England and France who both proclaim Open War against the Dutch The Story of John de Wit The Description of a Royal Entertainment at Chantilly by Night V. To Cara Hali Physician to the Grand
who every Moon us'd to Fast for Seven or Eight Days together So a famous German Maid was diligently observ'd and watch'd whilst she pass'd away full Seven Years Time without Meat Drink Sleep or Excrements France also boasts of another Virgin who fasted above Three Years together Such Abstinences as these are not to be put to the Account of Vertue in regard they were not the Effects of Humane Choice but the Decrees of Fate So wou'd our Abstinence be deprav'd if we shou'd only practise it as the old Gentiles did who forbore to kill or eat some certain Beasts because they held them consecrated to their Gods As the Dog to Diana the Tyger to Bacchus the Horse to Neptune the Woolf to Mars the Eagle to Jupiter the Peacock to Juno the Swan to Apollo the Dove to Venus the Owl to Minerva Nor need we abstain on the Account of the Soul's Transmigration for so we ought to forbear the Vegetable Products of the Earth as well as Animals since the Soul is Indifferent to all Bodies in its separate State But our Reason in this Point ought to take its Rise from the Fundamental Law of Nature the Original Justice of the World which teaches us Not to do that to another which we wou'd not have another do to us Now since 't is evident That no Man wou'd willingly become the Food of Beasts therefore by the same Rule he ought not to prey on them Next to this Foundation of our Abstinence we ought to build our Aims at the Perfection of our Nature which cannot be acquir'd but by Degrees We must endeavour to abate the Aliment of our Concupiscences by exhaling the superfluous and grosser Vapours of our Blood in Sacred Fasts and Oraisons Then we shou'd refresh our fainting Bodies with Food affording little Nourishment and Pleasure That so our vain Affections Appetites and Lusts may gradually die Whilst the pure Mind revives and being free from the gross Vapours arising from too much and too fatning Meats and Drinks the Films which darken'd her Sight fall off and she can better now discern the Naked Forms of Things by her own simple Intuition than before she cou'd through all the borrow'd Spectacles and other Opticks of Book-Philosophy Also she will more easily raise her self to the Contemplation and Science of Divine Eternal Things He therefore that in Earnest will apply himself to the Study of accomplish'd Sanctity must first by Fasting exhaust the Marrow from his Bones the Fatness from his Flesh the Wild and Rampant Spirits from his Nerves and then he must purge the Words and Actions of his Life from Vice When this is done the Soul becoming a pure Tabula Rasa is fit for the Impressions of Celestial Vertue Those who labour under acute Diseases run great Hazard of their Lives according to Hippocrates unless their Diet be accommodated with proportionate Regard to the Quality and Time of the Critical Fits or Paroxisms But those who are entangl'd with Vice do labour under far more dangerous Distempers than such as afflict the Body Wherefore the Prophet our Holy Law-giver like a Wise Physician appointed certain Seasons of the Year for Sacred Abstinences Fastings Pilgrimages Vigils and other Holy Exercises especially the Mighty Fast and Vigil of Ramezan wherein tho' it be not forbid to eat of Flesh after the Stars appear at Night yet none but loose and indevout Believers take that Liberty whereas the better Sort content themselves with an Ascetick Diet. The Hebrews fasted with Unleaven'd Bread and a little Salad the Christians also taste no Flesh on their prohibited Days And shall the Mussulmans be greater Libertines than these Infidels O Hebatolla how radiant is the Lustre of a Lamp when shining through a clean and fine defaecate Chrystal So does the Soul display the Rays of her Immortal Vertue round about when she inhabits in a well purifi'd chaste and almost pervious Body VVherefore it is absolutely necessary for him to attenuate his Body with perpetual Temperance and Abstinence who consecrates himself to Vertue and Devotion He will not be ensnar'd or catch'd by any Baits of Luxury or Voluptuousness not yet affrighted from his constant sober Course of Life by any Pain or thwarting Accident No Frowns or Menaces shall divert him from his Noble Purpose But he will so nourish his Body all his Life that it shall never be Surfeited or over-fill'd with Meats And such is the Magick of this Sacred Vertue That it can never be hurt much less subverted by all the Machinations of Evil Daemons or the Malicious Attempts of Men. But it proceeds from Strength to Strength and fights the Combat valiantly till having overcome at last it Triumphs for ever and receives the Palm the Crown and Chaplet of Divine Reward in Paradise Holy President pray that I may practise what I so admire and not be self-condemn'd for living contrary to my Knowledge For God neither loves a double Tongue or Heart neither delights he in Feet or Hands that are swift and nimble to do Mischief Paris 13th of the 4th Moon of the Year 1669. LETTER VIII To Hamet Reis Effendi Principal Secretary of the Ottoman Empire NOw the Christians are in a general Consternation for Candy The Pope has sent Letters to all the Princes that are in his Communion inviting and pressing them to succour that Distress'd Island Levies are making every where and the King of France who seeks all Occasions of Glory appears the most forward of any to assist the Republick in this Fatal Juncture The Duke of Beaufort and the Chevalier de Vendosm are appointed to lead the Forces design'd for that Service They are gone to Toulon in Order to embarque The Pope has sent the Duke of Beaufort a Breve declaring him General of the Troops Ecclesiastick that are to serve in Candy and for his greater Encouragement he has sent him the Pontifical Standard In the mean while there is a Triple League concluded between the Emperour the King of Spain the King of England the King of Swedeland and the States of Holland There is great Joy in Portugal for the Birth of the Infanta who is call'd Elizabetha-Maria-Louisa She was Born the 6th of the 1st Moon and on the 18th the Empress of Germany was also deliver'd of a Daughter These Western Queens are very pregnant Not a Year passes without the Birth or Baptism of some Royal Infant This is all the News at present but to oblige thee I will say something of Italy which is esteem'd the Garden of Europe Nay Constantine Paleologus Emperor of Greece was wont to say Vnless I had been assur'd by very Learned and Holy Men that Paradise was seated in Asia I shou'd have sworn that Italy had been the Place It is most certain Italy is a delectable Country abounding in Riches and Pleasures The Eye is not satisfi'd with seeing the infinite Variety of Beauties which grace this happy Region Such is the lovely Intermixture of Hills and Valleys Groves and
conspire against me they hunt me up and down like a Partridge in the Wood they closely pursue my Life The Kindnesses that I have sown spring up in Blades of bitter Ingratitude and Perfidy My Seminaries bring forth Aconite and stinking Weeds instead of pleasant Flowers and wholesome Fruits Tagot has set his Foot in all my Works That sly interloping Spirit hates to see any good Thing prosper or come to Perfection He steals behind us in all our Ways and as fast as we weave any Web of Vertue he secretly unravels it or deforms the Work with intermixing some Threads of Vice I am weary of striving against the Current of my Fate Oh! that I were as though I had never been That my Soul were drench'd in Lethe's Forgetful Waters where all Past Things are buried in Eternal Oblivion Then wou'd my Anguish be at an End Whereas I am now rowl'd about upon a Wheel of Miseries Holy Santone when thou shalt read this pity me and amidst thy Divine Ejaculations dart up Mahmut's Soul to Paradise on the Point of a strong Thought that so at least I may have a Moments Respite from my Constant Sadness Paris 27th of the 2d Moon of the Year 1667. LETTER II. To the Kaimacham THere is now some Probability of a Peace between the English and the Dutch Which will also reconcile this Crown to that of Great Britain Since the King of France engag'd in this War only on the Account of the Dutch his Allies The Advances toward this Accommodation took their Rise from the Alliance lately concluded between the States of the Vnited Provinces the King of Denmark the Duke of Brandenburgh and the Princes of Brunswick The King of England protests against the Dutch as the First Aggressors in that they had taken above Two Hundred of his Merchant-ships before he offer'd the least Act of Hostility Which the States seeming to acknowledge desire the King to appoint some Neutral Place of Treaty with them and their Allies in Order to a Peace the Security of Navigation and the Establishment of Commerce for the future Here is great Joy for the Birth of a young Princess of whom the Queen was deliver'd on the 2d of the Moon of Jannary She is call'd God's New-Years Gift to France In regard the First Day of that Moon begins the Year with the Christians And 't is common among them to send mutual Gifts and Presents to one another at that Time which they call New-Years Gifts And so it seems God Almighty has appear'd very Modisn and Complaisant in thus timing the Nativity of the Royal Babe For which they express their Thanks in Revelling Dancing Ballads and a Thousand other Vanities And these Divertisements continue to this Time it being the Nazarenes Carnaval a Season consecrated to Sport and Mirth to Liberty Buffoonry and all Manner of Comical and Ridiculous Apishness During this Time you shall see an Infinite Variety of odd Humours and mimical Actions in the open Streets according to every Man 's particular Phancy Here you shall meet with one dress'd half i' th' French and half i' th' Spanish Fashion On the left side of his Head hangs dangling down a long thick curled Peruke which reaches to his Breast whilst on the Right you see nothing but his own Hair crop'd close to his Ears A long Mustach as black as Jet graces the Right Side of his upper Lip whilst on the Left he is Beardless as a Boy of Seven Years Old And so from head to Foot he wears two contrary Garbs One walks about with Gloves upon his Feet and Shooes upon his Hands Another wears his Breeches like a Mantle on his Shoulders Here comes a Stately Coach jogging along with grave slow Pace and drawn by Six fair Horses as if some Prince or Cardinal were in it when behold there 's nothing but a silly Ass puts forth his giddy Head with flapping Ears half drunk with the jolting unaccustom'd Motion Sometimes he brays aloud and then the Rabble fall alaughing A Thousand other Fopperies there are not worth thy Knowledge For both the Noble and the Vulgar are all upon the Frolick at this Time and indulge their wanton Phancies to the Height But 't is a fatal Season for the poor Cats few of which escape the Multitude whose peculiar Pastime 't is to toss these Creatures in a Blanket till they are dead or else to tie them Two and Two together by the Tails and then they 'll bite and scratch one another to Death The Cocks also are generally great Martyrs during the Carnaval the Rabble have a Hundred Cruel Ways to murder them in Sport All their Devices are Inhumane and Bloody They did not learn these prophane Courses from Jesus or any of the Prophets or Apostles of God But they are the Reliques of Gentile Vanity in the Beginning conniv'd at by the Priests the easier to retain their Proselytes in Obedience who wou'd rather have parted with their New Religion than with their Old Barbarous Customs And thus the Pagan Fooleries were handed down to the Posterity of the Primitive Christians and were adopted into the Family of Church Traditions And Men are not more zealous for the Gospel it self than for these Ridiculous Prophanations of it So dangerous a Thing it is for Governours by a Criminal Indulgence to permit their Subjects any Liberty which interferes with the Fundamental Principles of the Law For such a Dispensation once granted passes into a Precedent which in Process of Time becomes of equal Force with the Law it self And by such preposterous Methods of winning and retaining Converts Christianity arriv'd to the height of corruption it 's now infected with Sage Minister t was for this Reason God rais'd up our Holy Prophet and gave him a new Law with Power to reform and chastise the Infidels He planted the Vndefiled Faith with Scymeter in Hand not palliating or encouraging the smallest Vicious Practice but subduing all Things by the Dint of Reason or the keen Edge of the Sword God hasten his Return for the Prevarications of this Age require it Paris 27th of the 2d Moon of the Year 1667. LETTER III. To Dgnet Oglou I Believe thou hast not forgot the Observations we us'd to make on the Religion of the Christians when we were Slaves together in Sicily How Ridiculous some of their Practices appear'd to us and yet what a Sanctity was manifest in others How much we approved the Majesty of their Publick Worship the Solemnity of their High-Mass the Gravity of their Processions And yet how great was our Disgust when we consider'd that all these Honours were perform'd to Figures and Statues of Stone Wood Silver Gold or other Materials the Creatures of the Painter or Carver We scann'd their Doctrines also which we learn'd from their Priests and Books and descanted variously on them as they were more or less conform to the Truth and to the Volume brought down from Heaven In a Word we prais'd the Good and censur'd
