THE HISTORY OF THE SERRAIL, AND OF THE COURT of the Grand Seigneur, Emperor of the Turks. WHEREIN IS SEEN the Image of the Ottoman Greatness, A Table of humane passions, and the Examples of the inconstant prosperities of the Court.  
Translated out of French by Edward Grimeston Sergeant at Arms.  
LONDON, Printed by William Stansby.   

TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFUL HIS WORTHY Kinsman, S. Harbottell Grimeston Knight and Baronet.  
SIR,  
IT is the usual manner of Men, whom GOD hath blessed with the goods of Fortune, when Death summons them to leave the world, with all their wealth, they are then ●ous and careful how to dispose of that which they cannot carry with them. Then they call for Cou● to advise them in the drawing of their last Wills and Testaments, bequeathing large 〈◊〉 or to their Children, Kinsfolk and best respected Friends, to remain as a future testimony of their bounties: But if fareth not so with me; I must say with poor Bias, O●nid 〈◊〉 m●cum p●rto I am now creeping into my Grave, and am freed from that care, how to dispose of my worldly estate. But I fear that my disability will leave some stain of Ingratitude upon me, when I dead; that I have left no testimony of my thankfulness to so worthy a friend as yourself, from whom I have received so many favours. To make any real satisfaction, I cannot, neither do you need it. Yet to free myself (in some sort) of this imputation of ingratitude, I have be 〈◊〉 you● 〈◊〉 Legacy, the last of ●y ●aid ●s. I hope you will give it acceptance and countenance it for your own, who●e you may at your best leisure (without any labour, travel, or expenses) enter into the great Turk's Seraglio or Court, and there ta● survey of the life, lusts, revenues, power, gou●, and tyranny of that great Ottoman. I bequeath it you as a testimony of my thankfulness when I am gone. If you make it your recreation after more serious affairs, I hope you will receive some content, to read the State of the proudest and most powerful Monarch of the World. If it please you, I shall think myself very happy, having performed this last duty. And will ever rest,  
Your truly affected poor Uncle, Edward Grimeston.   
THE GENERAL HISTORY OF THE SERRAIL, and of the Court of the Grand SEIGNEUR, Emperor of the TURKS.  

The first BOOK.  
THe wisest among Men advice us to go unto Kings as unto the fire, neither ●o near nor too far off: It burns when we approach indifferently, and doth not warm hi● that stands far off: The glorious lustre of Royal Majesty, consy their re● presumption of those which approach too near, and the bea● of their bounty do never warm those savage 〈◊〉 which rec●e in flying from them. The true examples which Histories supply, have confirmed the excellency of this counsel: yet a desire of the public good hath enforced me to violate this respect, and my vows to serve it carries 〈◊〉 into the danger there is in ga●ing too near upon Kings. I approach unto the proudest of all other Princes, and the most severe of Men, yea so near as Id●e into his secrets, visit his person, discover his most hidden affections, and relate his most particular loves. If I lose myself, yet I shall give proofs of this verity, that in the age wherein we live, whosoever employs himself wholly for the public, in the end ruins himself: But Man is not borne only for himself, and the barbarous ingratitude of the times cannot serve for a pretext but unto idleness. He that will labour, must pass over these obstacles; for he is not worthy of life, which doth not employ it well; and to consume himself for the public good, it to revive again gloriously out of his ashes, like unto a new Phoenix. I have conceived, that having given you the History of the Turkish Empire, from its beginning unto our times, it would not be unprofitable to let you see what their manners are, their kind of living, their conversation, and the order of their government, which so powerful and redoubted a Conqueror doth observe. To dost safely woe must enter into the Serrail, where the secret of all these things is carefully shut up. But for that in going thither we must cross through the City of Constantinople, let us speak something of the situation, antiquity, and beauty, of this pompous City, the fatal abode of the most powerful Emperors of the Earth.  

CHAP. I. Of the City of Constantinople.  
