had no Inclinations to Jealousie not but that the most barbarous man would have ceas'd to have been so in that point having seen the fair Sultana in that deplorable Condition the Grand Signior left her in He attended with impatience till she should rise from her Sleep which she really did not in two hours after the Physicians had been with her and delivered their Opinions as the Prince Agustus had recourted them to the Sultan who all impatient to be personally assured of her Recovery passed to her Apartments The Moment he was told she awoke it is beyond being desined the extreme Passion he exprest the joy and pleasure he took in seeing her freed from her pretended Malady The Prince Jealous to Madness of so much Ardour could not but silently upbraid the unjust Sultaness for being false to a Monarch so accomplisht and so well made as Acmat but as it was in his advantage he did not suffer that Reflection to disturb him long He wish'd himself out of the Seraglio he continued there in intolerable Disquiets 't is true the Grand Signior brought him again to the Chamber of Indamora but he had not the liberty to speak to that dear Princess the Sultan so wholly applied himself to her none could be heard besides he pleas'd himself with recounting to her all that her appearance of danger had made him suffer learnt her the Cares the Sighs the Tears he shed for her and in short was two hours by her Bed on his Knees and would not be persuaded to rise but amused the time with I love I feard for you I could not survive you and a hundred other things of the same nature The Prince during all these fooleries was impatient enough he consider'd he was there but as a Witness to a thousand Transports of his Rival but he had no reason to complain he had been more happy not long before and if any had reason to be dissatisfied it was the Sultan Indamora was only grateful to this later and she passionately loved the former After two hours the Prince Tiridate was call'd to share the Conversation with the Sultan and Sultana he charm'd all with his pleasing Wit and Acmat would often say He regretted nothing so much as his having not been intimately acquainted before then with a Prince of his merit This was a Grace to the amorous Tiridate and he saw every moment how much the Grand Signior favoured him who when he quitted the Apartment of Indamora which could not be done without Reluctancy being obliged to visit the Sultana Queen he carried him with him to present him to her to do his Homage there The Sultana Homira was then in the Presence Agustus had never before seen her nor none so beautiful as she he was dazled with a thousand Graces peculiar to her Divine Composure her goodly Meen and though she had lost much of what she was when the Mrs. of the Sultan yet she failed not of drawing from the Prince Agustus some fighs He was wholly confounded when she first appeared and it was of excellent use to him the recollecting all his Love and all the Beauties of Indamora to resist the Power of Homira's However it was he was not Conquer'd but retired with the Sultan only in Admiration of her The Grand Signior had very well observed the Change of Tiridate when the Sultana Homira appeared he heard some tender sighs which he believed could proceed from nothing but Adoration Nothing could give this Monarch more Joy than Agustus's Passion for Homira he had no longer any Interest in her though he still admired her he asked Tiridate's opinion of her who answered so confusedly that the great Acmat fell a laughing this raised the Prince from his Contemplations and gave him a sense of his Remisness he would excuse himself to the Sultan No no said that Monarch it needs not that I have my self more than Adored Homira all that see her see her with concern and I should wonder if you whose Soul is amorous and great desponded The Prince who found it not against his Inclinations and who believed that this pretended Passion would wholly engage the Sultan from any Jealousie of him and Indamora answered so as made the Ottoman Emperor believe he had divined rightly and that the Prince was sensibly affected with the Sultana Homira They were passing through a great Gallery that divides the Womens Apartments from the Sultan's when a Slave vail'd came up to the Prince delivered him a Letter and retired with Precipitation The Grand Signior who was the best bred man and the most complisant in the World gave leave for the Prince to read it there Who knows says the Sultan agreeably smiling it may be of moment and the Lady that sends it to you may be impatient of a Return Tiridate trembled for Indamora and for himself he believed it was from her and should he open it before the Sultan he must observe a Civility that could not be dispensed with Acmat must see it The Prince then chose rather to suspend his Curiosity and to tell the Sultan He knew better what Respects were to be paid him than to treat him after that manner though he was so indulgent to permit him more than he durst make advantage of The Sultan wanted not Comprehension to divine the cause that the Prince would not open the Letter after what he had said to him and though he might have commanded it he chose rather to oblige Tiridate and remain himself unsatisfied He rallied him for the Gallantry as must of necessity be in the Billet since it came from the Seraglio You are a happy man Prince says the Sultan you are no sooner seen than Engagements of heart follow some of the Women you saw on the Queens side are certainly charmed and from thence we are not at all to doubt but this Letter proceeds Agustus was confounded what Answer to make when the Sultan who saw the Pain he was in very obligingly order'd some of the Eunuchs to conduct him out of the Seraglio Go go says Acmat and see what Love has done for you I expect you will be so just as to allow me some share in your Confidence I think I ought to be told something of this Amour since it was I that conducted you to the Queen Sultaness's Apartment from whence as I said to you before this Billet is certainly come Nor was he deceived for the impatient Prince was yet advanced no farther than the Limits of the Womens Apartments when he tore open the Letter and found this Language WHen you shall know as I do not at all doubt to assure you convincingly of it what Love has done for you you will perhaps have reason not to think your self altogether unhappy see what it is to have a strong Passion one needs to see you but once as I have done to be inspir'd with one Care is taken to put the way of returning these Obliging Sentiments wholly in your Power