Publick Good of Christendom These Popes seem to inherit the Authority and Honour of the Ancient Pontifex Maximus or High-Priest of the Romans in the Time of Paganism Nay they assume a far more Ample and Uncontroulable Power For those Gentile Prelates always submitted to the Imperial Authority from which they receiv'd Protection and Maintenance But these Christian Fathers acknowledge no Superiour on Earth Kings and Emperours do Homage to them and perform the meanest Services as to hold the Bason whilst the Pope washes his hands to hold the Stirrop whilst he mounts or alights from off his Mule Sometimes Great Princes lead his Horse by the Bridle whilst 〈◊〉 another Season they carry him on their Shoulders 'T is Recorded that Eumenes King 〈◊〉 Pergamus came to Rome and pulling off his Turbant humbly laid it on the Ground before the Senate confessing he receiv'd his Liberty from them And Prusias King of Bithynia us'd to style himself the Roman Senate's Slave and bow down to the Earth before them But this is nothing to the Reverence which Greatest Monarchs pay the Pope when crawling on their Hands and Knees they kiss the Sandal on his Foot He can make and depose Kings at Pleasure absolve Subjects from their Allegiance bind and remit Sins open and shut the Gates of Paradise Purgatory and Hell or at least he endeavours to make the World believe so He has Seventy Cardinals for his Assistants and Counsellors all equal to Princes A Hundred and Thirty Archbishops under his Obedience A Thousand and Seventeen Bishops A Hundred and Forty Four Thousand Monasteries and Religious Houses Three Hundred Thousand Parishes obeying his Will and yielding Homage to him So that if he were resolv'd to carry on some lasting War he need only lay an Impost of Six Crowns a Year on every Monastery and Fifty Two on every Parish and it would amount to Sixteen Millions of Crowns yearly Income And if out of every Monastery he chose out Ten Men he wou'd have an Army of Fourteen Hundred and Forty Thousand Men Which is more than any Potentate in the World can do beside Thou wilt say 't is a Wonder then he does not put this in Practice and so wage War with the Grand Signior who has fleec'd him of so many flourishing Countries formerly under his Obedience O Sacred Oracle of the Mussulmans God has tied up his Hand he cannot do it These are but Empty Speculations Impracticable Projects Phantastick Chimaera's The mighty Train of his Archbishops Bishops Parish-Priests with Jesuits Monks and Friars though never so willing to obey his Orders in such a Case yet cannot stir a Foot without the Leave of their Respective Sovereigns For they are dispers'd through divers Kingdoms States and Principalities where they are subject to the Laws and Government in Force So that unless he cou'd unite the Hearts of all the Christian Princes one with another and with his own to undertake so grand an Expedition it is impossible ever to effect his Will Each Nation has an Interest of its own to pursue which makes 'em deaf to such Proposals as may embarass if not ruine them No Peter of the Desart rambling up and down from Court to Court with his Religious Harangue will e'er again prevail to raise another Crusade That Zeal is out of Fashion now in Christendom Kings in these later Ages have not half the Attach and Veneration for the Pope they had in former Times When Pope Boniface VIII claim'd a Temporal Jurisdiction in France Philip the Fair being then King sent him this short Answer Let thy Great Sottishness know That in Temporals we are subject to none but God alone And a French Embassador at Rome speaking something boldly to the Pope the Prelate reproach'd him That his Father was burnt for a Heretick whereupon the Embassador gave him such a Box o' th' Ear that he fell down as dead But it was a tart Message indeed which the Eastern Bishops sent to Pope John III. who claim'd an Universal Authority over all the Churches in the World For said they We firmly believe thy Absolute Authority over thy own Subjects but we who are not subject to thee cannot bear thy Pride nor are we able to satiate thy Avarice The Devil be with thee and God with us In a Word All Denmark Swedeland Norway Holland England Scotland Geneva Ireland half the Empire and half Suisserland are fallen off from their Obedience to the Pope within these Two Hundred Years And those Kingdoms and States which yet continue under the Yoke are ready to shake it off at every Turn when they are never so little gaul'd and vex'd France Spain and Venice often huff the Pope into Compliance with their Demands Nor dares he to resist but winks and puts up all like an old decrepid Father for whom his Sons are grown too strong Holy Successor of the Prophet and Messengers of God Thou art th' Infallible Interpreter of the Law and Judge of Equity yet dost not arrogate a Power above thy Commission The Grana Signior honours thy Wisdom and Sanctity And thou obey'st with humble Submission the Imperial Edicts He is thy Lord and thou his Guide and Tutor in the Way to Paradise May God encrease thy Illuminations with thy Years and inspire me and all the True Faithful with sincere Loyalty to our Sovereign and devout Obedience to thee without the least Alloy of Treachery or Superstition Paris 2d of the 11th Moon of the Year 1667. LETTER XVI To Nathan Ben Saddi a Jew at Vienna NOW thou seest I am a truer Prophet than thy New Messias that Impostor Sabbati Sevi And yet though I 'm so in Effect I do not aspire at the Title I claim no Character above that of a Mortal who has not quite forfeited his Sence and Reason However if thou wilt yet retain some Veneration for his Person shew it by imitating his Example and embrace the Mussulman Faith as he has done At least he Outwardly professes it and had the Honour to do so first in Presence of the Sultan I know not whether thou hast heard of this or no. Thy Brethren perhaps may be unwilling to disperse the News of a Conversion bringing so much Infamy to all Your Race 'T is possible they are asham'd to own or publish to the World the Tidings of their own Egregious Folly in giving up their Faith to such a Cheat as this A Cheat as one wou'd think grown stale and fetid enough to make a man that had the smallest Grain of Sence recoil considering how oft your Fathers have been bubbl'd before by such Upstart Messiasses such Spucious Prophets as this I commend the Wit of Sabbati Sevi in that he would not stand the Brunt of the Grand Signiors Archers or by a vain Presumption hope for Miracles from Heaven to skreen his Naked Body from a Show'r of Fatal Shafts Had he been so rash I should esteem him the Greatest Miracle of Stupidity that e'er was extant on the Earth
Plains Palaces and Gardens that a Traveller is ravish'd as he passes on the Road. But this is not all She is as rich as fair No Country in the World can match Italy for the Plenty and Variety of excellent Wines only they are of no long Continuance Above all the rest Travellers commend that Sort which they call Lachrymae Christi or the Tears of Christ for its delicious Taste Which when a Dutch-man once tasted he burst forth into this Exclamation O Christ why didst thou not weep in my Country At Papia there are a Kind of Aromatick Grapes which leave a fragrant Odour in the Mouth of him that eats them It is recorded of a certain Roman Lord That when he was in Prison half dead with Melancholy he drank a Glass or Two of this generous Wine which so reviv'd his Spirits that instead of Despairing as he was ready to do before he wrote a Treatise entituled de Consolatione Besides Italy abounds in Cattle Sheep Fowls Mines Rocks of Alabaster Marble Porphyry Coral Ophits Agats Chalcedonies Azures and innumerable other precious Stones Hence it comes that in this Country are seen the most Glorious and Magnificent Temples of the World But this so fair and wealthy a Spot of Ground is Inhabited by a very wicked Sort of People They are quite degenerated from the Vertues of their Ancestors They are a Base Effeminate Sly Sodomitical Race of Men Covetous Revengeful and Inexorable I have heard a Story of Two Italian Brothers that were walking one Night in the Fields it being a very serene Sky when one of them looking steadfastly on the Heavens wish'd he had as many Oxen as there were Stars The other wish'd he had a Field as large as the Firmament What wou'd you do with it said the First Let your Oxen graze there reply'd he But as they proceeded in this Kind of foolish loose Discourse they kindled each others Anger and at length falling from Words to Blows kill'd one another on the Spot Behold the Consequence of their Covetous Desires They are extremely addicted to Revenge and are as dextrous at poysoning as the Indian Princes A certain French Author gives us a very Compendious Account of the Benefits a Stranger gets by travelling into Italy in these Words We go into Italy says he with Incredible Charges only to purchase the mere Shadow of Civility and we bring back from thence the whole System of Vices The Milanese teach us how to Cheat. From the Venetians we learn Hypocrisie Rome transforms us into perfect Atheists and Libertines Naples turns us to Satyres Florence instructs us in the Artificial Methods of Poysoning There is not one City which does not tincture us with some Specifick Ill Qualities Sage Hamet In all my Letters to thee I studiously insert some Remarks on these Western Nations that so I may gratifie thy Wishes Pardon the want of Order For I write Things as they present themselves to my Memory Accept all in good Part from Mahmut who obeys thy Commands chearfully and honours thee without Flattery Paris 12th of the 5th Moon of the Year 1669. LETTER IX To Hamet Reis Effendi Principal Secretary of the Ottoman Empire THou may'st Register in the Archives of the Sacred Empire That Dom John of Austria is made perpetual Governour of the Low-Countries under the Spanish King's Obedience He is also Viceroy and Vicar-General of Arragon Catalonia and Valenciae But it is fit for thee to know also That this is so far from being esteem'd by that Prince a Happiness that he counts it his Greatest Misfortune in Regard 't is no better than an Honourable and Irrevocable Banishment from the Court of Spain where his Royal Blood and Merits are out-master'd by the Genius of a certain Priest whom they call Father Nitard This Man is very Ambitious always aiming at High Matters yet admir'd by no body for his Learning Beauty or any other good Qualities Only the Queen of Spain is pleas'd to make him her Favourite He cou'd never buckle to the Humour of Dom John and hence arose a secret Envy between 'em which afterwards burst forth into open Animosities Feuds and Quarrels So that at last the Favourite got the Day and Dom John was forc'd to quit the Field It is impossible to trace the Sovereigns of the Earth in the Foot-steps of their Royal Conduct Or else one wou'd of Course conclude That tho' so great a Prince as this of the same Lineage as the Queen her self shou'd have easily eclips'd the borrow'd Lustre of an Upstart Minion But Monarchs have Specifick Reasons to themselves which others cannot penetrate Perhaps this cunning Priest used a Trick like that of a Soldier in the Army of Alexander the Great Who being of an Ambitious Spirit and coveting to make some greater Figure than that of a Private Sentinel consider'd Alexander's Humour and how to hit it He knew that his Heroick Master took Delight in any Thing was bold and brave But how to come into his Presence he was Ignorant At length he pitch'd upon this Method One Day as Alexander was debauching with his beloved Parmenio Haepheston Lysimachus and other Officers This Fellow whose Name was Clytus put himself into a Mimick Dress of War counterfeiting himself Mad and dancing the Pyrrhick Measures with his brandish'd Sword kill'd Five new-listed Soldiers lately come from Colchis The Guards soon siez'd upon him and it being a Tragical Novelty the News was carried to the King who caus'd the Fellow to be brought before him And examining him on the Point Clytus answer'd Great King those Five Men whom I have kill'd had conspir'd to take away thy Life this Day being hir'd thereto by the King of Colchis and therefore sent into thy Army Their Tent being next to mine I had an Accidental Opportunity last Night of over-hearing their Discourse when they were plotting together the Time the Place and Manner of thy Death I kept a Watch upon them and observ'd their Motions from that Moment For tho' I knew the Hour appointed by them for this Execrable Regicide yet I was sollicitous lest some ill Fate shou'd prompt the Ruffians to antedate their own Resolves and hasten a Murder whose Delay might else discover their Designs or at least prevent ' em Therefore I took this mad Disguise to execute the Soberest and most Important Purpose that e'er I fram'd in all my Days which was at once to save the Life of the World's Conqueror and get my self Immortal Honour by the Happy Deed. After profound Deliberation of the Drunken Cabinet-Council Alexander approv'd the Fact and order'd Publick Honours to be done to his Deliverer According to the Macedonian Custom he vested him with Purple Robes and gave him a Chain of Gold admitting him to the latter End o' th' Banquet and afterwards esteeming him above his most Familiar Friends Till such another Debauch as this but more Unfortunate to Clytus at once depriv'd him of the King's Favour and his own Life So Inconstant is