THe Grecians consulting with the Oracle of Apollo l'ytheus, what place they should choose to build a City in Thrace, had for answer that they should lay the foundations right against the Territory of blind Men; so terming the Calcidonians, who coming first into that country, could not make choice of the fertility of a good soil, and were seated upon the other side of the Sea upon the borders of Asia, in a place which was unpleasing and unfruitful, in old time called the Town of Calcedonia, but now the Borough Scutar●. Pausanius Captain of the Spartians had the charge to build it, and Byze General of the Megarian Floet, gave it his name, and called it Byzance: It hath carried it for many ages with the glory to be esteemed among the Grecians, the most fertile of their Towns, the Port of Europe, and the Bridge to pass thither from Asia; until that Great Constantine leaving Italy retired into the East, and carried with him the most powerful Lords which might trouple that estate: He built after the Model of Rome, a stately City upon the Antiquities of Byzance where he erected the Eternity of his Name, and called it Constantinople, or new Rome. The greatness of the Walls, the safety of the Forts, the beauty of the Houses, the riches of Columns, which seemed to have drawn into that place all the Marble, I asper, and Porphyry of the Earth, were the rare wonders of the Architecture, but above all these things appeared a magnificent Temple, which the piety of this Prince had consecrated to the Divine Wisdom, under the name of Saincta Sophia, whose building the riches seemed in some sort to envy the glory of King Solomon, in the like design; at the least according to the time, and the power of Constantine. Seven rich Lamps ministered occasion to curious spirits to observe their rare art, they all received at one instant the substance which did nourish their flames, and one being extinct all the rest were quenched. This was in the year of Grace, three hundred and thirty. Since two tumultuous factions grew in the City, who after they had cast the fire of an unfortunate Sedition into the spirits of Men, brought the flames into this goodly Temple and burned it. For this cause Instinian the Emperor employed in the restoring thereof, a part of the Treasures which he had greedily gathered together: He caused it to be re-edified with more state than it had been, and in seventeen years he employed thirty four Millions of gold, which was the Revenue of Egypt for that time: He laid a foundation of eight hundred thousand Duckers of yearly rent, and caused this holy and reverend place to be served by nine hundred Priests, Men who had the merit of their beginning from Learning and Piety. The City being the Queen of the World, within few years after, saw her restorer triumphing over the King of Persia, and had the grace to keep in her bosom, the precious treasure of Christianity, a part of the Cross of the Redeemer of the World, found by the careful piety of the Emperor's Mother: her joy, pomp, and lustre, were grown to that height, as it seemed there could be nothing more added: it is by succession of time the seat of the greatest monarchs of the Earth: Senerus and Anthonin his son did envy it, and ravished from its restorer, the glory to have named it, call it Anthonia, by one of their names. But whatsoever hath a beginning in this World must have an end: and the goodliest things pay tribute to change. In the year 1453. on Tuesday the seven and twentieth of May, it was after a long siege made a prey to the victorious Turk: Mahomet the Second of that name, and the eleventh Emperor of the Turks entered it by force, spoiled it, and sacked it; The Emperor Constantine Paliologo lost his life, with a great number of men of quality, and all the Christian men were subject to the Sword, or to the rigour of bondage: the women were a sport to the lubricity of the Turks, and their goods subject to their spoil, in revenge (some say) of the sack and burning which the Grecians made of Troy, from whom they will have the Turks to be descended: but rather for a punishment of the impiety of the Grecians, who blaspheming against Heaven, deny that the Holy Ghost proceeds from jesus Christ the second Person in the ineffable Trinity. Mahomet the Second of that name, was the first that settled the Ottoman. Throne there, They changed the name among them, and called it Stamboll, that is to say, the great, the Royal, and the abundant. Her goodly places suffer the like inconstancy, and are called Baestans', the stately Hippodrome, is called the place of Horses. Atmaydan, and the wonderful Temple of Sainta Sophia, is become the chief Mosque of Mahomet's superstition.  

