Selected quad for the lemma: master_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
master_n	great_a	king_n	place_n	2,734	4	4.1078	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A12119	Sir Antony Sherley his relation of his trauels into Persia The dangers, and distresses, which befell him in his passage, both by sea and land, and his strange and vnexpected deliuerances. His magnificent entertainement in Persia, his honourable imployment there-hence, as embassadour to the princes of Christendome, the cause of his disapointment therein, with his aduice to his brother, Sir Robert Sherley, also, a true relation of the great magnificence, valour, prudence, iustice, temperance, and other manifold vertues of Abas, now King of Persia, with his great conquests, whereby he hath inlarged his dominions. Penned by Sr. Antony Sherley, and recommended to his brother, Sr. Robert Sherley, being now in prosecution of the like honourable imployment.	Sherley, Anthony, Sir, 1565-1635?	1613 (1613)	STC 22424; ESTC S117262	94,560	148

and what iustice had his king to detaine them If none other but by the potencie of his armes the same point of iustice he had also to preserue what he had alreadie gotten and to vindicate also those vniustly detained from him If he will breake the truce made betweene my father and him and continued by my brother and me vpon so manifest vniust causes as the warre was neuer prosperously prouoked against our state by his predecessors nor himselfe but through some strange accident errour or our owne disunion so beleeue that it will now breake forth to his owne destruction Yet I doe not denie but that I had rather both to preserue what I haue and to recouer what my ancestors haue lost by equitie then bloud and by the force of reason rather then of armes which if I cannot I will certainly amend by vertue what I haue erred in by cunctation My power and glory is yet soundly whole and more increased through the merit of Modestie which was neuer yet despised by the greatest which haue beene among men and is esteemed by God himselfe Wresting of actes could not deceiue others which as they were made to God so the iudgement of their breaking or abusing would euer be in God and his memorie care and power For Mahomet-Aga himselfe though he had forfeited the priuiledges of an Embassador by executing vnder that title a contrarie office if I should said he presently and condignly punish you both the memory of your present fortune into which pride and folly hath throwne you and my glory would be darkned and the punishment would be followed with a sodaine forgetfulnesse but if I free you as I will from your punishment though I cannot from the fault I shall be an eternall memorie to the world of clemencie and leaue you a great precept eyther of more iudgement or lesse imployment vntill you can make your selfe fitter for such a one as this to which you haue beene vnworthily elected As I said before if he had vsed the opportunities which he had discreetly he might haue done his Master a notable seruice and honoured himselfe much Tor the kings great discontentment with those of Ormus the strong opposition of most of his counsell to any proposition against the Turke did facilitate a way for him to haue fashioned the king to any condition of firmer tearmes with his Master then they had hitherto stood in And though it was not likely that there could haue beene mediated a restitution of those Courdines yet the losse of them had beene smal being a people euer vnstable in any certaine habitation neither hauing vnderstanding of good nor care of ill proper ministers onely of rapine and to possesse vnproper places for ciuiller inhabitants and he might easily haue procured a restraint that none other hereafter should haue done the like if he had propounded it from his Master disobliged him to the king of Persia and restored the peoples minds to their first dependance being a Nation though otherwise of doubtfull faith both through their owne nature and situation of their countrie yet more inclined to the Turke then any both by the bond of the same religion and hatred to the Persians The next morning the king came vnto me and after some other discourses he told me he had well considered of my proposition which though otherwise he had no great inclination vnto both because of the great separation by distance and difficult meanes of correspondencie which could be made betweene the Princes Christian himselfe besides the small necessitie he had of them God hauing giuen him so ample so rich and so warlike a dominion and if he had their owne disunion amongst themselues gaue him small hope of any great good effect in what he should propound vnto them Besides the derogation from his own greatnesse to be a demander of their amitie whose predecessors had sought it of his by diuers meanes and vpon great conditions Yet to shew me how deare an estimation he held of me he was contented not to see what belonged to himselfe but onely to regard my satisfaction which he willed me to determine of and assured me of the effecting of it whatsoeuer it was And after I had giuen his Maiestie thanks which were conuenient for so high a fauour I told him that I had propounded nothing but that which the future experience and present reason of things would proue not onely infinitely auaileable but also necessarie for his honour profit and securitie to which counsell I was readie and desirous to adde my owne perill which could by no other meanes bring an answerable benefit to the greatnesse of itselfe but onely in the true estimation which I made of the merit of his Maiesties vertue and my infinite affection to his seruice The necessitie of his state I knew eyther counselled him to prouide for a warre or to make a warre Priuate cogitation● hauing their progresse of such a conditiō that they may take as themselues w●ll eyther more of lesse of fortune but those which had raised their thoughts to the sublimitie of dominion are no more in their owne power hauing no meane to step vpon betweene the highest of all