trample on it in Disdain spreading their Armies far and wide and boasting that their Empires have no Bounds each do's but hasten to be shut up himself within a little obscure and putrid Hole not much surpassing the Limits of a Mole-Hill Great Bassa Let not the Honours and Dignities thou possessest make thee forget the Miseries to which thou art liable each Hour But remember thou art a Man Paris the 6th of the 11th Moon of the Year 1669. LETTER XIII To the Kaimacham HEre is arriv'd a Muta-faraca call'd Solyman Ismael with Expresses from the Grand Signior 'T was no small Refreshment to see his publick Entry which appear'd like a little Epitome of the Mussulman Grandeur and Magnificence The Young Rabble were as curious to be Spectators of this Eastern Cavalcade as the Romans were fond of beholding the Secular Plays which were exhibited but once in an Age. Nay People of all Ranks Ages and Qualities fill'd the Streets the Windows and Battlements of their Houses Some because they never saw such a fight before others despairing that they should live long enough to be Witnesses of such another Yet with all their Curiosity none but the Ministers of State are able to dive into the least Secret of his Instructions These willing communicate the Titles which the Great Arbiter of the Earth gives the French King That so not only his Subjects but Neighbouring Nations may conceive the profounder Veneration for him without penetrating the Measures he takes This is an Artifice common to all States to turn the best Side outermost only the Hollanders excepted who in the Days of their Revolt from the King of Spain cou'd not so much as put a good Face on a bad Matter But were forc'd to expose their Poverty and Nakedness as well as suffer under it addressing themselves to Elizabeth then Queen of England in the Character of The Poor Distressed States of Holland and so begging her Assistance However Solyman has faithfully imparted to me his Affairs as I have reason to believe He 's too well born and bred possesses more Reason and Wit than to amuse the Old Man in the Cassock so they call me here in the Streets who know me not by any other Character so Private is Mahmut in Paris at this Hour notwithstanding all his publick Sufferings I esteem Ismael as one fit to represent the Grand Signior's Person among better People than Infidels Yet I tell thee the French are the most refin'd of all the Western Giafers Ismael understands the Force of the Civil Laws which he learn'd from Justinian's Code and other Books For he is perfect in Greek and Latin and has bestow'd some Years in reading their Book both Prints and Manuscripts He makes a very Personable Figure being Tall Full-body'd Well-shap'd and not of an ugly Face which is enough to be said of a Man design'd for Business and not only for Love He 's never in danger of falling under Cato's Censure who seeing Two Embassadors sent from Rome to a Foreign State one of which had his Head so little that it could hardly be distinguish'd from that of an Owl and the other such a Cripple that he cou'd not walk without a Cripple that he cou'd not walk without Stilts cry'd out Here 's an Embassy which has neither Head nor Tail And then our Muta-faraca is rich He supports the Charges of his Commission with extraordinary Munificence His House is already become the Sanctuary of all the distress'd Levantines whether Greeks Armenians or Followers of the Prophet and he speaks French as readily as a Native Yet he Dissembles his Expertness in that Language to keep up the State and Reservedness of the Ottoman Empire which disdains to condescend to any other Speech than Turkish or Arabick Besides he has the Advantage by thus artificially shutting his Ears that he can at one time both hear and be deaf understand and be ignorant of whatsoever is said by the Spies of the French King And this is no small Gift in a Man of his Character and Trust For he had need of an Angel or a Devil at 's Elbow that thinks to over-reach this Court. Above all I believe our Solyman will never be guilty of the Error committed by the Embassadors sent from Tenedos to one of the Roman Emperors I 'm sure he is not yet For those Gentlemen had seen the Death of the Emperor's Son Eleven Moons and Fourteen Days as the Story says before they knew 't was their Duty to make an Address of Condolence Or at least before they call'd it to mind for they were drown'd in the Roman Luxury So that when they came to perform that Devoir the Emperor cou'd not forbear to Scoff at them in these Terms I much lament said he the Fate of the Renowned Hector your Country-Man and Champion whom Achilles the Grecian kill'd above a Thousand Years agoe I speak this in a particular Regard to Solyman's Deportment here For when he first came to this Court he found them all in Mourning for the Death of the King's Aunt the late Queen of England and of other High Personages particularly those that were slain in the late Action at Candia whereof I have already given an Account to the Sublime Port in another Letter Without Instructions he very demurely accosted the King and told him There cou'd be no Dunalma in the Ottoman Empire for the late Success at Candia so long as the French Court were Mourners This was a sensible Touch to those that understood it and from that Moment the Grandees and Ministers of State have made a Difference in their Entertainment of this Ingenious Muta-faraca and that which they us'd to give to the Chiauses formerly sent from the Port. I can assure thee he is at the same time very Blunt and very Elegant in his Discourse There 's Fire in every word he utters to warm and refresh if they take it at a due Distance but if they approach too near he scorches their Spirits and puts them into a Choler they dare not shew They consume inwardly in their own Despight yet cannot help themselves Doubtless the King of France is the Greatest Monarch the most Powerful and Victorious Prince in Christendom the only Invincible Emperor of the Western Franks Yet he veils to our Majestick Sovereign Lord of the whole Earth And our Eunuch will not part with a Tittle of his Master's Honour or give any Advantage by an Easiness worthy of Blame in a case that may be turn'd to a Precedent He is very happy in his Repartees as thou wilt perceive by the Answer he gave to a French Lord yesterday when he ask'd him Whether he thought it not a Violation of the Civil Law for Embassadors to be Imprison'd as they often are at the Ottoman Port No says Solyman it is not where the Embassador is guilty of Treason or Crimen laesae Majestatis But if it were you French men have the least Reason to accuse us of it since we
Paper not thinking it proper to interrupt the Series of my Letter with a blank Scheme which is for the Use of the Compilers but to present thee with a transient View of the Four Monarchies which have made such a noise in the World wherein thou need'st not fear the Fatigue of a tedious continued History for I design only to cull out such Passages as are most Diverting and worthy of Perusal To begin then with the Assyrian Monarchy which was the First of the Four This Nation was for a great while contented with its own Bounds without seeking to encroach on the Territories of others And Ninus was the First of the Assyrian Kings who enlarg'd his Dominions by Conquest He subdu'd the greatest part of Asia and rais'd Assyria to the Title of an Empire After his Death Semiramis his Wife took upon her the Government counterfeiting the Person of Ninyas his Son who was as yet but a Child She wore the Habit of a Man and being like her Son pass'd for him as the lawful Successor unsuspected This Virago enlarg'd the Conquests of her Husband and spread her Empire from India to Aethiopia and to lay the Foundation of an immortal Fame she built Babylon To her succeeded Ninyas her Son of whom nothing is Remarkable but his Effeminacy For neglecting the Affairs of War he spent all his Time among his Concubines And the same Stain is fasten'd on his Successors even to Sardanapalus in whose Death the Assyrian Monarchy suffer'd an Interruption being Cantoniz'd into Petty Royalties by the Governours of Provinces Among whom those who assum'd the Crown of Babylon were of most Note in regard they first recover'd the broken Empire to its Old Grandeur and Unity By a Succession therefore of many Kings in Reference to whose Actions History is silent the Monarchy descended to Merodach Baladan In whose Days happen'd that wonderful Retrogradation of the Sun mention'd by Hebrew Writers and others which occasion'd those Famous Controversies among the Philosophers and Astronomers of that Age mention'd in the Persian Chronicles For they observing that not only the Sun but the whole Planetary System and all the Fixed Stars went back at the same Time or at least seem'd to do so began to revive that curious Question about the Motion of the Earth which the Chaldaeans and Gymnosophists of India had started before when the Sun and Moon stood still at the burning of Ida. And it was concluded by some of 'em That the Motion of the Earth being granted its standing still or going back at these extraordinary Times would solve all the Astronomical Appearances better and in a more Natural Way than by supposing such a Prodigious Stop to be put to the whole Coelestial Frame at one time or that the Everlasting Spheres shou'd be Rowl'd backwards at the other This Dispute was the Occasion of that famous Conflux of the Eastern Sages to Babylon mention'd in the Persian Poets and Historians For Baladan being very Inquisitive after Knowledge and particularly desirous to be inform'd in the Grounds of this Preternatural Appearance sent Messengers into India Egypt Persia and all Kingdoms where Learning flourish'd inviting the Astrologers Priests Magicians Prophets and all that had the Character of Wise-Men to come to his Court at Babylon where they were magnificently entertain'd and when they had fully satisfied all the King's Demands he sent them away laden with Gifts and Presents every Man to his own Country Arkianus succeeded Baladan in the Kingdom of Babylon in whose time Ecbatane was built To him succeeded Belithus Aphronadius Rigibelus Messissimerdacus after whom the Kingdom was again translated to the Assyrians in the Reign of Escharhaddon in the 3323d Year of the World and the 24th Olympiad During the Empire of this Escharhaddon the Assyrian Monarch Chalcedon that lies over against the Imperial City was built by the Thracians in the 25th Olympiad and 3329th Year of the World To Escharhaddon succeeded Saosduchinus Chyladanus Nabopolassar in the Reign of which last Necho King of Egypt attempted to cut a Canal from the Nile to the Red-Sea wherein he employ'd an Hundred and Twenty Thousand Egyptians but discourag'd by the slow Progress they made and the vast Expences he was at he gave it over This Nabopolassar once more rais'd the Kingdom of Babylon to an Vniversal Monarchy for before his Time it had been for some Years in the Hands of the Assyrians but he subdu'd all Syria Phoenicia Judaea and Egypt and expell'd the Scythians out of Asia To him succeeded his Son Nebuchadnezzar who dreamt of the Four Vniversal Monarchies that were to succeed one another In his Reign was born the Grand Cyrus who rais'd the Persian Monarchy Of him it is Recorded That one Night he dreamed The Sun stood at his Feet whom when Cyrus Thrice attempted to lay hold on the Sun as often disappear'd Which the Magi interpreted as a sure Sign that he should Reign Thirty Years which came to pass accordingly During this Reign there was a Notable Duel fought between Pittacus one of the Seven Wise Men of Greece and Phrynon the most Renowned Combatant of those Days for he always won the Prize at the Olympick Games He was General of the Athenians and being puff'd up with his constant Successes he defy'd any Man to a single Combat Pittacus the Sage accepted the Challenge and when they were hotly engag'd in the Field he suddenly threw a silken Net over Phrynon's Head and having thus entangled him thrust him through with his Lance. This was that great Nebuchadnezzar who having besieg'd and taken Jerusalem burnt it down to the Ground raz'd the Walls and carry'd away all the Jews with their Riches into Captivity to Babylon Afterwards having Conquer'd all the Neighbouring Nations he new built Babylon and enclos'd it with Three Walls He also built those Pendulous Gardens Renowned throughout the Earth and made those Brazen Gates which were reckoned among the Wonders of the World But at length being puff'd up with the Thought of his Magnificent Works he was Metamorphos'd into a Satyr or Sylvan and dwelt Seven Years in the Desarts of Arabia being a Companion of the Brutes My Country-men shew the Places of his wild Haunt to this Day having receiv'd it by Tradition from their Fathers They say also that Paremiel the Angel of the Woods when the Term of Seven Years was expir'd interceded with God for Nebuchadnezzar who thereupon turn'd him into a Man again and restor'd him to his Empire He dyed peaceably in the 3442d Year of the World and the 43d of his Reign To him succeeded Evil-Merodach Neriglissor Laborosoarchod and Labynitus in whose Time there was War between the Babylonians and Persians when Cyrus after many Victorious Campaigns at last laid Siege to Babylon took the City and translated the Empire to the Persians and having subdu'd all the West of Asia even to the Red Sea he died at Seventy Years of Age Commanding his Servants not to Embalm his Body nor use any