The situation of Constantinople, and its form.  This City is situated upon a point of firm Land advanced into the channel which comes from Pontus Enxinus, or the black Sea, which Geographers call the Bosphorus of Thrace. It is watered of three parts by the Sea: towards the North by a Gulf or Arm of the Sea, called the Horn, which the Bosphorus thrusts into Europe, and make the Haven of Constantinople the goodliest, the deepest, and the most commodious in Europe: Towards the East it is watered by the extremity of the channel or Bosphorus; on the South by the waves of the Propontique Sea; and upon the South it hath the firm Land of Thrace. The form is Triangular, whereof the largest side is that towards the Serrail, which looks to the Sea towards the seven Towers, and its vast circuit contains about five leagues: The walls are of an extraordinary height, with two false Brays towards the Land, and enclose seven Hills within it. The first serves as a Theatre to the Imperial Palace of the Prince, where it is commodiously and proudly feated: The last looks upon the extremity of the farthest parts of the Town opposite to this, and upon the way which leads to Andrinopolis by Land. But betwixt the third and the fourth, where a Valley doth extend itself called the great, is an Aqucduct of rare structure, which Constantine caused to be drawn seven leagues from the City, and Solyman the Second advanced it two Leagues beyond, and increased the current of water in so great abundance, as they do serve seven hundred and forty Fountains for the public, not reckoning those which are drawn into diverse parts to furnish the great number of Baths which serve for delights, and the Turks superstition.  
Upon the last of the seven Hills are yet to be seen the ancient buildings of a Fort strengthened with seven Towers in the midst of the situation; the Turks call it Giedicula, that is to say, the Fort of the seven Towers, in the which the wonders of Art was so great in old time, as what was spoken in the one was heard in all the rest, not all at one instant, but successively and in order. Two hundred and fifty Soldiers are in guard, commanded by a Captain who hath the charge, who may not go forth without the leave of the Grand Vo●ir, except it be on two days in the year, when they celebrate their Feasts of Bayrans', or Easter. The first Turkish Emperor which possessed Constantinople lodged their treasure in these Towers: The one was full of Ingots, and coined gold; two of them contained the silver that was coined and in Ingots: another had diverse arms and ornaments for Soldiers, and the Caparisons for Horses, enriched with gold, silver and precious stones: the fifth served for ancient Arms, Medales, and other precious remaynders of Antiquity: the sixth contained the Engines for War: and the seventh, the Rolls and Records of the Empire; accompanied with a goodly gallery, in the which were placed the rich spoils which Selym the first brought from Tauris, when he triumphed over Persia. All these treasures were carefully kept until the Reign of Selym the Second. But it is in estates as with private Families. In these some gather together with much toil that which their heirs waste prodigally; and some Kings heap up treasure which serve as a subject of prodigality to their Successors. For this Prince base and effeminate, who it seems, was not borne but for the ruin of his Empire (if Christians could have embraced the occasions) wasted in the expenses of the Naval Army, which the battle of Lepantho made subject to the Christians, and before in the war of Cyprus, the best part of the immense treasure which his Father had heaped up in these Towers: the rest served for his lascivious and disordered passions with his Concubines. Since Amurath his Son changed the place of the treasures of the Empire, and from the Towers transferred them into his Serrail: so they draw unto him that which he loves, and seeing that money doth possess the hearts of Men, it is reason they should have a lodging in their Palace. This alteration hath since appointed these places of the treasure, to be Prisons for the great Men of the Port or Court, whom the Sultan's will not put to death: For the Fortress being of a great extent, such Captives have the more liberty. They shut up in the Towers of the black Sea, which is a Castle upon Europe side joining to the Sea, Christian Prisoners of quality, where in the year 1617. Duke Koreski a Prince of Moldania was lodged.  
