Liberty to ask of thee If the King of Portugal accepted the Combat and killed the Duke of Medina which of the two would have been declared Infamous Whether there be any Certainty in the Decisions made by Arms I am willing to think Justice is on the Side of the Conqueror But if on the contrary the Event of the Duel be uncertain I take it to be a foolish thing for the Duke to expose himself and thus Affront the King his Brother-in law In short the Duke's Prudence is not to be admired in this Occasion and Braganza has had the Advantage on his Side seeing he has shewed by his Conduct that he is effectually King of Portugal I cannot but call these Christians Fools who suffer such Customs among them and yet adore a Messias who is a God of Peace and who calls us Barbarians when they are the only People that teach us and all other Nations the Arts of single Combats which is the most pernicious Custom that can be introduced amongst Men who cut one anothers Throats oftentimes on slight Occasions and become Prodigals of that Treasure with which the Immortal has intrusted them Neither can I any more approve of Kings and Princes of the same Beliefs making War with one another as we see every Day amongst those who profess the Christian Religion which yet as far as I can find scarcely permits any Wars but such as are Defensive Pardon this tedious Letter excuse my Conjectures in it and honour me with thy Commands which will be respected by me as so many Obligations Paris 25th of the 6th Moon of the Year 1642. LETTER XXV To the Invincible Vizir Azem at Constantinople WE hear of nothing now-a-days but Wars and Conspiracies Seditions Treasons Infidelities and Revolutions of State and it is in the Kingdoms of Vice wherein these Plagues of Heaven make these Disorders I mean in the Christians Countries Infidelity reigns amongst the People of Catalonia England and Portugal the Revolutions which have hapned in Barcellona have no Example the Defiance or the Challenge of a Subject to a King as is that of the Duke of Sidonia to the King of Portugal as his brother-in-Brother-in-law and his Enemy does equally surprize all the World We have reason to think that God is angry with the Christians when we consider Flanders Germany Italy and the Frontiers of Spain pestered with Wars which they make one against another The Animosity of most of the great People of France against the Cardinal Favourite enduces them to lay Plots against his Life whence we may see that great Places are good for nothing but to expose men to great Dangers The last Conspiracy discovered against the Life of D. John IV. of Portugal raised to the Throne by the Nobility and betrayed by the same Nobility not by the whole Body of them but by a small Number of those who had taken an Oath of Fidelity to him as well as the rest does plainly shew us That there is nothing in this World whereon a Man may rely with any Certainty and that here are many People who undertake just Actions by the Motions of an unjust and turbulent Spirit which cannot suffer Things to remain long in a quiet State and aspire continually after Change and to whom every Thing is good that is new I shall relate to thee in few Words this last Event Thou hast been informed of the others by the Letters I have written to thee Invincible General of the Ottamon Armies and Steward of the Emperour's Laws who is the Soveraign of Soveraigns and by those which the Kaimacam and the Bassas have received from me who are obliged to give thee an Account of whatever comes to their Knowledge Several of the great ones in Portugal and amongst them some of the new King's Kindred hatched a Conspiracy against him and resolved to put the Kingdom again into the Spaniard's Hands and entirely ruin the Family of Braganza The principal Author of the Conspiracy was D. Sebastian de Mattos Archbishop of Brague the Count Duke d' Olivarez's Creature to whom he owed his Fortune The chief who conspired with this Seditious Priest were the Marquis de Ville Reale and the Count d' Armamar these two Men of great Birth and Credit soon drew several others into their Party some by the Hope of Recompences and others through Weariness of obeying their new Sovereign or weary with the new Form of State which they thought might change to their Advantage They long held a secret Intelligence with the Catholick King 's Council who promised them all possible Assistance for the Execution of their Design and after that infinite Recompences This Conspiracy was to produce a dreadful Tragedy wherein all the Bloud of the Royal House and Family of Braganza was to be spilt The King was to be the first Victim with his Children and the Queen his Wife D. Duart also was to be put to Death who was kept close Prisoner in the Castle of Milain A Domestick affectioned to his Master and who was attentive to what past delivered the King and Family of Braganza out of this Danger He was ordinarily employed in secret Intrigues and made frequent Courses into Spain to discover the Designs of the Court of Madrid He met by chance in an Inn a man who seemed of a mean Condition born in the