and Denials she assents and gives him this following Relation The History of Indamora YOu persuade me my Lord by so powerful a way that I must resolve to make you acquainted with all my Weaknesses To begin then I am the Daughter of a German my Father was more obliged to the Gifts of Nature than those of Fortune however he was a good Gentleman and lived esteemed by all his Humour retired and we in complaisance to it shared his Solitude with him I will not tell you I was naturally pleased with it but since I saw no way to get my self out of it I acquiesced I had not long lived in an Age capable of distinguishing things of such a nature when I became in Love with Alcander one of the most Illustrious of the Kingdom and Son to the Emperor's Sister who had married her self to one of her Brothers Subjects her unfortunate Marriage was never forgiven her but oppress'd with the fatal Anger of his Imperial Majesty She died full of Royal Grief and Sorrow in Travail with Alcander him she had espoused loved her too tenderly to survive her long but after having mourned her loss he followed her in a very little time Alcander being thus left to the Mercy of an incensed King was in all appearance to run a most deplorable Fortune but the Emperor's Anger being dead with his Sister the Princess ordered a great Care should be taken of the Royal Orphan and gave command to have him brought up and educated as his own Son loaded him with Titles and as soon as he was capable of them he gave him great Employs I am going to tell you how it was I first saw him which was almost admirable in a Life so retired so free from Court as mine He was a fine Man well shaped of a good height when I first knew him which was when he was very young his Soul was extreme Amorous had a great share of Inconstancy but where he loved it was with the greatest fervency imaginable the Emperor was Hunting one day in a Wood joyning our House which was seated very commodious for that sort of Diversion Alcander was then with him and having seen me at a great Window I had thrown open for the better seeing the Court pass he seem'd not displeased with me but alighting from his Horse hastily he caused himself to be conducted by my Servants to the place where I was 't is not easie to define the Surprize this Action gave me however I was infinitely charmed with his good Meen his Wit and his Address he found my Inclinations did not agree with that sort of Life he talk'd tenderly I was in an Age wherein I believed all that fell from his inchanting Tongue was true I began to feel a Passion for him and after he had a thousand times sighed for my sake in one hour I was sensible of a pleasing Fire he had inspired me with I gave way for him to endeavour the bringing me to Court which he conjured me to agree to and when he retired after a many Protestations of Admiration he bad me be assured I had in him not only a great Friend but a great Lover This Confession drew some Blushes from me But the following day he came again to visit me then it was I lost my Liberty for in that fatal hour I made no difficulty to own I loved him I valued not to be discreet there is no such thing in Love but I made it all the Business of my Life to be ever telling him my Passion I saw all his Actions with Pleasure there was an agreeable Inchantment in them I repined not at the freedom I had lost nor to have been as great as Heaven is high would have been unacquainted with him again It was thus agreeably I passed some of my Life nor envied I Monarchs in my retirement when e're Alcander shared it with me but as the place I lived in was so distant from the Court that Alcander's Attendance on the Emperor prevented him from seeing me as often as he desired he placed me with the Archdutchess his Imperial Majesties Daughter I was with her in a very glorious Station and though in a place where all sorts of Diversion were in use I esteemed it but as it gave me the greater Liberty to see Alcander and to often assure him of my Passion I writ it to him I told it to him in a Language tender and moving I easily believed all this would satisfie him but when he had seen to what a height my Passion soared and that he was dearer a thousand times to me than I had ever been to him he triumph'd over my Weakness and losing all manner of Respect by the opinion he had I could deny him nothing he courted me for my undoing I received the first cruel Proposals of my ruin with a terrible Emotion and with such Disdain that Alcander durst not urge me further but the following day sent me this Letter YOU are certainly the falsest of all Women How is it you tell me you Love me and yet use me as if I was the remotest Man in all your Kindness Is it your part to pretend to Virtue and I know not what fantastical Chimera's and at the same moment tell me you know how to Love well Ah! Indamora change these barbarous Sentiments and assure your self I will never see you again whilst you continue in them I had much rather live for ever from you without hope than live for ever with you and not dare to tell you you must consider nor endeavour nothing but how to please the Man you say has all your Tenderness I swooned at the reading of this Letter and was just recovered as Alcander entered he flew to me and receiving me in his Arms he whispered so many fatal poysoning charming Things that I had no longer the power to be angry with him he protested he could not see me and not desire to be the happiest Man Breathing when it was in the Power of a Woman that loved him to make him so I know not Love is an unaccountable Madness I dreaded of all things the never seeing him more it was that Consideration vanquish'd me and oh Gods in that fatal moment I promised and appointed him the following day he seem'd transported at the Grant he bless'd the Heavens the Gods and me and retired with so much Joy that the Pleasure I took in pleasing him surmounted all my other Fears and I in short resolved to make him that happy Man he said though at the expence of my own Ease and the Joy of my coming Life I very well saw I gave him what I should eternally repent of but those in Love have no Consideration but what is agreeable to that Passion but though I had abandoned all the Care of my self the Gods retained theirs for me and saved my Honour then from dying in the Arms of Alcander I was to attend that night the Archdutchess to a great