Constantinople hath within the enclosure of the walls above two thousand Mosques, or Turkish Temples built by their Emperors: for we will make no further relation of the rarities of that Imperial City, but such as are at this day. We may read the wonders of that ancient City in other Authors; and particularly in the Books which P. Gillius hath written. The chief of all these Mosques is that which hath been erected in the ancient Temple of Sancta Sophia, called by the Turks Ayasophia; it hath six goodly and sumptuous Forefronts, the walls are of brick, covered in old time both within and without with white Marble, Porphyry, and other rich stones; they are now of Lead. The open Porches about it have six doors which augment the beauty; four doors of the Church open at the entry; the height of the Vault covered with Lead, shows the magnificence of the work: sixteen great Pillars support it, four are jasper of the I'll of Cyprus, four are of white Marble, four of Porphyry, and four of another stone as rich: forty eight other Pillars of less bigness, but of the same matter serves to support this great Fabric, and a lesser and lower Vault is supported by four and twenty Columns of the same Marble and Porphyry. The rare Statues and rich Images wherewith Constantine had adorned it, are no more to be seen: Mahomet the Second had vowed them to the sack of the City when he took it: only an Image of the Virgin who bore the Son of God, remains whole and untouched in the midst of the Vault, not without a particular providence of Heaven: Yet the Turks draw a veil cross to prohibit the sight; but this doth not hinder the Christians by creeping up by ladders to satisfy their devotion, when as at lawful hours they may enter into the Mosque: Now the Turks have white-cast the Vault in diverse parts, to write the Name of God in the Arabic tongue. The breadth and length of this Church may be well comprehended by the height, the which is limited by the shot of a Harquebusse: under it is a Vault full of Altars and Sepulchers, in respect whereof the Turks have caused the doors to be walled up. In a place near unto it are found ten great Piles full of Oil since the time of Constantine, which have continued unto this day free (by reason of the low vault) from the fire which consumed the first beauties of this Temple, the long continuance at years hath made this Oil white like Milk: It now serves for Physic which the Apothecaries use for the Grand Seigneur.  
By these vaulted places they descended into two hollow Caves which go under the streets of the City, the one leads to the Grand Serraill, and the other goes far under Constantinople, unprofitable at this day, except the one which hath received light by some breaches which time hath made, serves only to wind silk, and brings unto the Coffers of the Shasna, or Exchequer, three or four hundred Zequins of yearly rent. But the goodly and ancient buildings which did adorn this admirable Temple, have been ruined by the Turkish Emperors, except those which serve for a dwelling to some Congregations of the Priests of the Alcoran.  
Besides this great and admirable Mosque, there are four others of note, the durable marks of the magnificence of the Turkish Emperors. The first was built by Mahomet the Second, after that he had triumphed over Constantinople: He caused it to be erected after the Model of Sancta Sophia, but much less; he enriched it with threescore thousand Ducats of Revenue; he caused two hundred fair Chambers to be built about it covered with Lead, as well to lodge the Priests which did serve, as to receive all strange Pilgrims of what Nation or Religion soever they were, where they are entertained for three days: without the Cloister are also built fifty other Chambers for poor men. The second Mosque was made by Bajazet the second soon to the said Mahomet. The third by Selym the first son to this man: and the fourth by Solyman second son to Selym. These three last Princes are every one buried within the walls of this Mosque in stately Tombs, upon the which there are continually a great number of Lamps burning, and Turkish Priests mumbling of the Alcoran, who pray after their manner for the souls of these monarchs. The most stately of these four Mosques is that of Solyman the Second, it exceeds in Marble and other rich stones the pomp of Sancta Sophia, but it yields to the wonders of the Architecture, whereunto few could yet attain. Selym the Second built his Mosque in the City of Andrinopolis: Achmat the last employed excessive sums of money in the Fabric of that which he built of late years in Constantinople: the magnificency of the structure exceeds those which we have mentioned, the Turks call it the new Mosque, and their Priests the Incredulous: for that Achmat caused it to be built against the advice which they gave him, that such a work would not profit his soul's health, seeing that he had made no conquests to enlarge the Empire of their Predecessors. For the Law of the state conformable to that Religion, forbids Turkish Princes to build any Temples, if they have not extended the limits of their Empire in the Territories of Christians, where they may cause their Alcoran to be preached: for such works of piety cannot be useful to the health of their souls (the Muftis say) who are opposite to such designs, if their Emperors would undertake it.  