and precipitation For his Maiestie to sleepe longer called vpon by so maine reasons which did euidently demonstrate vnto him the ineuitable danger if not raine of his state and contrariwise the certaine addition which his maiestie might make to his glory and state would seeme to those that did not rightly vnderstand the excellencie of his Maiesties heart such a weakenesse in him as is incident to those which haue not power to temper felicitie from glutting themselues with the abundant fruites of present prosperitie though they haue a patient forced vigour to withstand aduersitie That the Turke was to bee vanquished his owne Rebelles had shewed which haue ouercome with small forces his great power in sundrie encounters If his Militia hath had heretofore more vigour and valour it is now changed through pleasure ease and surferinges by their Princes example with great corruptions which a more vertuous Prince may reduce to their soundnesse his Maiesties wisedome should worke immediately vppon the present generall defect and errour Neyther should hee make a proportionable concurrence betweene his factes and wisedome if he did loose time in doubtfull deliberations in such a case which did euidently shew him that if he might securely continue in peace yet that peace was more pernicious vnto him then warre leesing so many fayre occasions of propagating his Empyre and making his estate eternally inuincible and to dangerous to bee attempted againe by the Turke when there should bee so equall a ballance of potencie as would bee betweene them but by the recouerie of his owne if his desire and fortune and vertue disposed no more vnto him then that which was iustly his owne and was vniustly deteyned from him For those rebellions of the Turkes they were likely rather to increase

and speake of my Ianizaries rare disposition vnto me who did not onely performe their promise in defending me in Antiochia but deliuered me safely from them into our English Consuls hands in Aleppo from whom and from all the Merchants there abiding I receiued such an entertainment with so carefull so kinde and so honourable a respect as I must needs say they were the onely Gentlemen or the most benigne Gentlemen that euer I met withall For my company being so great that it was no light burthen vnto them besides gaue an occasion to the Turkes condition of getting to make quarrels for that end so that they were not onely at expence by defraying me and mine but at more by preseruing vs from oppression amongst them I had not beene fully one moneth expecting a commodity of passage by carrauan into Persia but that the Morizell arriued who presently had the aduice of my being at Aleppo And though that Hugo de Potso threatned as much as an ill mind and great purse could make him hope to preuaile against me by and questionlesse had raised some great trouble against me if he had come safe to Aleppo Yet euer the first prouidence which saued me before determined so well also for me then that foure miles from Aleppo he dyed By which meanes I was preserued from perill and those honest Merchants my friends from great trouble Neither do I speake of these strange escapings with a vaine ostentation of pride as though I would haue the world iudge more of my person then of a most ordiry fellow but onely to example to other how much it pleaseth God to fauour good intentions that those which put themselues into the worlds dangers may euer arme themselues with them as the onely preseruatiue against all sort of Inconueniences For though in the corruption of our nature generally and weakenesse of our faith wee cannot possibly hope to be defended by such a strong working hand as God vseth for the safety of his Saints yet no question good intentions haue such a sympathy with Gods owne disposition that he will both assist them which haue them for their better incouragement and for others example being one of the chiefe means by which he instructeth the world After 6 weeks staying in Aleppo a wearisome time to my selfe being drawne from thence continually by the instigation of my desire which longed for the accomplishment of the end that I proposed to my selfe and as chargeable a time for my friends which would needs make me a burthensome guest vnto them the Tafterdall which is the Treasurer and the great Cady which is as it were the Lord chiefe Iustice of Babylon arriued at Aleppo from thence to go by the riuer of Euphrates to the place of their regiment With those as diuers others went so did I also for the more security of my voyage their company being euer defended besides with the respect of their persons with a good company of Ianizaries to Birr which is the place of imbarkment Diuers of our Merchants brought me and left me not vntill I was boated Thirty dayes we were going vpon the riuer to Babylon resting euery night by the shore side In all which way we found few townes onely Racha Ana Derrit and otherwise as little habitation except here and there a small village and one of better reputation which is the landing place thirty miles from Babylon called Phalugium To tell wonders of things I saw strange to vs that are borne in these parts is for a Traueller of another profession then I am who had my end to see and make vse of the best things not to feed my selfe and the world with such trifles as either by their strangenesse might haue a suspition of vntruth or by their lightnesse adde to the rest of my imperfections the vanity or smallnesse of my iudgement But because I was desirous to certifie my selfe truly of the estate of the Turke in those parts through which I passed vnderstanding where wee lodged one night that the Campe of Aborisci King of those Arabies which inhabite the desert of Messopotamia was a mile off I hazarded my selfe in that curiosity to go into it and saw a poore King with a ten or twelue thousand beggerly subiects liuing in tents of blacke haire-cloth yet so well gouerned that though our clothes were much better then theirs and their want might haue made them apt ynough to haue borrowed them of vs we