improv'd by Pious Tutors I strove to make Heroick Flights and soar above my Guide But alas they were mere borrowed Feathers which bore me up so long dead Artificial Wings cemented to my Soul only by Education Custom and the Practice of my Fathers a Composition of Spiritual Wax or Glew which could not stand the Brunt of hot and fiery Tryals but soon dissolv'd in my Unwarrantable Bold Approaches to the Sun So that in fine my Wings dropt piece-meal off and I 'd the Fate of Icarus to fall a Victim to my own obstinate Zeal and Rashness Surely our Souls are like the Augaean Stable which no Humane Power Art or Industry can ever cleanse did not the Messengers and Favourites of God like Hercules teach us the Method of opening a Canal from Heaven and letting in the Torrent of the River of Purification from Paradise Our Vices Hydra-like still start Young Infant-Heads as fast as we cut off the Old Whereas our Vertues are like the Venetian Treasure which being once shew'd to the Spanish Embassador in many Coffers of Silver Gold and Jewels the Wise Castilian desiring to see the Bottoms of those Wealthy Chests turn'd up when it was done made this Remark Your Riches have no Roots nor grow like those my Master does possess i' th' Indies So are all the boasted Excellencies acquir'd by Humane Discipline more inanimate and dead than the Artificial Productions of Minerals Metals and Stones No traditional Chymistry of Men can e'er revive a Soul that 's dead to God Perhaps some Theological Paracelsus Helmont or Arabian Ifriqui may from the Ashes of an Original Flower raise the Phantastick Form of it again I mean the Colour and Contexture of the Leaves But none of them is able to bestow the Vital Sap the Seminal Juice the Inward Vertue of the once prosperous and flourishing Vegetable No Mortal can repair what Adam once destroy'd That Protoplast has ruin'd us All. Well then Must we despair of Remedy Shall we decamp and sneakingly retire to Hell because we can't take Heaven by Storm nor Undermine it nor have recourse to Stratagems nor Bribe the Garrison or make a Party amongst the Coelestial Burghers No Let 's rather lie entrench'd within our Selves till Heaven shall voluntarily open its Gates and Sally forth in Love to invite and lead us in Oh! Thrice-Happy Santone thou hast experienc'd what I say My Resolution is to follow thee by suffering my self to be gradually abdicated from the World and from my own Will Vouchsafe to instruct me in the Method lest Self-Love misguide me to my Ruine In the mean while repose thou in the Bosom of God which is the Bed-Chamber of Holy Souls Paris 1st of the 8th Moon of the Year 1670. LETTER V. To the Selictar Aga or Sword-bearerto the Sultan I Shall entertain thee now with a Medly of Relations some containing News of the freshest Date others only informing thee of Things done many Moons agoe yet pleasant enough in the Rehearsal However I beg of thee to accept this as a Testimony of my Devoir and Regard in that I have abundance of Letters to write many Friends to gratifie and cannot send the same Matter to All. I am forc'd to parcel out my Intelligence and suit every Letter to the Genius and Station of him to whom I Address Knowing therefore thy particular Inclinations I shall present thee with something very Agreeable No doubt but thou art acquainted with the Christians Carnaval which is a Time of publick Joy Licentiousness and Sport This Year the King and Queen of France observ'd it with wonderful Magnificence Among their other Divertisements they were presented with a Play wherein Two Rival Princes by an Ingenious Emulation strove to out-vy each other in regaling a Princess equally belov'd by both The Representation was very fair and full of Majesty On the Right-hand of the Theatre appear'd Apollo in the Air returning to his Heaven after he had chas'd and routed all the Cyclops with the Serpent Python On the Left was seen the same God on the Top of Parnassus in the mid'st of the Nine Muses scattering Flowers on the Arts and Sciences which were at the Foot of the Mountain Then a Veil being drawn a-side discover'd a Sea surprizingly natural and fine In the midst of which the Gods of many famous Rivers appear'd seated on Rocks with Tritons and Cupids rang'd on each side upon the Backs of Dolphins Then from above amidst the Clouds King Aeolus appear'd laying his straight Commands upon the Winds that they immediately retire into their Caverns excepting only Zephyr who for his soft and gentle Breezes was permitted to be present at this Feast After which came Neptune riding in his Cockle-Chariot drawn by Four Sea-Horses attended by a Train of Gods that dwell within the Deep Immediately the Scenes chang'd into a Champain representing the Delicious Fields of Tempe where a most excellent and agreeable Comedy was acted to the Satisfaction of all the Court I leave the Dances Interludes and other Novelties to thy Imagination assuring thee that all was Astonishing and Magnifick But not to entertain thee longer with these empty Trifles I shall now acquaint thee with something of Importance which is a Peace concluded between this King and the State of Algiers On the 2d of the 3d. Moon the Count de Guiche brought the Articles of the Treaty to the King from the Hands of the Marquis de Martel Lieutenant-General of the French Fleet in the Mediterranean If thou wouldst know the Particulars of this Agreement read the enclos'd Paper As for Matter of Fact all the French Slaves at Algiers were immediately releas'd upon the Signing and Sealing the Treaty and delivered up to the French Commander with some French Vessels also which they had seiz'd And so dishonourable are their Capitulations That at the same Time they have yielded up a Ship of theirs which the French had taken from them for ever quitting all Claim to it In the Beginning of May the King took his Journey to Flanders to visit his New Conquests there This put his Enemies into a great Consternation fearing that he had some Design upon them They began to be upon their Guard and prepare for a sudden Surprize But the King perceiving their Alarm by his Spies sent them Assurance on his Royal Word That he would do them no Violence at this Time However he soon after sent the Mareschal de Crequi into Lorrain with a force considerable enough to reduce that Prince to Reason who had not kept his Parole with him in several Instances The Effect of this Expedition was the Reducing Pont-a-Mousson Espinal Chasté Longwy and all the Principality of Lorrain to the French King's Obedience So that the poor Duke is forc'd to seek his Refuge in Foreign Courts Noble Aga this Duke is not to be Pitied being very Ungrateful and a perfect Mad-man He owes his Liberty and Life to the King of France yet could not forbear Plotting against him Now
must turn to Wildernesses There would be then no need of Millers Bakers and the other Trades whose Livelyhood depends upon the Husbandman And so for want of proper Sustenance Mankind must quickly perish I do not argue against those who seem to be Constellated to a Solitary Life or by some special Grace of God are strengthned to endure the constant Hardships of an Hermitage Such as the Illustrious and Great Mohammed of Mount Vriel in Arabia who is our Holy Prophet's Tenant and Successor in the Cave of Wonders Such also is Ilch Rend Hu the Celebrated Bramin of Cachemire in India who lives on the Top of an High Mountain is a Hundred and Twenty Three Years old foretells Things to come resolves all Doubts gives Infallible Counsel heals divers Diseases works some Miracles and in fine says and does all Things by a Spirit worthy of Admiration The Mountain whereon this Philosopher or Prophet dwells seems to be the Landmark between Summer and Winter For one side of it is always cover'd with Snow the other with Blossoms Flowers Herbage and Fruits This over-looking a spacious Valley which they call the Paradise of the East That affording a Prospect little more agreeable or fair than what the Poets speak of the Riphaean Hill Ilch Rend Hu has his Habitation in a Cave or Grot which passes through the Rock as Virgil's does near Naples in Italy which thou hast seen In this Mysterious Station he appears like Aeolus Lord of the Weather For 't is certain he commands the Winds to blow or cease at the least word within the Verge of his accustom'd Walks If any Person dare prophane the Silence of the Place with Words or other ruder Noise they are immediately surpriz'd with dreadful Storms of Thunder Lightning Wind and Rain such as seen to threaten the Dissolution of all Things Which makes all Men in those Parts hold Ilch Rend Hu in great Veneration He is the only Oracle of the Indies They resort to him from the Neighbouring Provinces and Kingdoms in all their Difficulties The Grandees of Persia Tibet and Cathay send to him Honourable Presents desiring his Counsel in Matters of Peace and War Nay they make devout Pilgrimages to him from the Kingdoms of Tunquin and China He is the Apollo of the East Isouf it would be some Encouragement for Thee and Me to embrace a Solitary Life if we might ever hope to attain such wonderful Perfections But as We have hitherto liv'd in the World and stain'd Our Selves with the Common Vices of Mortals We connot presume to merit these extraordinary Favours Our Old Habits are rooted in Us and if We have Time and Strength to plant New ones in their Stead yet they will not grow up to Maturity but with many Years For believe Me Cousin no Body becomes a Devil or a Saint all at once Paris 6th of the 11th Moon of the Year 1670. LETTER VII To the Chiaux Basha IT appears That the King of France's Fortune not only procures him constant Victories and Triumphs in Europe but such a Renown and Character in foreign Countries as stimulates the most Remote Princes and Puissant Monarchs of the Earth to court his Alliance and Friendship Here is at this present an Embassador come from the Coasts of Guinea in Africk being sent by the King of Arder one of the Greatest Sovereigns in those Parts possessing an Absolute and Uncontroulable Authority over his Subjects as the Grand Signior does over the Faithful Osmans But we will not compare the narrow Limits of his Dominion with the vast and unbounded Extent of the Mussulman Empire the Inheritance of our Sublime Sultan the Lord of the Globe at large Suffice it that this Black Prince is a Wise Man descended of a Race of Sages and that Policy of State is as natural to him as common Craft or Cunning to the meanest of the Vulgar He knows how to make War or Peace abroad and to keep his Subjects in Awe at Home Surely there is a Force and Charm in the Derivative Blood of Heroick and Wise Ancestors which secretly inspires their Off-spring with Maxims and Principles agreeable to the Inclinations Aims and Purposes of the Family from whence they descend And where 't is experienc'd otherwise it may be suppos'd That change of Climates unhappy Marriages or some over-ruling Misfortunes in the World have caus'd the Degeneracy For so some Noble Vegetables of Asia and other Quarters of the Earth lying near the Sun will not prosper if once transplanted into the Cold and Barren Soils of Northern Europe Thus Poverty Disgrace and other abject Circumstances chill the Greatest Spirits and spoil their Growth Yet there is an Inborn Excellency in some Natures which with Evenness supports the Stroaks of Fortune and pushes through all Difficulties to attain its End So this great African King informing himself not only by French Vessels Trading in his Ports but also by other Ships of Christendom of the Grandeur of the French King his Wealth and Puissance by Sea and Land with the vast Interest and Traffick he has in both the Indies thought it high time to seek his Friendship whose Enmity would in all Probability be very Fatal to him For he had heard of his Conquests far and wide 'T is no matter whether by Valour or good Conduct we make our Selves Happy One is as laudable as the other in the unequal War we are engag'd in with Fate Providence and Chance with Angels Men and Devils with Heaven Earth and Hell I speak this in reference to the Celebrated Prowess Magnanimity Riches and Strength of this Negro King who need not yield to the King of Benin his next Neighbour and the most Potent of all the South-Western Maritime Princes of Africk nor to any of his other Neighbours besides yet could not think himself safe or be at rest till he had sent this Embassy to the King of France offering his Lands his Havens his Seas and whatsoever was within his Jurisdiction to this Great Monarch The Address which his Embassador made to the French King deserves Remark For after the usual Obeysances at the Foot of the Throne he went up Three Steps and then prostrating himself Three times on his Face and Belly he clapp'd his Hands in token of Reverence and put his Fingers on his Eyes to shew that he was not able to behold the Lustre of so much Majesty This is the French Interpretation of his Carriage But I tell thee 't was rather design'd as a Precedent to the French Embassadors if any should be sent to Guinea where 't is the Custom of the Country for all Foreign Ministers to observe the same Ceremonies to the King of Arder and other Princes his Neighbours These Europeans because they first found out the Art of Navigation or at least first improv'd it to the Discovery of many Remote Countries value themselves too high imagining That all the Nations formerly Unknown are Fools and know not themselves and their own Strength