Kingdom of Bohemia with whom having entered into a strict Friendship as it happens usually amongst Travellers he came to discover he was often dispatched by the Catholick King 's principal Minister on Affairs of great Weight and that he expected in a short Time to raise his Fortune to a considerable Pitch being entrusted with Packets of Letters containing Things of the highest Importance to the State The crafty Portuguese soon discerning he might get out Secrets of great Concernment from this imprudent Man for the good of his Master resolved to kill him in a desart Place where they were to pass which he did having first made him drunk with strong Wine Assoon as he had done his Work he stript him and found Letters and Instructions to the Conspirators which he speedily carried to D. John who thereby discovered the whole Conspiracy Others say that D. Alphonso of Portugal Count de Vermissa having been solicited by the Achbishop of Brague who thought he could easily bring him into the Conspiracy being discontented at the King for taking away from him a great Office went to his Soveraign and freely discovered to him the Conspiracy which had been made to deprive him both of his Crown and Life And 't is added That this Count appeared since one of the hottest of the Accomplices till the very Instant wherein they were to execute their Project at which Time they were apprehended and punished as they deserved Others say the Duke of Medina Sidonia the King's brother-in-Brother-in-law who appeared to the Accomplices to be of the Plot gave notice of it to the King his Brother In fine the Conspirators were executed
other Predecessors had been before him He began to govern his Kingdom ruined by so many Wars Pillages and Concussions made by all sorts of People and so repaired it by his good Government that he was soon in a Condition to embellish it He built several magnisicent Bridges raised stately Edifices and forgot nothing which might re-establish those good Orders which the Licentiousness of the Times had overthrown But what this King designed against us as soon as he was setled on the Throne will appear at the same time to thee both dreadful and admirable As soon as ever he had made a general Peace with his Enemies he laid the Foundations of the most Heroick Design that ever Man invented wherein he shewed himself not inferior to the first of the Caesars nor the Conqueror of Asia He undertook to overthrow all the Monarchies of the World to give a new Face to all the Affairs of it and to destroy in a short time the Empire of the Ottomans But before he began such a great Enterprize he was for paying all the Debts of the Crown and his own in particular which amounted all together to near an Hundred Millions and 't was a prodigious thing to find so much Money without selling the Kingdom or engaging the People yet it is true that he got this Money and paid those Debts with it He was for dividing Christendom into Fifteen equal Dominations Five of which should obey Kings that were so by Succession and Six to be subject to Kings that were Elective and the Four remaining should be Republicks By this Division he left the Pope the Countries belonging to the Church and added thereunto the Kingdom of Naples with the Homage of Sicily and the greatest part of Italy modelled into a Republick with Obligation to give the Pope every Year a golden Crucifix and Four Thousand Sequins Only Venice was left in the Condition 't was in with its Laws and Customs But there were allotted to this Republick Kingdoms and Isles which were to be taken from us in the Archipelago with an Homage to the Roman Prelate of an Embassy to kis his Feet and at the End of every Twenty five Years a small Statue of Gold representing St. Peter whom they term God's Vicar on Earth Flanders should make a Republick with therest of the Low-Countries which would be a Loss for the Spaniards and to this Republick should be added some of the neighbouring States The Franche County Alsatia Tirol and Trante were added to the Democratical State of the Swisses with the Homage every Fifteen Years of an Hunting Dog with a golden Collar about his Neck fastned to a Chain of Gold which this Republick should present to the Emperor of Germany This Emperor should be obliged to renounce the aggrandizing of his Family and only dispose of vacant Fiefs the Investiture of which he should not bestow on any of his Kindred and there should be a Law inviolably observed in the Empire That never Two Princes of the same Race should enjoy successively the Imperial Crown The Dutchy of Milan should be added to the other Provinces belonging to the Duke of Savoy together with the Title of King of Lombardy The Kingdom of Hungary should be enlarged with the Principalities of Transylvania Walachia and Moldavia And the King who was to be Elective should be chosen by the Suffrages of the Pope the Emperor of Germany the King of France England Spain Swedeland Poland and Denmark and Bohemia should be submitted to the same Laws France England Spain Poland Swedeland and Denmark should not change their Form of Government