passed notwithstanding through them all in such peace as we could not haue done being strangers amongst ciueller bred people That day as it happened was the day of Iustice amongst them which was pretty and warlike Certaine chiefe Officers of the Kings mounting on● horse-backe armed after their maner with their staues targets bowes and arrows and so giuing iudgment of all cases which the people brought before them The King gaue vs good words without any kinde of barbarous wondring or other distastfull fashion But when wee returned to our boat wee found the maister of his house maister of our boat with a sort of his Arabs and in conclusion we were forced to send his maister three verstes of cloth of gold for beholding his person This is that King of the Arabs which I said before was a Saniake of the Turkes and for that place held of the Turke Ana and Dirr two Townes vpon the riuer As soone as we came to Babylon hauing put the stocke which I had all into Iewels and Merchandize to carry the fashion of a Merchant at the Dog●na which is the Custome-house all whatsoeuer was stayed for the Bassa and as I perceiued not so much for any great vse which hee meant to make of those things as for the suspition which he had of me and mine extraordinary company bearing much cause thereof with it and because I gaue out I had more goods coming with the carrauan by land to bind me not to start from thence In the meane time by very necessity hauing left me nothing in the world what extreme affliction I was in by that means for the present and in what iust cause of feare for the future euery man may easily iudge I had my brother with mee a yong Gentleman whose affection to me had onely led him to that disaster and the working of his owne vertue desiring in the beginning of his best yeares to inable himselfe to those things which his good minde raised his thoughts vnto I had also fiue and twenty other Gentlemen for the most part the rest such as had serued me long onely carried with their loues to mee into the couse of my fortune I had no meanes to giue them sustenance to liue and lesse hope to vnwrap them from the horrible snare into which I had brought them being farre from all friends and further from counsell not vnderstanding the language of the people into whose hands I was falne much lesse their proceedings onely thus much I knew they were Turkes

to keepe those straights to giue impeachment to the passage of that other Army but indeed to protract time onely and to expect the euent of his other counsels The other Cans rebelled easily and desiro●sly imbraced Ferrat Cans proposition hasted the Army towards Casbin which they entred without difficulty both by the nature of the place which is not of any strength and conueyance of Ferrat There were many daies spent in Counsell and at last it was concluded since the suppression of the King was certaine being abandoned by him which was his onely Captaine and Counsellour by so great a part of his strength and vpon the confidence which Ferrat gaue them to mutine the rest that it would proue too dangerous to call in those forces of the Turkes which were in readinesse for their succour Not knowing whether they should so easily free themselues of them againe if they were once entred They feared the Turkes purposes and as much feared to know them therefore to auoide the danger of being compelled to experience them they determined to write to the Bassa of Tauris that the war was so certaine to bee finished by themselues that they would reserue his fauour till a more vrgent opportunity and with that deliberation a principall man was dispatched with a present for the Bassa Of this the King had present aduice by a confident messenger and also that few nights after the principals of the Army were to meete together at Ferrats house inuited to a great banquet which being vnderstood by him electing fiue thousand of his best men and best horsing with great and close iourneies he came to Casbin where hauing secretly disposed his people in the Mountaine couered with the quarter of Ferrats troupe hee expected the signe which was to bee giuen him The Prince as it was appointed failed not of comming nor hee of his signe to the King nor the King to accomplish his resolution For Ferrat hauing protracted the banquet the most part of the night when the whole company was heauy with wine and sleepe the King was receiued into the house with three hundred men where without any vp-roare he slew all those which were inuited to the number of three score and ten the seruants and Pages being so suddenly taken hold of and with such dexterity that without any mouing of other rumors the same fashion of feast of singing and of dancing continued all the night and in that space all the rest of those people which the King had with him were appointed in the breaking of the day to make the greatest shew and the greatest noise that they could vnder the foote of the Mountaine as though all the Army had beene there marching to the Towne When the Alarum beganne to bee hot in the Towne and euery man fell to his Armes and repaired to Ferrats lodging where they supposed their Princes to haue bene the King hauing disposed his three hundred men which were shut fitly in the house and Zulpher hauing his fiue thousand all in a Troope in the great place the threescore and ten Cans heades were shewed all laced vpon a string and hung out of a Tarras vpon which the King presently shewed himselfe accompanied with Ferrat Can whereas the Maiesty of the King the terrour of the sight represented before them the feare of the Army which they saw as they thought at hand Zulpher and Ferrat Cans power amongst them which they perceiued turned against them their being destitute of Commanders and the guiltinesse of their owne consciences for their rebellion stroke them into so dead an amazement that they stood ready rather to receiue all mischiefe then that they had either courage or mindes or counsell to auoide it The King as though he had a while aduised with himselfe what he would both say and do at