Avarice and a Thousand black Infernal Vices which take Root in Humane Souls at our Nativities and growing up with us in time bring forth the fatal Fruits of Death The ugly Race of Dragons Serpents Crocodiles and all the Reptile Generations with every Thing that 's Hideous Cruel and Destructive on the Globe derive their Natures Qualities Forms and Dispositions from some Malignant Stars or Constellations if Astrologers say true So do the Scaly Monsters of the Vast Abyss and every Bird of Horrible Figure flying in the Air. They 're all the Brood the Emissaries Spies and Agents of the Powers Above sent down on Thievish Errands to prey on other Animals more innocent than themselves There is an Eternal Chace in Nature whilst every thing is either on the Hunt or Flight Thus Heaven purloins from Earth and that from Heaven again When we are first conceiv'd our wandring Souls are catch'd as in a well-baited Trap. And when we dye 't is but the Soul's Escape from One Snare to be soon trapann'd into Another Perhaps a Humane Body may be our Prison again or we may be attracted by some more agreeable Embryo This Magnetick Star may draw us up to Heaven or the wide Jaws of all-devouring Orcus may swallow us down into the Hungry Paunch of Hell which God avert Learned Hali let not thou and I be too sollicitous about these Things For all our Timorous Forecasts are in vain But considering the secret Magnetisms dispers'd throughout the Universe and that every Thing attracts its Like let us take care to qualify our selves with Celestial Habits and Dispositions and then we cannot fail of being drawn up to Paradise Paris 2d of the 9th Moon of the Year 1671. LETTER XIII To the Mufti IN Obedience to thy Commands I shall now proceed in relating the most Memorable Transactions of Former Ages during the Four Great Monarchies observing thy Instructions not to be prolix or over-curious in tracing down the particular Successions of Kings and Princes but rather to relate the Actions of Famous Men the Wise Sayings of the Ancients with such other Remarks as may be at once Delightful and Instructive 'T will be no Breach of this Rule to begin where I left off in my Former Letter with the Death of Darius and Succession of Xerxes his Younger Son there being something of Nicety in the Plea between him and his Elder Brother Artabazanes for the Crown For this laid Claim to it on the Account of his Primogeniture But in regard he was born before Darius was made King the Succession was determined in favour of Xerxes who had a Double Advantage in being begot by a Crowned King and born of Atosh the Daughter of Cyrus who first Established this Monarchy As soon as Xerxes was setled in the Throne he lead an Army into Egypt and suppressed the Insurrections in that Countrey Then he fitted out a Fleet of 4200 Ships on Board of which were above Five hundred thousand Men. He had a Land Army also consisting of Two Millions and Five hundred thousand Soldiers of several Nations With this vast Multitude he march'd against the Graecians and to facilitate the Voyage of his Fleet he caused one Part of his Army to dig a Passage through Mount Athos whereby the Sea was let in and the Ships might sail Two a-brest whilst another Part of the Soldiers were employ'd in building a Bridge of Boats over the Hellespont No sooner was this done but there arose a vehement Tempest which so discompos'd those Narrow Seas that between the Winds and Waves the Boats which made this Bridge were all dispers'd broken and cast away This so incens'd Xerxes that he commanded the Sea to be scourg'd with Whips and a Chain to be thrown into it as a Mark of its future Subjection He also Beheaded those who built the Bridge and caused others to make a new One Here one of Xerxes's Eunuchs and a Particular Favourite of the King sent for a Graecian of the Isle of Chios who had formerly depriv'd him of the Evidences of his Virility And the Old Man coming with his Sons to wait on this great Courtier the Eunuch caus'd him first to Castrate his own Sons and afterwards forced them to do the same by their Father in revenge of his own Loss and Disgrace From hence Xerxes marching with his Army by the Place where once stood the Famous Town of Troy went in Pilgrimage to the Tomb of King Priamus where he sacrific'd Ten Hecatombs of Oxen to the Ghosts of the Ancient Heroes and to the Divinity of the River Scamander which his Soldiers drank dry and yet half of them had not quenched their Thirst After this he came to the Hellespont where taking a Survey of all his Land and Sea-Forces which cover'd the Hellespont and all the Neighbouring Shores and Contemplating the Shortness of Man's Life and that of so Innumerable a Multitude not one should be alive at an Hundred Years End he Wept bitterly Then having sacrific'd to the Sun for the good Success of his Expedition he caus'd all his Army to pass over the Hellespont by his Bridge of Boats after which they drank their Way through another River which had not Water enough to satisfie half his Men and Cattle For his Army encreas'd all the Way by the Accession of Soldiers out of every Nation through which he pass'd Yet Leonidas King of Sparta with a small Body of 4000 Lacedaemonians gave Battle to the whole Army of Xerxes And in a Sea-Fight at Salamis the Persians lost 500 Ships with a considerable Part of their Army which with other Disasters of Sickness Famine c. so terrified this Great Monarch that he posted back again as fast as he could by the Way of the Hellespont which he crossed in a poor Fisher-Boat all alone leaving Mardonius to pursue the Wars in Greece But an ill Fate attended their Arms for at Platea the Graecians set upon them under Pausanias their General and routed the whole Army Killing above Two hundred thousand of them upon the Spot and Burning their Camp and Navy Xerxes hearing these ill Tydings fled towards his own Country and by the Way set Fire to the Temples of the Gods at Babylon and other Parts of Asia sparing none but that Magnificent Fane at Ephesus which was Renowned throughout the whole World About this Time dyed Pagapates the faithful Eunuch of Darius who had passed Seven whole Years Mourning at the Tomb of his Master I must not omit the Treachery of Pausanias the Lacedaemonian General who held a Private Correspondence with Xerxes And having been Twice accused of Treason and as often acquitted was the Third time discovered by a Boy whom he kept as his Minion and by the Sentence of the Ephori was starved to Death Thou hast forbidden me to augment the Bulk of these Historical Letters with Glosses or Remarks of my own or else it were a proper Occasion to put thy Holyness in Mind how great a Value ought
to be set on a Faithful Man and let Nature it self plead my Excuse for entrenching on thy Orders whilst I vindicate my self from the Calumnies of the Envious and beg of thee to rest assured That no Man on Earth can be truer to his Trust than the Arabian Slave Mahmut But to return to Xerxes He was Unfaithfully dealt with by the Captain of his Guard who by the Assistance of Spamitres the King's Chamberlain and Seven other Conspirators kill'd him in his Bed with his Eldest Son Darius and crowned Artaxerxes in his stead To him fled Themistocles the Athenian who was suspected a Partner in the Treason of Pausanias The King received him into his Favour and made him Governour of a Province adding the Gift of Five Great Cities to furnish him with Money for the Expences of his Table and Wardrobe And this the King did not as a Reward or Encouragement of Treason from which he knew Themistocles was free being falsly accused by the Athenians but he heaped those Honours on him as a Debt to the Merits of that once Illustrious Enemy now become a Friend and seeking shelter in the Persian Kingdom from the Barbarous Ingratitude of his own Country-men who for all his Eminent Services to Greece could think of no better Acknowledgement than to put to death as a Traytor the Bravest and Wisest Captain of that Age. Not long after this the Persians lost 200 Ships in a Sea-Fight with the Graecians and were routed at Land by a Stratagem of Cimon the Graecian General who after the Naval Victory put his Men aboard the Persian Vessels which he had taken and apparelling them in the Garments of the Persian Captives landed them near the Enemies Camp in Pamphylia who taking them for Friends suffer'd them to enter their Trenches without Jealousie and so were all slaughtered except a few who escaped by the swiftness of their Horses About that Time Pericles was made Prince of Athens of whom I made mention in my former Letters And Themistocles being made General of the Persian Army and sent against the Graecians rather than fight against his Country or betray the Cause of his New Master became a Voluntary Victim to his own Integrity and Honour For sacrificing a Bull in his March he drank off a Bowl of the Blood and fell down Dead at the Foot of the Altar The next War the Persians were engag'd in was with Egypt where in a Battel near Memphis they lost a Hundred thousand Men. But sending fresh Recruits they dryed up the River Nile where the Athenian Fleet Confederate with the Egyptians lay at Anchor Which so amazed the Egyptians that they made their Peace with them And the Athenians set their own Ships on Fire in Number 200 and returned Home with Disgrace when they had been Six Years in Egypt After this a Peace was concluded between the Persians and those of Greece And in the First Year of the 84th Olympiad which soon followed there was an Vniversal Peace throughout the World which continued till the First Year of the 87th Olympiad at what time began the Peloponnesian War In the 4th Year of the 88th Olympiad Artaxerxes dyed and his Son Xerxes was Invested with the Crown But at a Years End being overcome with Wine and falling asleep in a Place where no Guard was kept his Brother Secundianus with the Help of an Eunuch murdered him and took the Government on himself He also was soon after dispatched by his Brother Darius I over-run whole Olympiads without mentioning any Thing save the Transactions which made most Noise in those Times But I am unwilling to slip the Reign of any King tho' I speak but Two Words of it that so thou mayest have a perfect Idea of their Succession During the whole Series of Darius's Reign History mentions nothing Remarkable but is taken up in relating the little Quarrels and Reconciliations of several Provinces in Greece some Private Treaties between the Persian Governours of Lesser Asia and those of Peloponnesus and the Overtures of Peace between the Lacedaemonians and Persians the End of the Peloponnesian War with such other Passages as would be too tedious for a Letter I will only rehearse a Memorable Saying of Darius on his Death-Bed to his Eldest Son Artaxerxes who was to succeed him in the Throne The Prince being assured by the Royal Physicians That his Father's End drew near thus addressed Darius My Father since it is the Will of the Gods to take you from Earth into their own Blessed Society and that you have been pleased with the Consent of the Nobles to declare me your Successor in the Kingdom tell me I beseech you by what Methods of Policy you have Govern'd this Empire these Nineteen Years that so I may follow your Example 'To whom the King Reply'd My Son be assured That if my Reign has been blessed with greater Success and Peace than those of my Predecessors 't is because in all Things I have Honoured the Immortal Gods and done Justice to every Man As soon as Artaxerxes was possessed of the Crown he sent for his Brother Cyrus and put him in Manacles of Gold with Design to make him privately away but at the Intercession of his Mother he released him again and restor'd him to his Government of Lydia About this time Plato the Philosopher being very Young gave an early Specimen of a ripe Wit in Comforting Antimachus the Poet who lost the Garland in a Contest with Niceratus at the Lysandrian Feast For when he beheld the Poet extremely vex'd at the Ignorance and Partiality of Lysander who knew not how to distinguish between his lofty Measures and the flat Rhimes of his Antagonist Plato bid him be of good Courage For said he his Ignorance no more diminishes thy Knowledge than a Blind Man's mistaking thee for another would deprive thee of thy Sight When Cyrus was returned to his Government he plotted to depose his Brother And to win Lysander to his Party he presented him with a Ship built all of Gold and Ivory Alcibiades the Famous Athenian Captain perceiving this designed to give Artaxerxes notice of his Brother's Treason but by the Way he was murdered himself by some Soldiers hired for that Purpose by Lysander who yet durst not set upon him in the Day-time when he was armed in his own Defence but in the Night set his House on Fire and as he was escaping through the Flames and Smoak they lying in Ambush shot him dead with Arrows However Artaxerxes quickly became sensible of his Brothers Designs and raising an Army of Nine hundred thousand Men gave him Battel not far from Babylon In the Fight he was wounded by Cyrus but after a hot Dispute Cyrus was killed and Artaxerxes got the Victory Parisatis the Mother of Cyrus to revenge the Death of her Son caused those that wounded him to be killed with lingring Torment And inviting Queen Statyra the Wife of Artaxerxes to a Feast she divided the Bird Rhindaces