when for the general Affairs these Kingdoms were to be subject to the Universal Republick of which the Pope was to be the Head Things thus established Henry was to be the Umpire of all Christendom to decide all Differences which might happen between the aforesaid Princes and States with Fifteen Persons chosen from amongst the most famous for Learning and Arms which could be found among these Fifteen Dominations and besides these there was to be established a great Council consisting of Sixty other Persons for all the Differences which might happen in all the Kingdoms and Republicks between those who govern'd them and this great Assembly should make their Residence in the Capital City Rome Every State was to be obliged to furnish a certain Number of Troops and Summ of Mony to make War against the Turks and the Business of Poland and Swedeland should be to make War together against the Moscovites and Tartars There were afterwards Three Generals to be chosen by common Consent for the conquering of Asia one for the Sea and Two for the Land and Three hundred Thousand Foot entertained with One hundred and fifty Thousand Horse and Four hundred Pieces of Canon and the Naval Army was to consist of an Hundred and fifty Vessels and one Hundred Gallies and a Fund was to be raised for this of an Hundred Millions of Gold This Treasure was to be put into the Pope's Hands the Isle of Malta was to be the Store-house of all things belonging to the Sea the Port of Messina the Arsenal for the Gallies and the City of Metz one of the principal Magazins for the Land Forces All the Christian Princes were to be obliged to lessen their ordinary Expences and to contribute to this great Design according to their Ability There were to have been several Spies in Constantinople in the Habit of Greeks who were persectly skill'd in the Eastern Languages to observe the Motions of our Empire And besides these Forty resolute Men who were at a certain Time and Signal to set Fire to the Seraglio and Arsenal and several other Quarters of the Town There was found in this Hero's Closet after his Death a Memorial written with his own Hand wherein he had already markt Twelve Embassadors for several Places in Christendom for the negotiating of so great an Affair and the Pope and Republick of Venice and Duke of Savoy had been already acquainted with it In the mean time this King had an Army already of Forty thousand Foot with Eight thousand Horse and he was under Petence of visiting the Frontiers of Flanders thence to begin the Execution of his Project affirming That as to his own part he had no other Pretension but the Glory of delivering Christianity from the Tyranny of these Barbarians 'T is said he applied himself for Ten Years together in searching the Means to make his Project take he gave great Pensions to the Cardinals at Rome and in Germany to several Officers and he had in France besides the Troops I have already mentioned Four thousand Gentlemen who were so devoted to him that they were ready to mount on Horseback on the least Order from him He had already Fifteen Millions in the Bastil and he that had the Superintendancy of his Treasure promised to add thereunto in less than Three Years Forty other Millions without touching the ordinary Revenues I have no
thy Departure and when thou shalt arrive at the Place of thy Retreat forget not thy faithful Friend Mahmut who wishes thou maist prove an happpy Tutor to the Son of a Prince and a faithful Minister of a wise Emperor Paris 18th of the Second Moon of the Year 1639. The End of the Second Book LETTERS Writ by A Spy at PARIS BOOK III. LETTER I. To Muslu Reis Effendi Principal Secretary of the Ottoman Empire SCARCE had I finisht my Letter to Egri Boynou when News came from the Coasts of Provence of so extraordinary and scandalous an Event that I cannot but inform thee who art a wise and experienced Person of it and because I would have thee set it down in the Sacred Register-Books of the Empire of which thou hast the Charge Assam Bassa a Corsary of Algiers dyed at the Age of 40 Years the Relation of whose Death was attended with such horrid Circumstances that even the Enemies of the Alcoran do detest them 'T is said That being sensible he was near his End he caused two young Christian Slaves to be strangled who were nobly descended and for whose Ransom great Sums of Money might have been expected without alledging any reason for his Cruelty nay after he had confessed he had no cause of Complaint against them having observ'd from certain Tokens in their Countenances that they were of a sweet Disposition and inclined by Nature to be Faithful When he was laying out there was found a kind of fine Scarf about him with these Words embroidered on it in Letters of Gold Asam Bassa will have the handsomest of his Slaves to be buried alive with him being desirous of good Company in his Voyage into the other World The Report of so terrible an Adventure has increased the hatred of the French against us and that in so excessive a manner that I am forced to keep my self concealed lest I should by my Zeal discover