last after a good pause seeming that his royall mercy had preuailed against his iust indignation hee told them that the wickednesse of their vniuersall conspiracy against him was such that hee was distracted in himselfe what to say or doe against them for though they might excuse themselues vpon those Princes which had seduced them yet they knew that the others authority had no more force vpon them then their own willing obedience which called as great a punishmēt vpon the one as the other What cause they should haue generally to desire such an innouation of gouernement as they by their owne conuenence had erected amongst them he could not deuise his Grand-father Father and Brother hauing euer guided the Helme of their State with that integrity of iustice and that vniuersall satisfaction that it was not to be wished of any to find more tranquility for those which desired to liue onely quietly nor more iust measure of honour or due reward then was magnificently giuen to those which had deserued them and why they should haue lesse hope of him he knew not neuer hauing made willingly any other demonstration of his minde then such as might be proportionable to their best expectations But since his true feeling of humane frailty made him well vnderstand how easie mens mindes are to be abused by others artifice and their owne corruption hee to oke so great a compassion of the calamity into which they had either wilfully or misled by others errors cast themselues that if he could haue any confidence that they would truely repent of their past wickednesse and bend their mindes to serue him with a perfect heart hee could also easily perswade himselfe to change the seuerity of the iudgement which they had merited into mercy forgiuenesse and forgetfulnesse of their offence and content himselfe that this iniurious great disorder which had hapned as all other of that kind do through the ignorance of many and malice of few should also be expiated by the bloud of those few who had already concluded the greatnesse of their vsurped authority and their long hopes with a short and iust death This being spoken by the King with courage and maiesty and being so far from that which their guilty consciences did cause them to apprehend facily brought forth the ordinary effectes of a multitude which being easily inclined to hope more then they should and to suffer lesse then is fit as though the King with his royall mercifull speech had giuen them as great a present good as if hee had discharged them from the terrour of the punishment of almost an vnpardonable offence cryed out let the King liue let the King liue we are all King Abas his slaues and will not suffer to liue any of his enemies and there was more trouble to defend the poore people of Casbin from sacking by them their Towne euer hauing bene a wel-disposed harbour for the Rebels then to turne their heartes and armes to the Kings part Besides the succours which the Kings of Gheylan and Mazandran had sent the Rebels were with great difficulty saued and returned to their countries by the King of Persia

Iudges Aduocates and his Maiesties Councell appointed for the good of the Prouince hauing euer taken those direct waies which were fit for his Maiesty and benefite of the Prouince if the Gouernour in his particular acts had taken counsels with his particular appetites and executed them according to the same neither he nor any of the Councel were blameable neuer hauing heard a voice onely to that effect which those men also who were a great number falling downe vpon their faces confessed to the King and that their long silence had giuen the Gouernour the more boldnesse to vse the vtermost of extortion and tyrannous exaction vpon them The Gouernour denied some maintained other to bee done vpon iust causes but all so confusedly and with so vnstable a fashion of proceeding as hee bewrayed his owne guiltinesse notwithstanding the king stayed his iudgement either of him or the causes vntill another day of hearing In the meane time hee appoynted Marganobeague Bastan-Aga and one Maxausebeague which is as it were Treasurer of his house to take some secret wayes to finde the true carriage of the Gouernour during the whole time of his function Which they did with great vprightnesse and dexterity And hauing related what they had approuedly found there were so many and so great causes brought against him I meane of wresting of Money bribery monopolizing and such things as more could not bee imagined which had beene small matters in a Princes state whose fauours and graces are priuiledged aboue the common good of the people and who change by their owne conniuence their Royall estate to a tyranny of fauourites and a few Counsellors who concurring in the spoyle of the people concurre also in so cruell a suppression of their iust cryes that their lifting vp their voyces for Iustice is as great a sinne as almost a perfect Rebellion and the same Iustice which should protect them against inique oppression inflicteth seuere chastisement onely for presuming to palesate such oppressions A miserable calamitie for the poore flocke where the Sheepheards heareth the wooll and the Brambles rent the flesh But this King whom wee call barbarous though from his example wee may learne many great and good things knowing that the true care of a Prince must bee euer the publique good and the capablenesse of his ruling would bee iudged by his true Iustice and election of his Ministers and distribution of his fauour vpon the worthiest which also should make a worthy vse of it The next day that hee sate in iudgement hee called the Gouernour then hauing told him that hee which had liued with him in the time of his greatest calamity must needes bee so well acquainted with the inwardnesse of his disposition that all the world would imagine as Princes euer are examples of good or euill to their subiects so they are most to those which are neereliest conuersant with them And according to that opinion hee had giuen him his authority for the great fauour and confidence hee