The Grecians which are Christians, have within Constantinople forty Churches for their divine Service; the Armenians have four, and the Latins (less favoured than these) have but two: It is true that most of them are lodged at Galats, now called Pera, which is on the other side of the channel, where they have nine Churches for their Devotions and holy Mysteries. The jews have the credit to be within the City in nine several quarters, and have eight and thirty Synagogues. They have gotten more liberty and power than they have in Christendom, for that they observe the formers of the Grand Siguior, and moreover they have the managing of the Domestic Affairs of great Men and Officers of the Port, where they are the common givers of advice. The walls of this Imperial City are yet firm and entire. They are double upon the firm Land, except it be towards the Gate of Ayachapeza, that is to say, the holy Gate, by reason of the great number of Religious bodies which were in a Church near unto that Gate. Mahomet the Second entered thereby to defile the holiness of the place: there are nineteen Gates aswell upon the firm Land as towards the Sea, which serve for an entrance into this City. Many great places are extended for the commodity of the Public, some have preserved the ancient Pyramids, and the works of Brass erected by Christian Emperors, amongst others that which they call Petrome, where there are to be seen whole Obelisques; and three great Serpents of Marble creeping upward wreathed one within the other: One of the which hath a breach in the throat, for Mahomet the Second entering into the City, had a conceit that they were the work of some enchanting Sorcerer, and spurring on his Horse to be satisfied, he made this breach with his Lance. There is every day a public Market in some one of these places. One Friday it is in three, and the most famous are of Wednesday, Thrusday, and Friday, They call them Schibazars, that is to say, Markets of things necessary for use. About these places are erected above two thousand shops for Breakers, who sell any thing wherewith to furnish the necessity of those which desire to repair their want: The sole of this old trash is not so little but it yields yearly unto the Prince's Coffers six Charges of Money, which is in value eleven thousand Sequins, or four thousand, four hundred pounds sterling for the Turkish exaction makes profit of every thing. The shops for Merchants exceed the number of forty eight thousand, they are divided according to the diversity of trades or Merchandizes into diverse places; but every trade thath his quarter, and in diverse parts for the commodity of the Public. Only Goldsmiths, jewellers, and Merchants of cloth of gold are in one place called Bayst●●, that into say Market, the others ●●zars: This 〈◊〉 place is in 〈◊〉 with wa● five foot thick; there are four double Gates our before the other, like unto a little Town, vaulted round above. This rich 〈◊〉 place 〈◊〉 four and twenty Pillars which suppo●● the 〈◊〉, under the which there are many little shops like unto bo●● in the wall, or in the Pillars, every one is fine foot broad, and four long▪ There they show forth their rich Merchandizes upon little Tables which are before them. Without doubt the gain must be exceeding great, and the sale ordinary, seeing they paid unto the Prince yearly five hundred Sequins, or two hundred pounds sterling, to have leave to sell there. These are only jewellers and Merchants of cloth of gold: The Goldsmiths are without about the walls of this place, and every one pays yearly a hundred Sequins, or forty pounds sterling to the same end.  
Besides the Bayston, there is another less environed with a wall, and supported by sixteen small Pillars; in the enclosure whereof they sell linen cloth and silks, but without it is the detestable Market where they sell men and women; on the one side they buy slaves which are already instructed to serve, or to practise some trade, and on the other those which know not any thing. These places represent better than the former, the fearful Image of the Turkish tyranny: It binds them to slavery which the God of the World hath crated free: the Merchants visit such Merchandizes, and such as have an intent to buy, do first see the persons of either sex naked: they handle the parts of their bodies, to observe if they be sound, and they uncover that which Nature herself hath laboured to hide. The women if they be fair are bought at a dear rate to serve the 〈◊〉 passions of some ●ous and fearful Moo●e: they to whom Nature hath denied such graces, are taken to empty the closestools of great Turkish Ladies, and to wash with water the parts of their body, which serve to discharge their bellies, as often as they have 〈◊〉. We will relate the rest of the miseries of this servitude in another place, dividing them of purpose to make them the more supportable. For in truth they are in this work the most tedious subject of this History. Who could without sighing see an infinite number of Christians laden with the fetters of a violent slavery by the barbarism of the Turks? And in a place near unto this the Infidels keep another Market where they only sell Nurses: and from this unjust traffic the Prince's undertakers draw sixteen thousand Sequins for the toll, of six thousand four hundred pounds sterling.  