my self being not able to endure the Blasphemies of our Enemies There 's no question but this cruel Monster is kept by the Black Angels in the other World God grant that so horrid a Crime may not corrupt the rest of Africk However may I be so free as to counsel you Let the Body of this Impious Wretch Assam be dug up and burnt and his Ashes thrown into the Sea to drown the Memory of him Mahmut salutes thee from the Town of the Universe the fullest of Noise and wishes thee at Constantinople or wherever else thou art a long sequel of happy Years and after Death the enjoyment of the bliss of our hundred twenty four thousand Prophets Paris 18th of the Moon of the Year 1639. LETTER II. To the Invincible Vizir Azem at the Camp under Babylon BEfore I give thee an Account Great and Magnanimous Vizir of whatever I have done to satisfie the Curiosity of Cardinal Richlieu I am obliged to tell thee how I spend my leisure Hours 'T is impossible I should observe exactly the Motions of this Court without following it and holding a Correspondence with People of all sorts as Tradesmen Soldiers Scholars Sea-men Politicians and even Musicians The Court consists of all these Professions and there are some particular Persons who are Masters of all these Sciences of which number is Cardinal Richlieu He is not content with this his Knowledge but seeks still for further Light in the Commerce of all Persons of Merit who arrive here neglecting nothing which may enrich this Kingdom with new discoveries in Arts and Sciences out of love to his Country and desire to render his Ministry more famous Thou seest by this Invincible Bassa that to keep company with Courtiers who have so many different Qualities a Man must have some for his share that he may say something in his Turn and not be always a bare Hearer of other People's Discourse For this purpose the particular Study to which I applied my self whilst I was a Slave in Sicily does much help me though not sufficiently 'T was Books I read in this Island not Men. Now knowing my Business required much Dissimulation an Awakened Mind an Especial Prudence Eloquence and Learning to speak properly in Occasions great Reading to obtain the Knowledge of Ancient and Modern Things a Refined Policy to discover or conceal ones self and to counterfeit sometimes a mighty honest Man nothing I say appeared to me more conducing to this purpose than the turning over Histories And therefore I have earnestly applyed my self to this Work And because few Books are not sufficient and a great many breeds confusion I have happily got Admission into the Acquaintance of an Ancient Learned Man whose Study consists of none but choice Books and has travelled over most Parts of the World not like Apollonius to learn the Language of Birds and Beasts but to know the Customs Laws Virtues and Defects of Nations I was first for informing my self of all the Prodigies which the God of the Jews has done in favour of that ungrateful People I afterwards enquired into the Life and Doctrin of the Messias whom the Christians Worship I also lookt into what had been done considerable at Athens and Sparta Thebes Rome and Carthage and carefully remarkt what Divinities were adored in those so famous Places and found that the Great Philosophers and Captains who made such a Noise about their Religions had at Bottom none at all Having run over what the Christians call the Old and New Testament the Histories of Josephus Xenophon Polybius Thucydides Livius and Tacitus my greatest Application has been and shall be for the future to read and meditate on the Works of the Great Plutarch especially his Lives of Illustrious Greeks and Romans related by him with so great Exactness And thus far have I arrived in this short space and here I have stopt I have learnt by the reading of Plutarch to amuse the Cardinal Richlieu to whom I offered my self two days ago and have put into his Hands the following Discourse made after the manner of Christians and have stript my self if a man may so speak of the Manner and Style of the Turks as I have done of their Habits the better to disguise Titus the Faithful Slave of the Great Amurath Great Cardinal and most Sage Minister of the greatest Christian Kings Titus of Moldavia is come to wait on you according to your Commands not to entertain you with the Riches of Asia nor in what manner by the Wisdom of your Counsels and Forces of the King your Soveraign you may destroy the mighty Turkish Empire of whom you have no reason to complain but to tell you what seems most agreeable to the Greatness of your Genius Know then Sage Moderator of the French Monarch that I shall not offer any thing which may make you hate me and repent of believing me seeing what I propose is an easie Enterprize and full of Glory Thy King has a Son who will one day inherit the Greatness and Authority of his