reposed in him that hee knew well the errour which they had both committed the one not making a true iudgement of the others disposition That the transgression of Lawes and Orders in any State was the first naturall corruption which grew in it to prouide for which good Princes did both watchfully industriate themselues and dispersed part of the care which grew too great for themselues to the trust they had in the vertue of their Ministers who should euer as the very greatest and truest causes beware of those courses of Iustice which should bee of least terrour and procure themselues and their Princes most hatred which was to pill the subiects goods a thing of no example but to euill and of infinite odiousnesse especially when there was no iust cause why any sort of punishment should bee inflicted And because these acts of so great a Minister as hee was both for the place hee held of authority and fauour with him might giue the world cause to suspect his owne inclination the which since no former example could make him knowe hee would now shew the world and teach him that the wickednesse of Princes and great Men are worse in the example th●n in the fault since by the euill custome of the world to follow them they generate great corruptions by the imitation of others And because in a man of his place there could bee no more wicked acts then hee had committed nor in a Prince nothing more proportionable with his place nor fitter for his security then the chastisement of such wicked acts And if hee should pardon so great extortions and scelerate wronges as hee had inflicted vpon the poore people committed to his charge besides that hee should verifie the worst suspicions men might haue of him he should by so ill a president trouble the mindes of his whole state cast many good men and their goods into ruine multiply the like or worse scandals oppressing the causes of Iustice and so draw into the world without shame or feare all sort of excesses this should bee his iudgement That all his Goods and Lands should bee sold for the satisfaction of those men whom hee had spoyled And if any thing wanted since the King by giuing him that Authority was partly the cause of those excesses hee condemned himselfe to pay the residue out of his Treasury That if any thing aduanced it should be giuen to his Children with a grieuous Edict that no succour should bee ministred vnto himselfe For that since Death was a concluder of his offence shame and the memory of it hee should not dye but goe during his life with a great yoke like a Hoggesyoke about his necke haue his Nose and Eares cut off and haue no charitable releefe from any but what hee gained with his owne hands that he might feele in himselfe the misery which poore men haue to get and what a sinne it is to rent from them by violent extortion the birth of their sweat and labour This Iudgement strooke a mighty amazement into all the great men present and gaue an infinite ioy and comfort to the people The Turkes Embassadour which was there after he had stood silent a great while as a man halfe distracted sware publikely that hee saw before his eyes his maisters ruine being impossible that such fortune and vertue as the king was accompanied with could receiue any obstacle That night hee made Marganobeagus Gouernour of Casbin beeing well admonished by that great example of his duty Constantino a braue yong Gentleman being a Christian of Georgia hee called Mirza and gaue him the gouernement of Hisphaan and mee also hee called Mirza telling mee that hee would prouide condignely for mee And because hee had an vrgent occasion to goe post to Cassan I should receiue his pleasure by Marganobeague who brought mee the next morning a thousand Tomanas which is sixteene thousand Duckets of our Money fortie horses all furnished two with exceeding rich

part and so to linke himselfe the stronglier with them by such a bond then in his owne necessitie in which condition there is a great question whether he shall be heard Lastly how strange a conclusion you haue made I will desire you to behold with better consideration You will not haue the King to make warre with the Turke to auoid expence of money and munition where the best parts and most plentifull of both countries are confining which would giue abundance and cheaper liuing to an Armie but you will haue him go to Larre to Ormus sterile countries farre remoued where the charges onely of supplying victuals to an Armie would be of more cost then all other munition and expence of the Armie besides And besides there is no danger of the King of Spain who hath euer held a fashion of maintaining himselfe rather then encreasing Besides the nature of his force is of a contrarie qualitie to giue vs feare of his too great inlargement hauing neither abundance of horse nor men but only gallies which assure his forts with which also he is sufficiently contented And how wearying out a warre to his Maiesties treasure and men that must be where he must fight but at the enemies pleasure and aduantage the strength of his enemie standing vpon the Sea in which the King hath no sort of shew of power he submitted to his Maiesties wisest consideration besides the infinite danger by the nature of the lying of the state of the Turkes and the King of Spaines and the essentiall of their potenties were of such a condition that whatsoeuer was diminished from his Maiesties or the King of Spaines was an absolute addition to the Turke who by that aduantage of the weakening each others forces should haue a more facile entrie vpon any one or both of them And that it was wel proued by his Maiesties predecessors that there was not a more maine vpholder of the beginning and foundation of their state nor manner of preseruing it which was all they could doe then that league which vnited both their forces euer against the common enemie And now that God and the great vertue of his Maiestie had so augmented the limits of his dominion that he had power ioyned with true iustice and necessitie to recouer those vsurped Prouinces which the Turke