last Support was gone He try'd to borrow some of his Friends and Acquaintance And in Charity they supply'd him at first with small Sums But when he often press'd them they grew weary of him and deny'd to part with any more The disconsolate Gentleman over-whelm'd with Grief and Melancholy returns to his Chamber hoping to find some Ease in that private Recess where he might at least have the Privilege of venting his Sorrow in Sighs and Tears He pass'd away some time in this dejected Condition when at length he cast his Eyes on an old Trunk which stood in a corner of the Chamber and which he had scarce ever regarded before An odd Curiosity prompted him to rise and look into this Trunk perhaps not so much in Hopes of finding any Relief there as to divert himself and pass away the tedious Minutes And yet 't is Natural for People in great Calamities and Misfortunes to flatter themselves with the Imagination of unexpected Reliefs and to catch at every the least Glimpse or Shadow that seems to presage any Good Be it how it will he fell to rifling the Trunk but found nothing save a Parcel of Old Rags and Papers with other Remnants and Fragments of Silk Linnen and Velvet the Reliques and Spoils of his Father's Wardrobe This was no Booty for him However he ceas'd not his Scrutiny till he had quite empty'd the Trunk When to his no small Astonishment he found these Words on the Bottom Ah Prodigal hast thou spent All and sold thy House Now go and hang thy self There is a Rope ready provided for thee in the Beam of the Chamber The Young Gentleman looking up to the Cieling and seeing a Halter hang there being fasten'd to an Iron Ring was struck with such a Damp that concluding it was the Will of Fate that he should fulfill the Words he found on the Bottom of the Trunk he immediately took a Chair or Stool and placing it just under the Rope got up and rais'd himself upon it that so he might the better reach the design'd Instrument of his Death He stood not long musing For Life appear'd now Insupportable to him Wherefore putting the Halter about his Neck in the Height of Despair he kick'd the Stool away When behold instead of hanging there he fell to the Ground the weighty Swing of his Body having pull'd out a Piece of square Timber from the Beam being that Part to which the Ring was fasten'd Immediately he was like to be over-whelm'd and buryed alive in a great Heap of Gold which came showring down upon him out of the Hollow Place which his Father had contriv'd on Purpose in the Beam to put this Kind Sarcasm on his Son now sufficiently mortified by so many Sorrows In a word this made so deep an Impression on him that he grew reform'd buying all his Estate back again with Part of the Money and employing the Rest in Merchandising grew to be a Richer Man than his Father or any of his Progenitors Dear Pesteli thy Son is Generous and Witty It is thy Part to reclaim him by Methods agreeable to his Nature For Ruggedness and Austerity will make him but the worse Paris 5th of the 11th Moon of the Year 1671. LETTER II. To Codorafrad Cheick a Man of the Law HEre has happen'd an Accident of late which testifies the Zeal of the French for their Religion as well as it discovers the Rash and Unwarrantable Fury of a Bigotted Desperado This Person was one of that Sect they call Huguenots of whom there are great Multitudes in France and they are Diametrically Opposite to those of the Roman Faith in their Principles and the Manner of Worshipping God yet are tolerated by the State to prevent the Inconveniencies of a Civil War and the Effusion of Humane Blood The King chusing rather by Clemency to win them to his Party than by a severe Execution of the Laws in Force against them to compell their Consciences in Matters relating to God Yet many Men are of Opinion That this Royal Condescention will not have its desir'd Effect upon a Stubborn and Ungrateful sort of People who instead of being oblig'd to Fidelity and Obedience by such Indulgent Favours are apt to interpret them as Arguments of the King's Impotence and Disability to punish those that resist his Authority and to harden themselves the more in their Factious Insolence As it will appear by what I am going to relate of a certain Religious Furioso a Huguenot by Profession This Fellow coming one Day into the Great Temple in Paris which they call Nostre Dame makes up directly toward the Priest who was celebrating the Mass and waiting a convenient Season to execute his Purpose just as the Priest was elevating that which they esteem the Sacramental Body of Jesus the Messias above his Head according to Custom that it might be Ador'd by all the Congregation this Ruffian steps to him and striking the Wafer out of his Hand trampl'd it under Foot and then assassinated the Priest with his Dagger The whole Assembly were astonish'd at such an unexampl'd Attempt They stood still like Statues for a while and suffer'd the Villain to pass through the Throng till he came to the very Gate of the Temple When beginning to rouze out of their Stupefaction some run after him and so he was siez'd and carried before the next Cadi or Judge of Criminal Causes who condemn'd him to have his Right Hand first cut off before the Gate of the same Temple where he had been guilty of this Assassine and Prophanation and his Body presently afterwards to be burnt alive Which was accordingly executed But not thinking this a sufficient Expiation of the Dishonour done to God the Archbishop of Paris commanded Publick Prayers to be made which they call the Oraisons of Forty Hours He appointed also a Solemn Procession of all the Clergy to the Temple of Nostre Dame to cleanse it from the Defilement which according to their Belief it had contracted by this Impious Action The Soveraign Companies of the City likewise attended these Ceremonies in their Robes of Honour to testifie their Devotion Thou wilt not conclude me an Infidel or say that I undertake the Patronage of the Roman Religion if I condemn this Fellow as a Martyr to his own Presumption and Arrogance The Romans and Huguenots are all alike to me so long as they are equally Enenemies to the Messenger of God But it is not decent or wise neither Good Manners nor Policy to affront the Establish'd Religion of the Country where a Man lives 'T was sufficient that this Ruffian and all his Brethren had the Liberty of serving God after their own Way It was an unpardonable Immorality to disturb the lawful Priests of the Nation especially in so barbarous a Manner in the very Heighth of their Mysteries the midst of their Daily Sacrifice at the Altar of their God where they profess to immolate after a transcendant Manner no less
of Orange He is already known by Fame at the Sublime Port. As to John De-Wit I can give no other Account at present but that he was a Person whom Fortune had rais'd to such an Eminence in the Commonwealth as made him the Prince of Orange's Rival and Competitor for the Supremacy Therefore he sought to exclude him from all Employments and Offices of Trust that he might establish himself in his Place The Third Party whom we may call Republicans were of Opinion That it was not for the Honour of the Commonwealth to acknowledge any Head judging that the Establishment or Exclusion the Rise or Fall of the Prince or De Wit ought to be a Thing Indifferent to the States In regard the Commonwealth appear'd in their sight sufficiently to flourish under the Protection of her own Arms and Riches without having any Need of either the Prince of Orange's Assistance or De Wit 's However notwithstanding these Animosities of the Hollanders among themselves as soon as they found themselves engag'd in a War with Two such Potent Monarchs They all Unanimously chose the Prince of Orange as General of their Army Remembring the Famous Actions of his Fathers the Princes of the House of Nassaw by whose Valour and Conduct they had gain'd and conserv'd their Liberties On the other side De Wit having rendred himself Odious to the Vulgar was by them torn in pieces Such a Destiny oft happening to those who aspire to raise themselves by Unlawful Methods and who are Ambitious to be the Ringleaders of a Faction The French call the Prince of Orange a General without an Army In Regard the Hollanders being as yet only upon the Defensive and their Towns wanting strong Garrisons their Soldiers are all dispos'd of this Way so that there is little or no Appearance of a Field-Army This is Certain the King of France is the most Gallant Prince in Europe he passes from Divertisements to the Toils of War and from the Champaign returns to his Pleasures again Thus 't is difficult to distinguish between his Labours and Recreations his Pleasures and his Business They seem to be near of Kin that he takes equal Pleasure in both 'T was but a little before the first Appearances of this War That he and his Queen were revelling in the Gardens of Chantilly where a Royal Entertainment was prepar'd for them by Night The Court attended them thither and there the Roman Luxury was seen in Royal Miniature As soon as the Gates were open'd there appear'd an Artificial Day so light was the Place made with Flambeau's and Lamps Which being well plac'd among the Trees with other refin'd Illuminations adorn'd with Chaplets of Flowers which presented the Eye with a pleasing Medly of Colours interspers'd with Oranges Citrons and other agreeable Fruits transported the Company with exquisite Delight All together pretty well resembl'd a Forest in a Chamber For the Walls not being far from the Place where the King sate were hung with Arras with a Multitude of Lights burning near the Hangings And there was a Spring of Water in the Middle of the Garden raising it self after a wonderful Manner into the Form of a High Pyramid and falling again into Three Basons of Marble successively from one to the other made a pleasant Spectacle to the Courtiers Then a most Magnificent Collation was serv'd up with Vocal and Instrumental Musick so soft and fine with a sudden Dew cooling the Air which had a Smell like Sweet-Bryars as render'd the Place a perfect Paradise After which followed the King's Supper far surpassing the other Banquet in all Manner of Delicacy and Politeness as well as the stupendious Abundance of Dishes When Supper was ended they were entertain'd with a Show of something Admirable and New in Fire-Works But tho' it be so to them I will not trouble thee with a Description of it since thou hast seen far Finer and more Costly at Constantinople or where-ever the Great Sultan kept his Residence at the Time of a Dunalma After this the King went to see the New Fortifications of Dunkirk which he had order'd not long before And in a little time follow'd this Declaration of War against Holland So things go in a Circle from War to Peace from Peace to War again However thou wilt the better know by what I have said how to comport thy self in Case of any Difference between the English French and Hollanders at the Sublime Port. God inspire thee with Climacterical Wisdom to adjust all Difficulties in their Stated Periods Paris 26th of the 3d. Moon of the Year 1672. LETTER V. To Cara Hali Physician to the Grand Signior THou hast born with a Thousand Impertinencies in my Letters and I know not whether what I'm now going to write will deserve a better Character However I feel a Spirit within me checking my Stupid Mind in that I was not before sensible of my Error but must make so late a Recantation It is impossible for me to reflect on the vain and trifling Subjects I have all along entertain'd thee with and not to blush at so grand an Oversight Since I then seem'd not so much as to regard thy Knowledge and Practice in Medicines which has exalted thee to the Honour of being plac'd in the Front of those who take Care of the Grand Signior's Health Much less did I present thee with Matters suitable to thy more Interiour Knowledge and that hidden VVisdom which deservedly ranks thee among the most Perfect and Accomplish'd Mortals In Ancient Times Theology and Physick were counted Sciences of such a near Relation and mutual Dependance that one cou'd not subsist without the other By Physick they meant the General Science of Nature otherwise termed Magick VVhich comprehended under it the Knowledge of the Heavens the Elements and every Being within their vast Circumference The Motions of Sun Moon and Stars their various Aspects Influences and Dominions in this Lower VVorld The Nature of the Winds and Meteors with their Effects The Virtues of all Plants and Living Creatures as also of Insensible Things the Metals Minerals and other Substances found both on the Surface of the Earth within its Concave and in the Sea Such as these of Old were Apollonius Tyanaeus with the Magi of Persia and Chaldaea Such was Hierarchas among the Brachmans Tespion the Gymnosophist Budda the Babylonian Numa Pompilius at Rome Zamolxides of Thrace Abbaris the Hypberborean Hermes Trismegistus of Egypt Zoroaster the Son of Oromases King of Bactria Evantes an Arabian King Zacharias a Babylonian Joseph a Hebrew VVith many others of different Nations as Zenotenus Kirannides Almadal Thetel Alchind Abel Ptolomy Geber Zahel Nazabarub Tebiti Aerith Salomon Astrophon Hipparchus Alomeon c. And of later Date Albertus Surnam'd the Great Arnoldus de Villa Nova Cardan Raymund Lullius VVith a few more not worth the Naming These contemplated the Secret Force and Virtue of Celestial and Sublunary Things the hidden Sympathy between them and the Mysterious Powers of