interrupting him I believe I did never more deserve to be admired and that if Zayda could look well it was that day I did think he render'd me but that was my due and that my Heart deserved more Homage than my Eyes I assured him That my Ascendant was Glory and that I had as much Passion for him as I was capable of entertaining for any one that it was as fervent as Ambition would permit it to be and that he that could ever move my tenderness must flatter my hopes and approve of the most ambitious Desires under the Heavens and seek also to gratifie them The Prince seem'd transported at this Confession he rendered Thanks to our great Prophet for shewing a a way to please the charming Zayda and assured me it was my fault if I was not one day Sultana Queen He then retired and my Father entered some moments after to whom I gave an exact Account of all that had been said the Grand Visier was well pleased at my Conduct and after having given me some necessary Instructions he ordered me to prepare my self for going to the Seraglio that night to pay my Homage to the Sultana Queen which in effect I did there was then in the Presence the young Amurath who had been disgraced for some considerable time and was but that hour reconciled to the merciful Sultan the Sultana Homira blush'd at this Discourse but Zayda continuing left her no room to reflect The Gallant Amurath was in my opinion the most lovely of all Men I gazed intemperately on him and in a word gazed away my Liberty I often met his charming Eyes mine ever went in search of them and I left the Seraglio passionately in Love I was generally observed I did every thing that night with a Distraction so uncommon to me and took so little care to manage my self that it was apparent enough I was become really in Love with Amurath he was told it and half of that opinion resolved to appear sensible and to write me a Declaration of Love which he conveyed unperceived into my Glove The following night when I return'd to the Seraglio he was then more than before by my manner of Carriage confirmed in an opinion he was not indifferent to me he resolved not to lose my favourable Inclinations for want of Addresses and when I call'd for my Gloves and my Barnus he who waited behind presented me with them but with so much amaze and trembling that I was going to give a publick Demonstration of my Passion by a loud Cry to call some Assistance to him but his recovering himself from that surprize diverted me but though I did not give that Authentick Testimony my Lips were Harbingers of my Passion and I did not quit Amurath without telling him in dumb show he could not be unhappy when I went to draw on my Glove and found the Letter there I unperceived put it up till I came to the Grand Visier's Palace and to my own Apartments where I opened it and read thus Amurath to the Charming Zayda I Am favoured Madam more than ever any was I am to dye but it is with adoring you so much as I do Ah! Have I not too glorious a Destiny and ought I not to boast of it See how dangerously fair you are ah too charming Zayda the irresistible Power of your Eyes have made me guilty of Temerity It cannot but be confessed Amurath does of all Men most adore you he is presumptuous but he is extreme Amorous I know my ambitious Passion merits all Punishment for sinning so high as to raise all my Love and all my Adorations to the finest Woman under the Heavens but there is no mean when one loves you it must be with as much ardency as is felt in the Heart of Amurath I was infinitely pleased with this Letter I loved as much as he and never had so much Joy as in the reading of it but I must not let that Joy appear 't is not after that manner we must carry our selves we must seem angry when we are not so in short displeased at the only thing that pleases us best so fantastical is the Custom of our Sex. Mustapha was just entered the Chamber as I had put up the Letter he found me in a Humor so good and so pleased that he knew not what to believe but fired with the common Report of my being in Love with Amurath he reproached me but so respectfully and with such a melancholy Sorrow that I could not then but condemn the wildness of my Inclinations and my Passions I endeavoured to calm him by demanding of him If it were possible to entertain two Passions for two several Persons at the same individual time This satisfied his Jealousie he would be appeased because he saw I desired it but yet he exacts this killing Resolution of me To go no more to the Seraglio till he permitted me this was a thing so averse to my Inclinations that I knew not surprized as I was how to answer him If you love me as you persuade me said he this will be an easie Demonstration of your Sincerity but if on the contrary you have your Liberty And ah What is it I do here with one that makes no Returns to my Passion I had much rather never see you as I must do if I am indifferent to you than adore and expose my self here only to flatter and satisfie the Vanity of an Ambitious Woman By what the Prince had then said I very easily guess'd what measures I was to take I dissembled my Inclinations and would sacrifice my Love to my Ambition I did without much difficulty persuade him he was dear to me he demanded again as a Testimony of my Passion the same thing my surprize made me silent to before I gave him my word of my not going to the Seraglio till he assented to it he is satisfied and retires so but leaves me tossed by a tumultuous sort of Disquiets Glory and Love are the Disputes but the God must yield and Ambition was the most Powerful I was govern'd by that ascendant not without terrible Disquiets it cost me Tears and Inquietudes I call'd the Prince tyrannical and unjust and had I not been obliged to keep those measures with him I did on the hopes of a Crown I should have taken pleasure in opposing the Man that was so absolutely indifferent to me before I had seen and loved Amurath Mustapha was agreeable to me but he had lost himself by his Jealousie and it was for the Crown on the Head of the Sultana Queen I dissembled my Inclinations the constraint I suffered had I had no other merit deserved it and he was unjust to the highest degree in denying it me The Grand Visier who you know Madam is the wittiest Man in the whole Ottoman Empire no sooner learnt from me that the Prince loved well enough to be jealous than that he went to him and falling insensibly to talk of