held from him In which action nothing could more secure him then first an assured relatiue friendship betweene the Princes Christian and him generally and particularly the forces of the King of Spaynes by Sea in those parts it should be a strange Counsell to perswade his Maiestie to make warre with him whom he had euer profited by and to offend all in offending him and voluntarily to in●ble the Turke in whatsoeuer hee would vndertake against him which must needs be by all reason iudgement his enemy Which made him beseech his Maiestie to continue that so commodious friendship vnto him and to strengthen himselfe with new to fomentate those rebellions which were no rumours one of those that were in Armes being Moombaregue a Prince tributarie to his Maiesty the others though no men of great qualitie yet of great happinesse in their proceedings and to prouide for all things necessary for so great an enterprise for which though the Vicesire were otherwise perswaded nothing did more facilitate the iudgement of his good successe then the Prince of the Turkes owne incapacitie Nothing hauing euer beene proued more certaine then that the Ministers of any Prince do euer symbolize with their Masters vertues or vices and that men of extraordinary vertue with them haue euer little power or little time suspition being the best preseruer of their defects which euer aymeth at those who haue more vertue then themselues as fearing them most A discourse proued true by the miserable end of all those named and by many examples which he would leaue vnrehearsed as things that neuer bare more credit then the faith of the hearer gaue them And so left off humbly beseeching his Maiesty to pardon his boldnes and freenes which were euer the birth of true zealous deuotiō he had onely expressed what he thought his Maiesty might please to resolue of that hee thought honourable secure and profitable for his state and person The causes of his danger from the Turke he spake not of first touched by me and apparant to all The king then commāded Baslan-Aga to speake freely also what he thought who after a reuerence vnto him hauing repeated the arguments past commended them all as it is his fashion apparantly to offend no bodie but what he doth in that qualitie is secretly and then as though he meant no such matter diuiding what he would speak into two points the warre and my person he proceeded thus This proposition by the wisedome of his Maiesty resting doubtful so that none of vs by knowing which way his owne disposition inclineth haue any sort of constraint either by fearing to oppose our opinions against what his will intended or by a desire to raise our iudgements into a better conceit of f●uour by making them to symbolize with his giueth vs so great libertie of deliberation that if we speake not well to the purpose at least we shall speake truly what we thinke I say then that all warres are eyther made vpon the Confines of the States which moue them or farre from the Confines of the maker of them by penetrating further into the maine bodie of him vpon whom they are made And it is not possible for any to vse great Armes or small a long time which haue not a fountaine of great reuenewes from at home and a foundation of great plentie in the field For as without sinewes the members of this compact of our bodie cannot moue and if they doe shew a stirring onely for a testimonie of their life which may be in them yet that mouing is vnperfect both in vigour and continuance So Armes neyther can be gathered neyther can they be appropriated to necessarie dessignes nor maintained vnited in any enterprize without a Riuer of money which may refresh them in conuenient time and make swimme after them munitions victualles and other necessarie prouisions both for the sustenance of euery particular bodie and importing to the good purpose and effect of the mannagement of their Armes And because the reuenewes of iust and good Princes as the faculties of the subiects from whom they are deriued are limited and drawing without measure for one yeare or two huge quantities of money out of their estates their countries will remaine poore and exhausted of gold and siluer From whence proceedeth that warres of such a condition as cannot be ended neere at hand but draw through the necessitie of perfecting them well when they are once begun the Prince and the Armie a farre off neyther can be vndertaken nor continued but by Princes who haue infinite treasures acumulated through long times prouidence or neuer-ending mines for other sort of ordinarie

nor Damasco should receiue the commoditie of any of those Carauans of Merchants which vsually came to them from Ba●sarah by which the Turke should loose euery yeare two millions of Entrata For the Portugeses if his Maiestie would please to iudge indifferently it was as likely that they would mislike his too great increase as the Turke and so much the more as they were lesse able to resist him then the Turke was Larr and Nicolow ioyned together whereof by taking the one he did more assure any mouing of theirs against him and if they ment him well they could not bee offended at the neerenesse of his neighbourhood And ingaging the other in some actions against the Turke as to robbe spoyle and hinder the trafficke of the Arabian gulfe and such like should by such an act make him desperate of the Turke and so ioyne him through his owne necessitie surely to him and though he were otherwise of no great importance yet by his bordering vpon the sea his mens expertnes of the sea he was to be made in that point very profitable hereafter and a good instrument for the present and euery small addition of force or meanes gathereth reputation to all great actions when the time were fit that they should appeare partials to to his Maiestie And for sending an Ambassador to the Princes Christian he thought it first against his dignitie to offer himself vnto them who in their need of him through their pride neglected once to speake vnto or with his Maiestie Then in the wel carrying of his other purposes