overflow all Christendom like a mighty Torrent that has over-top'd its Banks In those Days there shall be great Desolation in Hungary Poland Germany France and other Regions of the West Only Denmark Sweden Muscovy and other Countries of the North shall remain untouch'd But above all other Nations he says Italy will be made a perfect Wilderness her Cities laid in Ashes her Immense Wealth plunder'd and carried away by the greedy Tartars Arabians and Turks who will spare neither Age nor Sex putting all to the Sword especially the Ecclesiasticks none of which shall escape the Publick Vengeance save Three Cardinals sincere and Holy Persons who shall fly into England for Sanctuary by the way of the Sea That Island he says shall become the Refuge of all such who can escape the Calamities involving the adjacent Countries Thither they shall flock with their Wives and Children and all their Wealth when they shall hear of the approaching Terrors the present Devastation of Italy and the Universal Conquests of the Osmans The King of the Country shall receive those distress'd Fugitives with open Arms and shall assign them certain Portions of Land where they may build Houses and Habitations for themselves and their Families there being Abundance of waste Ground in that Island which they may manure and improve to their Own and the Publick Advantage After this says he shall arise a certain Man in England from his Obscure Center a Person fill'd with all Manner of Divine Knowledge and Wisdom endu'd with the Spirit of Prophecy of a Graceful Aspect and Elegant Speech of a Compos'd Gravity and Calm Address a Man Mild Innocent Temperate Chaste and Merciful above the Rest of Humane Race People shall let their Eyes fall on the Ground when they meet him in the Streets even before they know what he is overcome by the Lustre of Modesty Grace and Vertue which shines in his Countenance A Person highly beloved of God and Man This Man shall meet the Three Fugitive Cardinals in an Hour of Destiny Then that which lay long smothering shall suddenly burst forth into a Flame The Light of God shall be diffus'd through his Soul his Heart shall be like a Lamp and his Tongue shall utter marvellous Things When he opens his Mouth in divulging the Mysteries of God his Words shall be like the Sparks of an Eternal Fire kindling Flames of Love in the Breasts of the Hearers The Cardinals shall rise from their Places and run to embrace him A Council of the Chief Bishops and Priests of the Land shall be assembled by the King's Order where the Three Cardinals also shall be present and after mature Deliberation with Unanimous Consent they shall call for the Holy Oyl of Consecration and shall anoint him They shall proclaim him the Great Father and Patriarch of the Faithful The Directer of such as would go to Paradise He shall shew them a new Pattern of the Law of Jesus the Son of Mary or rather the Old and True One freed from the Corruptions and Errors which have been superinduc'd for many Ages Their Hearts shall yield as to an Oracle and the King of the Country shall approve of their Council So shall all those of the Noble and the Vulgar whose good Fate is written in their Foreheads As for the Rest they shall remain in their Incredulity This Holy Person shall reform the Errors of all the Christian Churches utterly abolish the Use of Images and Pictures convince the Jews of their Infidelity and chase away the Darkness of Superstition from Earth He shall argue with Reasons so forcible and cogent so clear and demonstrative that none but the wilfully obstinate â—…ll resist the Truth which he divulges or oppose his Authentick Missions Thousands shall be converted by the Dint of his Word and Ten Thousands by his Exemplary Life For he shall go up and down preaching and doing Good Works throughout Great Britain till the Number of his Proselytes is complete Then he shall send Apostles and Messengers into Swedeland Denmark Moscovy and other Parts of Europe who shall likewise convert an Innumerable Multitude to his Law Foreign Princes shall send their Embassadors to the King of Great Britain and to him for he shall be at the King 's Right Hand They shall enter into Leagues and Covenants and all the Christian Princes shall be at Unity Mighty Armies shall be rais'd in the North who shall come down and give new Courage to the oppress'd Nazarenes of the West They shall all take up Arms and chase the Osmans back again to their own Country recovering the Wealth which they had taken from them After this by an Universal Agreement of the Christians this Holy Person shall be proclaim'd the Great Pastor of the Church a prodigious Army shall be gather'd together out of all the Christian Nations to conduct him to the Holy Land and to crown him in Jerusalem They shall vanquish and exterminate the Osmans out of Palaestine and all the adjacent Regions Then shall Jerusalem be re-built Gloriously and the Temple of Solomon with Saphires and Emeraulds That City shall be the Seat of the Christian Mufti 's this New Patriarch and his Successors to the Day of Doom Then shall the Eyes of the Jews be open'd They shall acknowledge Jesus the Son of Mary to be the True Messias whom they have so frequently Cursed In a word he says Both Jews and Gentiles People of all Nations shall resort to Jerusalem or send thither their Gifts and Presents It shall become the Mistress of the whole Earth Sage Cheik This is the Substance of what my Cousin Isouf acquaints me with concerning the Wandring Jew and his New Doctrines The Censure of which I leave to thee who hast a discerning Spirit and art able to distinguish Truth from an Imposture God only knows what is hid in the Womb of Futurity Every Age is pregnant and brings forth strange Events Yet when 't is over all sounds like a Dream The World it self is no better and I that write this am but methinks the Shadow of a Vision or Trance I hardly know whether I 'm asleep or awake whilst my Pen seems to move Therefore it being very late I lay it aside and bid thee adieu Praying that thou and I may have the Happiness even in this Life to taste the Sweet Slumbers of Paradise Paris 7th of the 12th Moon of the Year 1672. LETTER XIII To Hamet Reis Effendi Principal Secretary of the Ottoman Empire I Think all the sensible World are inquisitive into the Life of Cardinal Richlieu He was the Pole-Star of Statesmen whilst living and now he is dead his Memoirs and Maxims serve as a Chart and Compass by which the Politicians steer their Course to avoid the Rocks and Shelves which threaten a Kingdom or Commonwealth both in the Tempests of War and the Serene Calms of Peace Thou hast formerly receiv'd some Remarks from me on the Life of this Great Minister Yet I am not surpriz'd
out of the VVay they thought themselves sure of the King's Ear in all Things To effect this they consulted together how to dispose of him The Duke of Guize was of Opinion he should not be kill'd in regard he was a Prince of the Holy Church but that he should be sent to Rome there to attend the proper Affairs of his Ecclesiastick Function among the Rest of his purpl'd Brethren The Duke of Montmorency was clearly for taking off his Head But Monsieur de Bassompierre was against both these Methods For said he if he be sent to Rome he will be always plotting of Mischief against us And it would be an Eternal Blemish to France if the Purple of the Holy Church should be stain'd with Blood Let us send him close Prisoner to the Bastile where he may spend the Remainder of his Days in writing Learned Books The Cardinal who had his Agents busie about in all Parts soon was inform'd of this Consult and he retaliated every Man's Sentence upon its own Author For he banish'd the Duke of Guize confining him to Rome He beheaded the Duke of Montmorency and imprison'd Monsieur de Bassompierre in the Bastile where he lay till the Cardinal's Death I could insert a great many more Remarks concerning Cardinal Richlieu But I am afraid of offending by Tediousness If thou commandest me another Letter shall present thee with more Varieties In the mean Time with humblest Obeysance and Respect I desist and take my Conge wishing thee a long Life on Earth full of Honour and a Fame without Blemish when thou art translated to Heaven Paris 15th of the 1st Moon of the Year 1673. LETTER XIV To Musu Abu'l Yahyan Professor of Philosophy at Fez. THou hast laid a Grand Obligation on me by thy last Dispatch whose Learned Contents have open'd my Eyes or rather drawn back the Veil which cover'd the Interious of Africk from the View of Strangers Now I stand as it were on the Top of a high Mountain from whence I take a clear Prospect of those fair Regions Inhabited by Blacks I survey the Paradises of the Torrid Zone a most fertile and populous Climate tho' blind Antiquity could not discern a Blade of Grass growing there nor any of Humane Race fetching their Breath My Mind revels in perfect Voluptuousness and all the Faculties of my Soul banquet on the Contemplation of that most Delectable Precinct of the World Oh Africk Thou may'st be call'd the Bazar or Mercat where Nature exhibits all her choicest Wonders Thy Mountains are Higher than the Clouds their Tops are Inaccessible They approach the Borders of Paradise On them fall the Rivers of Eden in mighty Cataracts The Noise of the Precipitate Waters is heard afar off like the Sound of Remote Thunders It deafens the Ears and astonishes the Minds of Mortals The Ambitious undergrowing Rocks are proud of the Glorious Cascade and envy those that shoot up above 'em which receive the Sacred Flood at the First Hand from the very Wings of Gabriel Happy are the Valleys which lie beneath and are Yearly impregnated by the Heavenly Deluge The grateful Fields and Plains in humble Acknowledgment make their Returns of Corn and Fruits in due Season The Marshes of Egypt are as the Gardens of Asia the Banks of the Nile as the Fenced Seminaries of Babylon fragrant and abounding in all Sorts of Vegetable Delicacies My Heart is ravish'd with the Speculation of these Things I am full as the Moon and cannot utter my Sentiments in Order Visions of Aethiopia Marocco Fez and the Land of Archers invade my Eyes I behold the Beautiful Provinces of the South in a Trance I stand gazing in Ecstasy on the shady Groves of Benin and Arder the Haunts of lovely Daemons the Genij of the Upper Element who daily descend to those Refreshing Solitudes and converse with their Younger Brethren Incarnare Mortal Daemons the Sons of Men. I consider with Admiration the Monsters of Africk the Creatures of the Sun and Slime With Contemplative Horror I draw near the Dens of Dragons the Purlieu of Crocodiles and other Amphibious Animals which lurk among the Reeds of Nile and Niger to trapan with feigned Cries th' Unwary Traveller In fine I am mov'd with superlative Devotion and Joy when I peruse thy accurate Description of the Principal Mosch at Fez. Methinks I see the Stupendous Fabrick making its lofty Advances toward Heaven My Eyes revere the Holy and Magnifick Structure on the out-side adorn'd with stately Towers and Minarets and covering Fifteen Hundred Paces in its Circuit But when my Phansie enters in by any of the One and Thirty Gates by Night I 'm dazl'd with the Insupportable Splendor of so many Thousand Lamps as burn within that most Illustrious Temple I admire with proportionate Veneration the Character thou givest of all the other Magnificences in that Antient and Noble City with whatsoever else thou say'st of the whole Kingdom and the Adjacent Regions In Answer to thy Request I will in another Letter send thee a short Pourtraicture and History of Constantinople but now I am interrupted by Company Besides my Letter would be too long I beseech thee to cherish that Friendship which thou hast hitherto shew'd me and let me have the Honour of thy frequent Conversation by Letters For tho' I live in a Populons City yet my Life seems like that of an Owl or a Pelican of the Desart extream Solitary and Dejected Paris 19th of the 3d. Moon of the Year 1673. LETTER XV. To the same SUch is the Zeal I have to demonstrate how highly I value thy Friendship that I would not suffer this Post to escape without gratifying thy Expectations I just now dismiss'd my Company and having Time enough will entertain thee with an Abstract of what I know to be most Remarkable in the State of Constantinople both at present and in Ancient Times In the first Place it will be convenient for thee to know That this City was formerly call'd Byzantium from one Byzas Admiral of the Spartan Fleet under Pausanias the King of Sparta who laid the First Foundations of it The Story is this In Old Time the Graecians having a Mind to build a New City in some Part of Thrace and being at Odds about the Choice of a Spot of Ground suitable to so Great and Important an Undertaking they at last agreed to consult the Oracle of Apollo They did so and were answer'd That they should lay the Foundations of the City right over-against the Blind Men For so the Inhabitants of Chalcedon were call'd because when they were upon the same Design of founding a New City they could not discern between the Fertility of the Soil on what side the Propontis where Constantinople now stands and the Barrenness and Desart State of the Ground where they built on the other side Pansanias therefore busying his Mind about these Things and pitching right upon the Sence of the Oracle caus'd the Foundations of the City to