thy Feet and be acknowledged to be of the number of those for whom he has written his Holy Alcoran Paris 25th of the 6th Moon of the Year 1642. LETTER XXIV To Berber Mustapha Aga at Constantinople I Cannot tell whether thou hast Knowledge of the Use of Defiances which are made amongst the Christians when they be dissatisfied or offended with one another which they term Acts of Honour or the Marks of a gallant Spirit This Custom of Duels is become so common in Italy and especially in the Kingdom of Naples that the greatest Affairs as well as the smallest are therein decided by the Sword and the Gentry affirm this to be the best way of terminating their Disputes and Quarrels which belonging onely to them cannot be referred nor so well determined by the grave and cool proceedings of Courts of Justice This Invention of deciding these Differences by Arms either with the Sword or Pistol alone in a close or open Field naked in their Shirts so that one has no Treachery to fear is a Way of drawing Satisfaction for the Injuries received found out by Men of great Courage who more esteem their Honour than their Lives The offended Person sends a Challenge to him from whom he has received the Injury this note of Defiance is express'd in choice and elegant Words which invite and press the Offender to fight in such a Place on Horseback or on Foot cloathed or in their Shirts single or attended by an equal Number of Friends which they call Seconds with Sword and Dagger or Sword alone or pistol If the Challenge be received he is civilly treated who brings it and it may be has rich Presents given him But before they sight the Enemies embrace as if they were reconciled and then in an Instant following the Inclinations of their Hatred and Revenge they would one another they spill each others Blood and oftentimes their Souls go out furious through the Wounds they have made Those that have the Honour of dying in these Combats do oft refuse their Lives which a generous Enemy would give them believing they cannot live without Shame should they receive them from an Enemy But the Roman Church as a note of the Horror she conceives at these Combats shuts Heaven's Doors against the Souls of those who leave this Life without doing Pennance denying Burial to those who dye in the Field of Battle or yield them onely that which is granted in some Parts of the East-Indies to certain Women who prostitue themselves whose Corpse are thrown a Prey to the Birds of the Field and other Animals who live on Carrion It is not only in Italy People kill one another in single Combats 't is the same in France amongst the Nobility who manage these Combats in a different Sort. The best Friends tear one another on the smallest occasion and they prepare for a Duel in such a manner as will appear to thee without doubt ridiculous These Enemies sup together the Night before the Combat and often lie together in the same Bed The Friends which serve as Seconds do the same and when they are come to the Place where they be to fight a Friend is forced by the Maxims of Honour to cut his own Throat with the Man's he perhaps most loves Nothing happens more frequently in Paris than these Kind of Combats and they produce several Adventures of which I would give thee an Account had I not a particular Story to tell thee on this Subject It is of a Challenge of a Spanish Prince sent to a King whose Crown could not exempt him from a Letter of Defiance Thou hast without doubt heard of what has hapned in Lisbon where D. John de Braganza has been elected and proclaimed King of Portugal as the true Heir of the Royal Race Thou knowest also he drove the Spaniards out of his Kingdom The Duke of Medina Sedonia a Grandee of Spain and this new King's Brother-in-law could not hinder himself from being suspected of having underhand assisted this Prince to ascend the Throne whether it be true or an Artifice of his Enemies God onely knows But however it 's certain that the Count Duke d' Olivarez the King of Spain's chief Minister sent an order to him to appear at Court to justifie himself from this Suspicion he thought to clear himself perfectly from the Jealousies of the Catholick King by sending a Challenge to D. John of Braganza to oblige him to fight with him which Letter of Defiance was conceived in these Terms D. Gaspar Alonzo Peres Gusman the Good Duke of the Town of Medina Sedonia Marquis Count and Lord of the Town of St. Lucar of Barameda Captain General of the Ocean and Gentleman of his Catholick Majesty's Chamber I say that John of Braganza who was never but a Duke calls himself King of Portugal that his Treason known to all the World is detestable and in Abomination for having thrown a Stain on the Faithful House of Gusman which has never failed in any Duty to her Soveraign and for this reason defie and challenge to a single Combate Body to Body with Seconds or without Seconds this Don John heretofore Duke of Braganza leaving all this to his Choice as also the Arms or Weapons and Place of Combat Written near Valentia d' Alcantara where I shall expect fourscore days News of him and the last twenty Days I shall transport my self into the Place he shall appoint accompanied or alone with such Arms as he shall prescribe Not only the Tyrant of Portugal shall be advertised of my Challenge but all Europe and the whole World I