Men. Thus did Zayda finish her Relation The Sultana Homira in another time would have died with Rage at the Confession she made her of her being in Love with Amurath but he had used the Sultana too barbarously to merit any thing of Tender from her He had exposed her Letters and basely rendred her as ill Offices as possibly though it was by her he made himself first considerable Homira had learnt the whole Despair of Zayda she valued nothing now she saw her hopes baffled her Ambition ruined and all her great expectations vanisht The Sultana though she had heard particulars could draw nothing advantagious to her designs of ruining Mustapha and the Grand Visier she saw she had all the Revenge this Rancountre could give her and since she failed of murdering ought but their Repose she triumphed in doing that though it is a truth she had done Mahomet Bassa and the fair Zayda the most sensible Injury and perhaps this later would have rather she had robb'd her of her Life than a Crown which in all appearance had been hers had not the Sultana Homira discovered to the Grand Signior their Engagements Zayda did not know how much she was obliged to her but when she helpt her to rail at the Prince believed her the greatest of her friends and used her accordingly The treacherous Sultana after her Caress believed she would receive any Advice she gave her and first conjured her to be her friend as she was sincerely hers feign'd her Anger to Mustapha to all the height imaginable and would fain persuade her to the Resolutions of some way or other to give him the Death he deserved Her Dissimulation terminated in this but Zayda who had no manner of Inclination for the Prince and who since she had failed of murdering him the first time altered her Resolutions She considered his Death could not place the Crown she had lost upon her head and was resolved to lose the thoughts of him and to retire from Constantinople assisted by the advice of the Grand Visier who was sensibly displeased but durst not appear so She will dissemble and try if in the Arms of Amurath she could find some Tranquility after this unexpected Misfortune The end of the First Part. THE AMOURS OF THE Sultana of Barbary The Second Part. THE Sultana of Barbary during all these Transactions was reflecting of the Assignation she had given the Prince Tiridate the Sultan left her late that night so that it was already morning when Indamora came into the Gardens agitated by a number of Disquiets and Fears she would hear what he would say to her she would clear her self to him and yet she does not know for what reason she begins to fancy she loves him more than she does any she desires he should believe not Love but Interest made her what she then was she apprehended a Passion for the amiable Agustus would ruin her and yet she has not Power to suppress it it was Tiridate had first taught her how to love well and it was he that had ever since maugre her Passion for Alcander been very dear to her and further it was he that had been content for her to suffer an inglorious Exile and though it was a hard Banishment kindly meant since it reprieved him from an ignominions Death yet it was what lost him all his Fame and all his Friends the fair Sultana was sensible of this and though she had had no concern for him Gratitude would make her acknowledge her self obliged for perhaps there was not a Man in the World would do so much for the Love of her she was not at all displeased with the Murtherer of Alcander because in the Person of Tiridate The Prince had all these Advantages on his side the fair Sultana had an amorous Soul a Receptacle of Tenderness and in a word she knew not how to be cruel to a Man she had been so intimately acquainted with yet the Fate of Homira was a restraint to her for some moments and but for some moments she considered her Indiscretion lost the Sultan more than her Licentiousness she was not discreet without which a Woman is in a deplorable Condition The Sultana of Barbary was assured she wanted no cunning nor an ascendant over the Great Acmat to hinder him from seeing and believing what she did not give leave to and perhaps she had some Apprehensions of Tiridate should she be more cruel now than in the Emperor's Court he had Letters of hers and in short it was in his Power to make a misunderstanding between the Sultan and her notwithstanding her boasted power over him agitated I say by all these different Reflections she entred the Gardens of the Seraglio and immediately passed to the covered Walks where she expects to find the Religious Prince not considering the Custom of the place which permitted none but those of the Seraglio the Sultan and the chief Gardiner upon pain of death to tarry there after night However she goes she comes she looks about she enters all the Grottoes and at length in one of the most retir'd ones she sees a Woman alone wrapt up in her Barnus supinely laid on one of the Banks and reading a Letter by the help of the Moon which lent her light enough The fair Sultana disappointed as she was of seeing Tiridate resolved to amuse herself with the discovery of that person that was so closely conceal'd under a Barnus She entred the Grotto with Caution and obliged the other to look round her by taking that Letter from her Indamora had long since been above what ever any but the Qeeen Sultaness could say to her and if she dreaded any thing besides it was the Malice of Homira she prepared to read the Letter but how was she surprized to see there the name of Tiridate Agustus she testified her Amazement by a loud Cry and addrest her self after having thrown the Letter from her to embrace the other she had taken it from She believed it could be no other but the Religious Prince under that Disguise how ingenious is Love my Agustus says she and how am I â—o ask thy Pardon for making thee wait thus long The Sultan had but just left me as I entred these Gardens where I had almost lost all hope of seeing thee he exacts all ones time and one can find almost none to give to love She ended here and wondered the supposed Tiridate made her no Returns but stoopt to take up the Letter which when he had done he infinitely surprized her by owning himself to be the Grand Signior under the Disguise of a Woman Slave Indamora at this Confession knew not what excuse to make she believed her silence would plead best and to prevent her from saying any thing she swooned but immediately recovered at the Assurance given her by him that held her he was not the Sultan but Mahomet Bassa she is raised by this Assurance and laught with him at that