fix'd Resolution and Readiness to enterprize any Thing of Moment Their Hans Towns are always Jealous of the Neighbouring Princes And these again give 'em Occasion to suspect their Power and hate their Interest which they so often employ against them by encroaching on their Privileges Then the Catholicks and Protestants are always quarelling And one Sect of Protestants perpetually Persecuting another Hence it falls out That the Princes go so unwillingly and rarely to the Diets And when they come there they spin out so much Time in adjusting their private Pretensions Claims and Privileges in performing of State-Ceremonies and in deliberating concerning the Publick Good whilst every one contradicts his Neighbour and labours with all his Might to establish his own Opinion and get it pass'd into a Decree by the Sanction of the Diet that before they come to any Resolves an Expeditious and Potent Enemy might rush into the Heart of the Country and even take all these Northern Blockheads Prisoners The German Empire is Elective and the Power of chusing Caesar is in the Hands of Seven Princes These are First the Archbishop of Mentz Grand Chancellor of the Empire in whose Custody are the Archives and Decrees of the German Diets The Second is the Archbishop of Triers or Treves Great Chancellor of the Empire for France The Third is the Archbishop of Colen Great Chancellor of the Empire for Italy The Fourth is the King of Bohemia Cup-Bearer to the Emperor The Fifth is the Count Palatine of the Rhine Master of the Imperial Palace The Sixth is the Duke of Saxony Marshal or Sword-bearer to the Emperor The Seventh and last is the Marquis of Brandenburgh Great Chamberlain or Treasurer of the Empire There are reckon'd 25 Politick Princes or Dukes in the Empire 6 Marquisses 5 Landtgraves 9 Archbishops and Bishops 47. Abbots who enjoy the Title and Dignity of Princes 12. Abbots of a lower Degree 52. With Innumerable Others too tedious to be nam'd They reckon also 82 Counts of Principal Note besides many of a Meaner Figure They number 49 Barons and Free Lords 90 Hans-Towns and 10 Circles of the Empire In the German Diets this Order is observ'd VVhen the Emperor is plac'd in the Throne the Archbishop of Triers takes his Place just over against him He of Mentz sits next to the Emperor on his Right Hand the Second Place belongs to the King of Bohemia and the Third to the Count Palatine of the Rhine On the Emperor 's Left Hand the Archbishop of Colen takes the First Place the Duke of Saxony the next and the Marquis of Brandenburgh the Third The Hans-Towns which acknowledge no other Lord but the Emperor are grovern'd by their own Municipal Laws and Privileges In some of them the Common People bear Rule in others a Mixture of the Commons and Nobles and many of them wholly obey the Nobility No Man salutes by the Title of Emperor him whom the Princes have Elected to that Dignity till he be crown'd by the Pope or Mufti of Rome They call him Caesar or King of the Romans or King of Germany but not Emperor till the Coronation is finish'd Nor does the Emperor even after he is Crown'd and Establish'd in the Throne exercise an Absolute Power in all things Affairs of Importance being generally referr'd to the Publick Diets or Divans of the Empire Where the Electoral Princes deliberate all Things on whom the very Power of the Emperour himself depends These Diets are very confus'd and tedious in Regard the Princes seldom appear there in their own Persons but send their Embassadors and Deputies who yet have not full Power to conclude any Thing without Particular Orders from their Respective Masters So that a Prodigious deal of Time is taken up in sending Couriers to inform the Princes of all emergent Counsels and Transactions and in waiting for their Express Instructions and Answers again In a word considering the Diversity of Interests carried on by the Electoral Princes their Mutual Feuds and Dissentions Domestick Animosities and Foreign Engagements both on Religious and Politick Accounts it is a Miracle that this tottering Empire stands so long and does not fall to Ruin Especially being environ'd and almost continually assaulted by Three Potent Enemies the King of Sweden the King of France and our Invincible Monarch Not to mention the frequent Incursions of the Moscovites and Tartars the Revolts of the Hungarians Transilvanians Bosnians Croats and other Nations which are counted Members of the German Empire But he abounds in Men and Money with all other Necessaries to support his Wars There not being a more Rich and Populous Region on Earth than Germany Sage Hamet when the determined Period is come God will abase the Pride of these Infidels by the Hands of the True Believers The Riches of the West shall become the Spoil of Eastern Hero's and the Posterity of Shem shall take Root in the Cities of Japhet May'st thou live till that Time to triâ—…ph in the Glory of the House of Ismael when they shall be exalted more than in the Ages that are past Paris 9th of the 7th Moon of the Year 1673. LETTER XVII To Cara Hali Physician to the Grand Signior THy Memory is like the Smell of Incense refreshing as VVine of Tenedos in a Goblet of pure Gold VVhen my Heart is almost dead with Melancholy when I can find no Pleasure in Company abroad and the very Elements of which I am made frown upon me when the Time of Night forces me to come home Sighing as to a Prison and the Hangings of my Bed-Chamber look dull and seem to be painted with horrid Tragedies In a word when every Thing in Nature appears in an angry threatning Fit then I think of thee my Friend and that Thought relieves me Thy belov'd Idea is a perfect Talisman working VVonders in my Soul It Charms or Countercharms as my Occasions do require No Fears or Griefs or other Melancholy Passions dare abide its Energy As soon as it appears each baneful Thought is gone the Troops of sad Chimaerae's vanish like the Morning Mists before the Sun Thou art as a strong Tower or Fortress where I can take Sanctuary from my Enemies An Impregnable Cittadel seated on the Top of a high Rock From whence I can look down with Scorn on my Persecutors beneath possessing my self in perfect Security I dare not so much as vent my Thoughts to another tho' a Mussulman for fear of some untoward Consequence So Industrious is the Malice of most Men so vigilant and studious for an Opportunity of doing Mischief And as for these Infidels my Conversation is for the most part Histrionick I am constrain'd to act to the Life a very Zealous Christian and a Catholick When God knows my Heart keeps not time with my Exteriour Actions and Words Not but that there are Scepticks among the Christians as well as among the True-Belivers But they are generally very private and reserv'd For open Blasphemy or what is reputed
so here is certainly punish'd with Death I sometimes meet with Ingenious and Candid Souls with whom I can discourse freely and like a Man that doubts of many Things which others currantly believe Yet we dare not trust each other too far nor the very Air into which our Words vanish after it has help'd to form 'em lest some sly envious Daemon shou'd catch the transient sound and reverberate the yet articulated Body of Particles which made it into some Inquisitive Ear to ruine us For there are certain busie Gossiping Eccho's scatter'd up and down the Elements which are always listning to the Words of Mortals And if the spightful Elves can but take Hold of any Syllable to do a Man an Injury they are big till they have vented it Yet they make no Shew nor Noise but whisper out their Tales in Secret sometimes in Dead of Night when Men are fast asleep at other times when they are deeply musing on the hidden Things of Nature For 't is only to the VVise the Sage the Noble and the Great that they reveal these Passages beeause 't is such alone have Ears to hear Them They haunt the Bed-Chambers of Kings and Princes to tell 'em News in Dreams They are the swiftest Couriers in the VVorld For they have VVings and fly from Court to Court and from one Climate to another in a Moments time They 're always buzzing in the Ears of Statesmen and great Politicians to whom they shew the Dark Intrigues of Foreign and Domestick Enemies Thus are Conspiracies and Plots of Rebels oft discover'd tho' manag'd ne'er so secretly They visit now and then the Closets of Philosophers and such as love the Sciences Men of abstracted Souls whose Thoughts are volatile and pure their Phancies lively and vegete To these they unfold the covert Mysteries of Nature and shew 'em Things to come They frame th' Idea's of remote unknown Events which they imprint upon the Ductile Minds of Prophets and Holy Men Inspiring them with strange and unaccountable Presages of what shall shortly happen to themselves or others whether it be Good or Evil. For these Busie-bodies are the Daughters of the World 's great Soul and they inherit an Universal Sense and Feeling of whatsoever happens in the Elements 'T is true some Knowledge they acquire by Study and Observation even as we Mortals do but at a far swifter Rate Their Airy Bodies do not so oppress their Intellectual Faculties as our gross Hulks of Flesh do ours We 're forc'd to Dig and Plough to Sow and Harrow for small Returns of Science Our Soil is barren it must be manur'd and cultivated with Art and Cost before it yields a tolerable Harvest of what deserves the Name of Solid Knowledge But these defecate Tenants of the Air have no more to do but to be merely passive and they streight learn every Thing For the Eternal Sapience wanders through the Universe to seek out such as will or can imbibe her free Impressions She voluntarily slides into receptive Souls and fills them with her Rays Thus the Sublimer Genij of the Air bask in an open Orb of Intellectual Light because they are embodied in the most refin'd and purest Matter Whereas we Mortals must be thankful for her Illuminations by Retail She only shines on us through Chinks and Cranies of our Dungeon Flesh And yet but seldom so in direct Beams Few Men can boast that Privilege The greatest Part walk only in the Uncertain Twilight of Opinion or at best in the faint languid Glimmerings of Humane Reason which like the Moon conveys the Original Light of Science to us by Reflection and at second Hand We 're fain to learn from Books from Conversation and Experience Courteous Hali thou wilt pardon the Confusedness and want of Order in this Letter when thou shalt consider the Force of Melancholy which first prompted me to write it For being very sad and overcast with Clouds of dark and gloomy Thoughts which different Passions caus'd to justle one against another in my troubl'd Mind I knew not how to escape the Tempest better than by writing to thee my Learned Friend tho' only to express my Circumstances For when I began I knew not what to say but 't was an Ease to write at random any Thing to breath my Heart and ventilate my Spleen But the Specifick Remedy of my Grief consisted in addressing to thee my Dear Physician whose very Remembrance is a Catholicon proof against all my Maladies Adieu thou Aesculapius of the Ottomans and live for ever Paris 15th of the 8th Moon of the Year 1673. LETTER XVIII To Musu Abul Yahyan Professor of Philosophy at Fez. THou shalt see That I am a Man of my VVord and will keep my Promise For this Dispatch contains a farther Description of Constantinople which I engag'd to present thee with in my last This Famous City is Sixteen Miles in Circuit and contains Nine Hundred Thousand Inhabitants 'T is divided into Three Parts by the Intercourse of certain Arms of the Sea and almost forms the Figure of a Triangle The VValls are of an Incredible Height and encompass Seven Hills within their Extent One is near the Grand Signior's Serail Another is in the Opposite Corner of the City which leads to Adrianople Between Two others there lies a Plain which is call'd the Great Valley In this is to be seen an Aqueduct of Admirable Contrivance and Structure the VVork of Constantine the Great who by his convey'd VVater to the City from Seven Miles distance Solyman II. augmented it by opening a Current of VVaters Two Miles beyond the Source of Constantinople which run through Seven Hundred and Forty Pipes into the City besides those which serve the Mosques the Bathes and Houses of Purification At the Extremity of the Town is seen the Antique Building of a Fortress which is call'd the Castle of the Seven Towers a VVork of Inimitable Architecture There is a Garrison in it of Two Hundred and Fifty Soldiers not one of which dares to set his Foot out of the Castle Gates without the Leave of the Vizir Azem unless it be on Two certain Days in the Year That is the First of Beiram and Ramezan In this Place formerly the Ottoman Emperours us'd to lay their Treasures of Gold and Silver their Arms and Ammunition their Books and whatsoever they esteem'd Precious But Amurat the Son of Selymus II. translated all these Things into the Serail ' where they have been kept ever since And this Castle is turn'd into a Prison for Kings and Princes taken Captives by the True Faithful as also for Rebellious Bassa's and other Persons of Quality Here Coresqui Vayvod of Moldavia was shut up in the Year 1617. of the Christians Aera And in the Year 1622. of the same Date the Rebellious Janizaries Imprisoned their Sovereign Lord Sultan Osman whom afterwards they strangl'd in the same Place There are above Two Thousand Mosques Oratories and Sepulchres within the VValls of Constantinople