which would be palesated by so maine a cause of suspition Therefore that his Maiestie must eyther determine to breake presently with the Turk not which he could or else to giue him no apparant suspition of any such inclination or carriage of things by which he should winne time to make his owne prouisions with good foundation and keepe the Turke vnfurnished euer nourishing him with so wise artifice that he might be secured from any opinion of such mouing the time nor nothing else promising felicity to his actions so much as the wise vsing of the time and of those things which were offered him What the king replied I know not hauing receiued this opinion of Courtchi Bassa from the king himselfe who by that and other eternall contrary counsels was so much distracted in his owne resolution as a prince that desireth to doe great things and them also well determines not sodainly vpon faire hopes but carrieth his hopes to perfection by the working of his wisedome so that many daies after when I would begin to enter into a new discourse of those deliberations hee would presently turne himselfe to speake of other matters In this fashion more then one moneth passed in which I had no comfort of my desire but onely that which Xa-Thamas Colibeague Oliuer Di Chan gaue me and the kings exceeding fauour which rather increased then decreased towards me In this time as though all the strength of that ill spirit who euer raiseth the vttermost of his skill and power to preuent all good purposes had conspired to ouerthrow the well proceeding of this good businesse There came newes to the Court that Mahomet-Aga Generall of the Ianizaries of Bagdat was entred into the kings Confines as Ambassador from the Turke with a rich present and maruellous honourable traine And that those of Ormus had stayed by force sixteene slaues which were sent by the great Mogore to the king with nine other which Oliuer Di-Chan had bought in those parts and the Marchants for their more security had sent them with those of the kings This raised the courages of those which opposed themselues to the maine businesse alienated mightily the hearts of Oliuer Di-Chan and Xa-Tamas Colibeague from all and exasperated the king himselfe so much against them that his ordinarie speech was no other but that hee would shortly learne them to haue a respect vnto him which did so exceedingly fill my very soule with perplexitie and anxietie that I fell into a very dangerous sicknesse in which the king neuer failed daily to visit me himselfe and finding that the recordation of those things did aggrauate both the griefe of my minde and vnquiet of my bodie he forbad that any in my presence should speake more of it but onely comfort me with all sort of discourse of recreation with so royall and so gracious a regard that he shewed apparantly enough that few accidents could dispose his minde from any reasonable contentment which he might giue me In the meane time Mahomet-Aga arriued at the Court whom the king sent his Viseire and Courtchibassa to meete accompanied with a thousand horse of the principall of the Court and of the Citie These no question gaue him large instructions and as large hopes which if he had guided also rightly he might haue done his Master great seruice and himselfe infinite honour but through his owne too hastie greedinesse assurance and desire he preuented himselfe whilest he striued first beyond that which was indifferently good then beyond that which was better and at the last beyond all reasonable and I thinke his owne hopes For first being proudly confident vpon the greatnes of his Master then vpon the difficultie of the king of Persians present estate to be moued to offend so potent a neighbour then vpon so great and strong a faction in the Court besides hauing heard by them that the kings mind was altered from those of Ormus and that Oliuer Chan also was then likewise alienated from his first censure through the particular wrong done vnto himselfe or else that he changed the inclination of his minde according to the corrupt condition of all Courts in which the loue of obsequiousnesse to the Prince and fitting themselues to their appetites by that meanes to strengthen their owne emulations is more power-able then the feare to do ill and the working of their owne consciences or else that in all things there is a certaine reuolution and as there are mouings of times so there are also vartations in our minds and fashions Making himselfe strong in his assurance vpon these foundations c vpon the weaknes of his opposition which was left much infeebled by the distraction of Oliuer Di-Chan he left the right way of mouing by degrees so great a businesse to carrie it euen without agitation or danger And as though with knowing the circumstances he had attained the end he ouerthrew his Masters intention his owne honour and almost lost his life if the kings infinite clemency had not eyther desp●sed or pittied his error Neyther doe I set downe these thinges with so particular a care for my owne sake to make eyther my worke the greater or to make an ostentation of any thing which was not but because in all discourses which I haue seene giuen forth for the worlds better vnderstanding of those things which one man hath compiled out of the largenes of his