fear she expressed by his Fallacy Had it been any other but the Grand Visier she had been undoubtedly ruined by what she had said but he it was to whom she was obliged for all her Grandeur and one whom she had made acquainted with all her weaknesses She amazedly required of him the reason of his Disguise and by what means that Letter had come into his hands which she saw was addrest to her self and which the Grand Visier read thus to her You are certainly too full of Guilt and too conscious of it to dare endeavour the clearing your self How is it that you have ordered me to attend you to night in the covered Walks of the Garden of the Seraglio and then not to come Consider with your self what a faithless inconstant Woman you are though I possess neither the Rank nor the Merit of the Sultan a great deal more is due to my Love what he has done for the Sultana of Barbary has not at all injured his Glory or his Power but what Tiridate has done for the fair inconstant Indamora has ruined all he had dear in this World Consider this unjust Princess and know that maugre all what you have done I still adore you and am come to Constantinople to receive your Orders how I shall dispose of my self since my Life and Death are but what you please to command 'em yet assure your self I can never suffer to live and not possess as formerly I did all that the Heavenly Indamora can call hers After the reading of this Letter which cost the fair Sultana some Blushes she again conjured the Grand Visier to satisfie her when he receiv'd it and from whom Why he was disguised so And Why he was so careless of his Safety as to pass a night in the Garden of the Seraglio To all which Mahomet Bassa answered by this following Relation I had no sooner heard says the Visier that it was a Revenge of Homira that Mustapha's Engagement with Zayda was made known to the Sultan than I resolved to let her understand by some Act how I resented the ill effects of her inverate malice the Love I had had formerly for her no longer disquieted me and if she was dear to me one hour I hated her the next as much for her unjust Usage of me and all her Perjuries she denied after her Promise to give to me what a thousand others possess'd this at first was an unconsolable Affliction but time which conquers all Resentments of what nature soever taught me not to value and at length to despise the Weaknesses of this unjust Sultaness Morat the chief Gardener who is one of the greatest of my Friends received my Orders to make his Addresses to her and when enjoy'd to expose her this was I thought the greatest Revenge I could have in that low Condition she was in 't is true it was by my designs she became so but she had sensibly injured me since her disgrace and I must again revenge it Morat made an effectual Address enjoy'd her and in a word received another Assignation in the remotest Grotto in the covered Walks of the Garden of the Seraglio for this Night he was to be as you see me now in the Dress of a Slave for the more Security the Grand Gardener who held not himself so obliged by the Sultana's Favours as to neglect what he owed to me failed not to learn me all that he knew It was then that I found my Passion for her not extinct and yet I hated her to the death I thought it would be an infinite of Pleasure to me to take Morat's place and by consequence possess what she treacherously refused me it was to me the highest Satisfaction in the World to think how she would resent this Affront after I should disabuse her when in the room of the Grand Gardener she should find the Grand Visier her most mortal Enemy this I say flattered my Love and my Revenge so much that I put on the Slaves Dress and conducted by Morat who no longer valued the Sultana since he had received from her all he could expect I entered the Gardens and passed with silence to the covered Walks I presently discovered the beautiful Homira advancing towards an Eunuch that as I have since apprehended waited there by the Order of the Christian Prince for your arrival however it were the Sultana who was also disguised approached the Eunuch that attended there made him believe she came from the Sultana of Barbary with Orders to receive the Letter which the Slave without any farther Examination put into her hands I presently apprehended some ill designs from that inraged Spirit and quitting Morat who retired at the first sight of her doubled my pace and was got up to her before she had opened the Letter We are likely my dear said she to me in believing me to be the chief Gardener to make some Discoveries here was not long since one of your Sex though not so very much disguised as you that put this Letter into the hands of an Eunuch to deliver to the Sultana of Barbary thou knowest my dear what Reasons I have to hate her I easily got it from the Slave She then gave it to me to read you may imagin the Joy I had to see it in my hands we entered the Grotto she would oblige me to let her hear what was in the Letter I easily diverted her from it I pretended the Passion I had for her was too ardent to amuse the Heavenly Moments which I bought with the hazard of my Life in Trifles like those I told her that there was enough of other time to give to things of that nature and that Love would have reason to be angry at me his glorious Favourite if I lavish'd away the hasty happy hour in such an unpardonable idle manner 'T is easie for you to divine continued the Visier with a Smile and looking fixedly on Indamora how we entertained one another she believed me Morat and I fancied her the Homira I had once loved above the hopes of a blessed Eternity In short I possess'd what I had so long sigh'd for and what she had so unjustly denied me maugre my transporting desires of Revenge I was forced to recollect all that could animate it to be proof against this seducing Charmer and I put a perfect violence on my Inclinations by constraining my self to do a cruel Action after so pleasing and so extastick a one yet such was my Fate I must triumph or must be triumphed over 't is easie to resolve which was the Choice I made for when I had been this happy Man for two hours and had very often given and received Testimonies of a great and reciprocal Passion I barbarously confessed my self to be Mahomet Bassa certainly all I could have contrived in my whole Life of Cruel had not been so ill received by her as this last Action of mine yet she continued some time very calm and