pretend to make known in this Combat the infamous Action of D. John and in Case he does not accept of this Defiance and fails in the Duty of one who is born a Gentleman I desire this King who is only a Phantasm may perish in some sort or other I promise to give my Town of St. Lucar the principle Seat of the Dukes of Medina to him that shall kill him In the mean time I entreat my Lord the King of Spain to give me no Command in his Armies but to grant I may onely serve him as a Volunteer with a Thousand Horse which I will maintain at my own Charge till that serving him in this manner I may help to recover the Kingdom of Portugal and may bring along with me and cast at his Majesty's Fleet the Duke of Braganza if he will not fight with me in the Manner I proposed If thou shewest this Letter of Defiance to the Janizaries that Militia which is terrible to all Nations whom nothing can resist when they execute the Grand Seignor's Orders they will tell thee what such a Challenge requires from Men of Courage and explain to thee the Laws which People of Valour prescribe to themselves For my part who am ignorant of the Art of War and the Maxims of such as make Profession of Arms I shall not make any Judgement hereupon only take the
in several Places after different Manners where the People assembled detesting their Crime shewed great satisfaction in their Deaths and blest Heaven for preserving their Soveraign They were apprehended one Day wherein the King declared he would appear in publick and all the Nobility being met he caused the Guilty to be call'd one after another who were all made Prisoners without any Disturbance In the mean time as many Troops as were near Liâ—bon were in Arms and the People also took Arms to defend their Prince if need required The Inquisitor-General was treated as guilty for knowing of the Conspiracy and not discovering it The Great Treasurer Lawrence Pides who kept the Keys of the first Court of the Palace was to enter in the Night with an hundred men well armed and begin the Tragedy The Naval Army which rode at Anchor in the Port of Beleem was to be burnt and there were them in each Vessel who were to set them on fire The four Corners of the City were also to be fired to the end that the People the Souldiers and Guards of the Palace being busied in putting it out nothing might hinder the Execution of their Design and the good Archbishop was in the mean time to appear in Publick bearing about in his Hand what they call the Holy Sacrament crying with a loud Voice Let the Law of Jesus flourish and that of Moses die and come to an End The Marquis de Ville Reale and the Duke de Camine his Son near of Kin to the King have lost their Heads on a Scaffold with the Count d' Armamar and D. Augustin Manuel and the People beheld their Death without any Compassion onely shewed some Regret at the Loss of the young Duke of Camine who passing before the Body of his Father all bloudy threw himself on the Ground to kiss his Feet asking him a thousand times Pardon though he was the Author of this Misfortune There were others who suffered a more Ignominious Death who were not only hang'd but quarter'd and those Parts of their Bodies set up in several Places for an Example and to put the people in Mind that such Attempts seldom escape unpunished As to the Archbishop of Brague and other Ecclesiasticks his Accomplices they are kept with great Care in Prisons in Expectation of Commissioners from Rome without which Prelate's Consent they can do nothing farther to them The King wore Mourning four Hours for the Marquis de Ville Reale and the Duke de Camine his Son according to the Custome of the Christians who are wont to Apparel themselves in Black for the Death of their Kindred to denote the Sorrow they conceive at their Loss and this Ceremony is term'd Mourning which sometimes lasts a whole Year I will write to thee the Particulars of what may happen in the War which is now carrying on between the Spaniards and Portugueses who perceive already on their Frontiers Castilian Troops and I shall not be wanting in any Thing which may mark my Zeal and Exactness An happy Slave will Mahmut think himself if he can acceptably serve the Invincible Vizir by whom the great Emperor of the Faithful discovers his Will to all the People of the Universe whom God has created to obey him Paris 25th of the 6th Moon of the Year 1642. The END of the First Volume Advertisement THE Present State of Europe Or The Historical and Political Monthly Mercury containing all the publick and private Occurrences Civil Ecclesiastical and Military that are most considerable in every Court The various Interests of Princes their several Claims Disputes and Intrigues c. For the Month of February 1691. With curiouâ— Reflections upon every State The Second Volume To be continued Monthly from the Original published at the Hague by the Authority of the States of Holland and West-Friesland Printed for H. Rhodes near Bride-lane in Fleet-street Whereare to be had the first Volume beginning with July 1690. and ending with December following or single Ones to this time