with commandement to tell their Maisters that as the poore men were not culpable which obeyed their Princes authority by whom they were sent against him and for that innocency hee had giuen them their liues so that hee would not bee long from seeking his reuenge vpon their Maisters which had more iustly deserued it by his neuer prouoking them to any offence And when hee came with his Army thither hee would proue by those mens acknowledgement vnto him whether they could discerne by the benefites they had already recieued of him in the gift of their liues which they had forfeited vnto him by bearing Armes with Rebels against him what better hopes they might conceiue of him if they would dispose themselues to deserue good of him In this meane time the same of this great successe flew to both the Armies about the Mountaines of Hamadan which as it comforted the Kings with exceeding ioyfulnesse so it entred into the others with such a terror that they presently vanished euery man retyring to his best knowne safe-gard that part of the warre ending with the blast onely of the fortune of the other with little expence of time labour and bloud which being vnderstood by the King hee raised Oliuer-Dibeague to the title of a Can and sent him with those forces which hee had to Hamadan to settle the Country in a good forme of gouernement and to ease it from the oppression of the other dispersed troupes Zulpher hee also called Can and sent him to Ardoutle which frontireth vpon Tauris with an Army consisting of twenty and foure thousand men in shew to quiet the Countrey but indeed to preuent any moouing of the Turkes And because hee knew that as his state stood then weake raised as it were freshly from a deadly sickenesse it was not fitte for him at that time to bind himselfe to wrastle with such an enemy by taking knowledge of his ill disposition towards him hee dispatched Embassadours to Constantinople to Tauris and to the Bassa of Babylon to congratulate with them as with his friendes for the felicity of his fortune and to strengthen himselfe by alliance also the more firmely against the proceeding of any thing which the Turke might designe against him either then or in future time he required the daughter of Simon Can one of the Princes of the Georgians to wife which was with as ready an affection performed as demanded Whiles that Lady was comming from her father the King vnderstanding that the Cans sonne of Hisphaean held yet strong the Castle and whether he gaue it out to amaze his Army which now beganne to looke for satisfaction for the great trauels and dangers which they had passed or whether hee had heard so indeed true it is that hee gaue out that the most part of the treasure of the former Kings of Persia was by the consent of the Rebels for security kept together in that Castle to receiue the which and to chastice that Rebell the King marched thither with a part onely of his Army leauing the rest at Casbin which was Frontier to Gheylan against which his purpose carried him Without much trouble hee expugned the Fort at Hisph●●an being a large circumference onely of Mud-wals some what thicke with Towers and certaine ill battlements and suppressed that Rebell but Treasure hee found none for the indignation whereof hee made the world beleeue he dismantled the Castle His owne necessity to content the Army and his Armies necessity to aske contentment drew him suddenly back from thence to Casbin where he had not stayed many daies for daily satisfaction with hope hauing no reall meanes but that the Queene arriued honourably accompanied with 2000 horse and Byraicke Myrza her brother The Marriage was soone dispatched those countries vsing few ceremonies in such cases and God blessed them both so happily that within the tearme of lesse then one yeare shee brought him a gallant yong Prince who is now liuing called Sophir Mirza The King vnwilling to oppresse his countrey and desiring to reuenge himselfe vpon the kings of Gheylan and Mazandran to enlarge his Empire and to content his Souldiers hauing a flourishing Army both in men and the reputation of his present victory resolued all vnder one to increase his stare honour himselfe ease his countrey and satisfie his Souldiers with the enemies spoyles Gheylan is a country cut off from Persia with great mountaines hard to passe full of woods which Persia wanteth being here and there onely sprinkled with hils and very penurious of fuell onely their gardens giue them wood to burne and those hils which are some fagots of Pistachios of which they are well replenished betweene those hils there are certaine breaches rather then vallies which in the spring when the snow dissolueth and the great aboundance of raine falleth are full of torrents the Caspian sea includeth this Countrey on the East betweene which and the hils is a continuing valley so abounding in Silke in Rice and in Corne and so infinitely peopled that Nature seemeth to contend with the peoples industry the one in sowing of men the other in cultiuating the land in which you shall see no peece of ground which is not fitted to one vse or other their hils also which are rockes towards Casbin are so fruitfull of herbage shadowed by the trees as they shew turned towards the sea that they are euer full of cattell which yeeldeth commodity to the countrey by furnishing diuers other parts In this then lay the difficulty most of the kings enterprize how to enter the countrey for the rest there were great reasons of his hopes the kings of those countries being amazed with these first great successes of the king of Persia their people discouraged many Princes which though they might vnite themselues against a common enemy yet their deliberations could not be so speedy as from one alone nor so firme many accidents happening which might either absolutely dis-ioyne or diuert them one from the other or cast suspition amongst them which might giue the way to a good occasion against one by which the victory against the other might be also facilitated Besides his owne Army was so much raised in courage by their last happy successes and those so animated through an opinion in themselues of that reputation which had first followed the King and the rest so desirous to wash away the ignominy of their offence by some great and good act ioyned to the hope of rich preyes that there could bee almost thought of no obstacle able to withstand their valour and willingnesse Yet before the king would enter into this action remembring that before he had better setled himselfe in his owne state that he thrust himselfe vpon a cast of fortune to seeke after the winning of others yet since hee was forced vnto it by a certaine great necessity hee resolued to take the best wayes for the securing all dangers which might rise against himselfe at home and setting his countrey