confessed that not my Embraces had disgusted her but my former conduct to her which was so base that she should eternally remember and eternally endeavour to revenge she caress'd me for the Letter which when she saw I was resolved not to give her she flew out into an extreme violent Passion she threatned me with death which she assured me she was resolved should be my Fate for she would instantly inform the Grand Signior of my coming to that sacred place in such an hour and an hundred other ridiculous Clamors which I put an end to by answering her Morat should suffer whatever the Sultan ordained me of Punishment Nay persued I either change your Resolution of discovering to Acmat my Crime and your own Debauchery or this ador'd Grand Gardener shall this hour be expiring by Poysons or my Scimitan or shall be strangled by Mutes Consider how you can bear this and take your measures accordingly These Threats had their desired Success the Sultana retired very much inraged at my manner of Revenge and the more so in that she durst not complain of me without hazarding the Life of her dear Morat You entered some moments after the Letter you have by a kind of Miracle had Homira seen it nothing could have preuented your ruin have a care how you carry your self she will certainly have an account of all your Conduct which will be rendered as criminal as her Wit and Malice can make it perhaps she will too inform the Sultan of a Letter I had for you and render us both suspected he loyes you well enough to be jealous though none before could ever make him so the Sultaness Homira was an infamous Woman and disgraced because the Honour of Acmat required she should be so he forgave her other Faults as Criminal though not as publick as her favouring Amurath and would not himself see what the rest of the World easily discern'd Tiridate and Homira may ruin Indamora with the same â—ase that Amurath and Mahomet Bassa ruined her act then with Caution and remember when you have once lost the Sultan all Endeavours will be in vain to make him again love you an Example of this we have in Homira she is beyond comparison beautiful so made to Charm that it was almost a Miracle great as her own Composer to think how Acmat of the Temper he is could ever cease from loving her yet nothing is more certain than that he has He cannot love Indamora more than he did Homira you may perhaps have her Destiny but all Endeavours must be used to hinder that fatal Curse banish Agustus from your Heart for as long as he reigns there you will not fail of being unhappy Monarchs like Acmat when they give a whole Heart expect a suitable return and as in Empire so in Love we can admit of no Competitors This I very well know my Lord replied the Sultana but my auspicious Stars have inspired me with an unfortunate Passion for Tiridate before I ever knew the Sultan I have before now assured you of my Passion for hâ—m but when you placed me with the Sultana Queen that did not disturb me so very much I did not believe I should ever see him again and am yet to learn how it comes that he is protected here in this Court. Possbly I had not consented to please my Ambition had I ever had any hope of being happy again in my Love but the Object of it had for me suffered a Banishment and retired to a place where I could never have come after my being taken and made a Slave in Turky But my Lord pursued the fair Sultana with some great Sighs and a Torrent of Tears I love the Prince and cannot cease from doing it maugre all what you my own Reason or the whole World can say to the contrary and perhaps I had rather share his Banishment with him than never see him again I first gave him my Honour when I had no Love for him and sure my Lord now I have 't is not to be expected I should treat him worse than than Ah! it is too cruel a Destiny my capricious Fates will hurry me to a thousand things but all my Resolves terminate in loving him eternally and in this you must acquiesce all our Sex has some weakness this is mine pity it then my Lord and assist an unfortunate Woman whose Good wholly depends on your Management I would not ask this from you were I not assured it is your Interest I should live in the Favour of the Grand Signior and further my Lord you have hitherto protected and assisted me leave me not now in the greatest moment of my life I would without your aid leave the Seraglio confess my Passion to the Sultan for Tiridate Agustus and declare to him the desire I should have of passing my whole life with him remote from every thing but Love but I flatter my self that with your assistance and by the Ascendent I have over Acmat I may continue as I am I have some Ambition with me the Sultan gratifies it and I must acknowledge it though he is a Monarch very indifferent to me and I know not what I could be capable of doing against him should he make my life uneasie by disturbing my love To prevent it I must endeavour to preserve my selfe in his Opinion as guiltless of persidiousness as I am now in it She stopt here to make room for the Returns of the Grand Visier who represented to her all she had to fear from that manner of Conduct the Life of the Christian Religious and her own but those are things which Love renders but little persuasive and we very often hazard them to satisfie the humours of the God. Mahomet Bassa at least persuaded the Sultana to carry her self with more Caution than usual and to pretend more Passion and Tenderness for Acmat than ever After this the Grand Visier retired the day began to break and to tarry longer would be hazardous if he were known The fair Sultana was agitated by unexpressible Disquiets she returned to the Seraglio and with a Resolution to write to the Religious Prince which she did but then she knows not how to have it safely delivered to him What the Grand Visier had said to her alarmed her she had reason to apprehend all things from Homira who upon very good Considerations she could not believe any thing but ill Offices could proceed from She must then use as much precaution as could be consistent with her Love for the Prince that being dearer to her than her Ambition she believed Acmat was secure in the Opinion of her sincerity her truth and the Protestations she had made him and that more than suspicions would be necessary to ruin her it was her fault if Indiscretion did it she has a thousand Designs forming for the Conveyance of this Letter she had writ she knows not whom to trust she fears all things from every one in the
Grotto he had not been there long agitated with all the Horrors of despair than that he is seized behind he startled at the Action and was more surprized when he saw it was the Sultan that held him he did not doubt but that he was their to dye and that Homira had conducted Acmat there to give him the death which she threatened him with he was at a loss how to speak to the Grand Signior in such a Conjuncture when that Monarch banish'd all his Fears by a Charming Smile peculiar to him Where have you left the Sultana Homira says he If I mistake not this manner of Carriage is not at all obliging to a Princess of her Sentiments Agustus was reassured by what the Sultan had said and taking an Air that expressed his Resentments Ah Sir return'd he You have exposed me I know not the manner how Love was made in Turky I believed it the same as in Germany where after receiving such a Letter as I did from Homira we expected all should be given and if we stay'd to ask it it is only to save the Blushes of the fair one not that those Formalities are necessary But I am yet to learn what is to be done with the Ladies in Turky what Court what Address to charm The Sultana Homira laughed at me ridiculed me and in a word is fled from me I persued her 'till I had no longer any hopes of finding her and see too plainly I serve only to divert you and that fantastical Sultaness but 't is very well I am capable of doing that Acmat smiled all the while as Agustus was talking to him and seeing him appear so concerned made him laugh more than ever but that pass'd He examined the Prince seriously the occacasion of Homira's Flight after the tender Letter she had writ Tiridate would be more and more in a pet at what the Sultan said You laugh Sir replied he and you inquire into a thing which you already understand much better than I and you must give me leave to think you press me only that you believe it more diverting recounted by him that ought not to be without Resentment but I am ready to give you that Satisfaction Homira amid'st all my Protestations of Love would shew how well she could act a part enjoyn'd her she pretends then to be jealous of me and the Sultana of Barbary whom I have not seen but once since my arrival to Turky protests it is true and that I am beloved again and she left me as she said in order to find you that my death should immediately follow the Discovery This ramble as the Sultan believed it delivered in the Dress and Anger the Prince was in made Acmat laugh more than ever he had done To satisfie you said that Monarch I will my self go search the Gardens and bring the Sultana Homira to you and we will endeavour to make you Friends you shall go into this Grotto where Indamora is alone and entertain her with the Relation of this nights Adventure while I shall do as I promised Homira may then indeed Sir return'd Agustus pretend some colour for her Jealousie Oh ridiculous replied the Sultan Do as I command I am assured of Indamora and as for Homira I will go this moment and bring that Sultaness to you as I said Whil'st the Grand Signior was in persuit of Homira the Prince entered the Grotto where Indamora was he had just leisure to assure her he had been constant learnt her what they had to fear from Homira the Letter she had and the design and the desire she express'd to ruin them at the end of this hasty Relation Aomat entered the Grotto alone I have found Homira says he but it is impossible for me to persuade her to come hither she still persists in the same Story and has given me the greatest Satisfaction of Laughing extremely at her ridiculous ramble she is Obstinacy it self tells me that your dangerous Malady yesterday was all feign'd that it was only to favour Tiridate Agustus and more as impertinent as this 'T is very necessary Sir replied the Sultana of Barbary I clear my self from that Aspersion the Sultaness thinks all her Sex of her own Inclinations because the Religious cannot escape her Conquest she believes and she has perhaps some reason that I would no more scruple to have a Gallant Intrigue with the Prince Tiridate than she with the Mufty but ah all Religons will not allow it Turky and Germany differ in nothing more than in that point when we ingage our selves once it is for ever and though nothing can be more ardent and constant than our Loves yet do we not proceed to Poysonings and Death the Sultan apprehends the occasion the Sultana of Barbary said this from she had insinuated to him her Fears that was grounded on Circumstances convincing of Hemira's inveterate malice she believed she said and not without reason that the Poyson she had taken proceeded from her and I am not to wonder at this last effect of her Malice persued Indamora and ah Sir should you suffer these Outrages so near the Throne it is time for the unhappy Sultana of Barbary to retire her self when she is no longer loved for what can be more cruel than your unjust Suspitions and if Homira by rendering me culpable can advance her own Interest how cruel Apprehensions ought I to have she will pause at nothing to ruin me and to regain your Heart give it her then Sir if I no longer merit it I had much rather be unhappy than render you so Is your Passion for me dead Or Is it become so languid that you can possibly calmly hear my Innocence and my best Actions aspersed with the blackest of Calumnies and not shew your Resentments Good Heavens How unhappy is Indamora in losing her dear Sultan so tenderly a showre of Tears succeeded it was a long time before she could be appeased the Great Acmat endeavoured it very unsuccessfully 'till he protested to her he would never believe to her disadvantage whatever Homira could say I have more than once fear'd for you says he and that haughty Spirit cannot bear Injuries without revenging them it is possible the Poyson that you took and which had almost cost me my Life was the effect of her malicious Humor but we know what Reasons she has to hate you and her Resentments must be pardoned since they have such a motive After this they retired out of the Gardens the Sultana Homira had actually related to the Sultan all she knew of the Intrigue of Indamora and Agustus but the Relation that that Prince had before made to Acmat hindered her designs from taking effect he believed her fantastically mad and used her accordingly by ridiculing all she said No Sir says she you will never believe though you should find her in the Arms of the Religious which is easie enough to be seen Good Heavens persued she How could I love that
desired she would do him that Justice to expose them to the abused Sultan especially the last he had received from her since their Interview in the Grotto which he obliged Zayda to read it was thus WHat a cruel Storm have we escaped I cannot counsel you to love me less but advise you for both our Safeties to be more discreet What a Joy is it to me to think my dear Prince who has a Soul the most amorous of all could be insensible near so charming a Woman as the Sultana Homira she allarm'd my hopes and gave me nothing but Fears I laugh now at my Credulity I did ill to distrust you my dearest Tiridate forgive my weakness I will not ask you to pitty it I have too glorious a Destiny to merit so much from you You know what I require preserve your Heart and your Love entire for me I do it for you and when I see the Sultan near me I always wish it the Prince Agustus and cease not from incessantly making Vows in your Favour See there says the Prince detesting Indamora's Crimes and after Zayda had read it see how she deserves to be treated Zayda used her Endeavours to calm him and it was with much difficulty she persuaded him to continue at the Grand Visier's Palace till she should return from the Seraglio where she was going The Interests of Indamora were too near hers to neglect serving her in this point she came then to the Sultana of Barbary who was drowned in rage nothing she said but the life of the Sultan should satisfie her Her Designs of Revenge she added were noble and she would for once be greatly cruel Zayda did not much reflect on what she heard she only minded the Sultana of Barbary how much her Friend she was restor'd her the Letters and in this served the Prince Agustus better than by obeying his Orders Indamora immediately threw 'em to the flames tenderly Embraced Zayda and yielded to go to the Grand Visiers Palace with her there to see the unfortunate Agustus she hated her self for what she had done and the Sultan much more for it she wept to Tiridate calm'd his rage by assuring him that nothing but to save him from expiring by the Orders of the unjust Sultan could have made her guilty of such a sin she assures him she will attone for it by an action worthy her Love and that she was going to endeavour by one blow to attain to her own Liberty and share his Banishment with him Mean time till she should be able to effect what she had promised he must submit to the Orders that had been given for his Exile that he should retire himself to Italy till she should order his Return As for her she said after her departure from Turky she would go to Germany and to the Emperor's Court and use all her endeavours for his Return from that Exile or if she should not be able to effect it she would however end her Life with him since nothing but Death was of force enough to extinguish the Passion she had for him Agustus returned this tenderness and after having given reciprocally their Vows of Loving for ever they prepared to leave one another but with so many transports of Sorrow Grief and Passion that they were not capable of speaking and the Prince who was hurried away by his cruel Destiny left the Sultana swooning in the Arms of Zayda to whom he render'd a thousand Expressions of Gratitude and left Constantinople and Turky with an inconceivable Regret The Sultana of Barbary after her Recovery from her Swoon learnt the Departure of the Prince with a vexatious Sorrow but she must dry her Tears and prepare for her Return to the Seraglio She will be fatally revenged but not yet she has not an opportunity of doing it without Noise she is constrained to take off all suspicion to render her Acknowledgments to the Sultan for banishing Agustus she is also forc'd to dissemble more than ever she appears gay when she is mortally afflicted and tender to the Sultan while she is searching for a way to be reveng'd on him She becomes cruel and Oh Horror at last resolves on the most barbarous of Murders her Resentments have a fatal termination and her Rage suggested to her that nothing but his Death could repair the Injuries he had done her and render her again happy in her Love she did not reflect on the Greatness of her Crime her dear Prelate had Power to absolve her of it and those in Love never believe that thing a Sin which is so highly serviceable to their Passion The Sultana Homira mean time was full enough of Rage to see how Indamora had prevented her designs but she has address to pass over her regret she resolves now no more to endeavour the revenging her self since she has so continually failed in it but she will invert all to a design of gratifying her tender Inclinations and that she will care for nothing beyond making new Conquests and she does not now seem to be sorry the Grand Visier had the last Revenge since she saw by it his Love for her was not extinguish'd and those of a passionate Character had very seldom an ill Reception from her in the end But whil'st she has thus disposed of her self and that the whole Ottoman Empire enjoy'd a Tranquility beyond all Example the Sultana of Barbary will disturb it and having got a slow Poyson she conveys it into a Glass where the Sultan was to drink he supped with her that fatal Night and whil'st he is more admired than ever by all the World he falls by the extreme malice of a Woman and a Woman so dear to him he drank the Poyson and returned very well to his own Apartment and does not feel the effects of it 'till the following day then it was that he was torn with extremity of Torture and that all the Court despaired of his Life but he linguered yet some few days longer there was none that durst say he was poysoned and if any suspected it they did not make their opinion publick it passed for a dreadful Malady which he had before been afflicted with and he died in the opinion of all of that Distemper During his Sickness he express'd a tender regret for parting with his dear Sultana as he would call her but his great Weakness and the publick Affairs together with that of his Soul so employ'd his hasty time that he saw the Sultana of Barbary but very seldom By his Death Mustapha was Grand Signior a thing never before known in Turky the Brothers being always Slain but Acmat having no Children and being one of the best of Princes preserved him to succeed him and at his quitting the World he tenderly required from his Kindness a Protection for the Sultana of Barbary Mustapha now the Sultan had not long possess'd the Crowns and Title then that his Nephew Osmen rebels against him but that being not my Business I must pass it over to come to the Sultana of Barbary she mourned strictly for Acmat and was very well pleased that she was no manner of way suspected nor in a word any else for the murdering of him After her first mourning she implored and received Permission of Mustapha to retire from Turky which in effect she did not long after with those designs which we have already related in her Orders to the Prince Tiridate Agustus at his departure from Constantinople FINIS