Many other places of this starely City yield unto the treasury the Revenues of many good sums of money. The Taverns which sell wine publicly to Christians, and to jews; but in secret to Turks (being above fifteen hundred in number) pay thirty six charges of money, and every charge is valued at sixteen hundred thirty three Sequins. The Sea shore towards Pera, pays for the toll of fish which it sold there, eighteen hundred charges of silver yearly. The Market whereas Corn, Meal● and Pulse is sold, yields yearly fourteen charges of money. That where the Merchandizes which comes from Caira is ●ted, is worth yearly to the Chasua or the Imperial treasure, twenty four charges of silver. The great custom which is levied from the Castle of Gallipoli unto that of the black Sea, upon Spices and other Merchandizes which comes by shipping is worth a hundred and fourscore charges of silver. The great Shambles of 〈◊〉 and Muttons; which are without the City, and furnish it with necessary meat, yield two and thirty charges of money: they are called Chaanara, two hundred Capsapl●rs, or Butchers, serve them: A Superior called Capsa●assa commands them, who had a charge they shall furnish f● 〈…〉 kill an Ox or a Sheep without his permission, 〈◊〉 it be for the Sacrifices of the Turks. The 〈…〉 from him to furnish their 〈…〉 should through covetousness raise the price of 〈◊〉 above the ordinary tax which is set down, and that his corruption shall come to the knowledge of the Gr● Seign●ur; there is nothing could free him from the rigour of cruel death: He is to●●● in aces, and cut into four q●, which they send unto the Shambles to be an example to other: So as f●●re keeping him in awe, 〈…〉 before this 〈…〉 which 〈…〉 September and October, upon the 〈…〉 which 〈◊〉 from 〈…〉 great to be easily 〈…〉 people only and not the 〈…〉, you shall 〈…〉 of five and twenty thousand Oxen, and 〈◊〉 thousand 〈…〉 also 〈…〉 by the side of Horses, Ships, Vessels, and 〈…〉 hundred of all sorts of Merchandizes by Sea, amounts to great and inestimable sums. The tax of those which embark themselves to travail, which is an Aspre for every head if they be Turks, and two if they be Christians or jews, is of no small importance. The Tribute called is Turkey Charay, which is levied upon the jews in Constantinople, after the rate of a Sequin for every male Child, is worth eleven Millions, three hundred Sequins yearly, although there be many of that Nation which are free from this Tribute. They do also give a present of three thousand Sequins every year, for the confirmation of their Privileges, and to have a Rabbin to command their Synagogues, and twelve hundred Sequins to have leave to bury their Dead. The Christians, Grecians, within three miles or a league of Constantinople, pay for every Male a Sequin; which amounts to the sum of above thirty eight thousand Sequins: They do also give five and twenty thousand yearly for their privilege to have a Patriarch, and to preserve the number of their Churches. The privilege of their Burials cost them above three thousand Sequins. The imposition called of Virgins, helps to fill the Grand Signior Coffers, or his Tr● 〈…〉 upon Maids which marry (whereof they keep a Register) if they be Turks, they give two third parts of a Sequin, the jews pay a whole one, and the Christians a Sequin and a half. The Christians, Latins are for the most part freed from the violence and oppression of these unjust taxes, for they get their dependence from some King's Ambassador, or from an inferior Prince. The Albanois, they of Raguse, and the Genevois, pay not any thing.  
For the payment of so many Tributes wherewith the people is oppressed by the Tyrant of the Eastern Regions, it is necessary there should be many sorts of Coin mi●●●. In Constantinople the great Imperial Mint works continually in Gold and Silver, but no man can be admitted be a Farmer to these precious 〈◊〉 if he be not a Grecian borne, by a special privilege of the Grand Seig●eur, who hath conferred this grace upon the Grecian, in consideration that the Mines of Gold and Silver, are within the 〈◊〉 of Greece, wherefoure hundred men labour daily. And the Master of this rich Mine, is to furnish into the Serraile, the first day of every month in the year, ten thousand Sequins of Gold, and twenty thousand of Silver 〈◊〉 coined, the Grand Seigneur having so appointed, that the money which is employed in the Serrail shall be new. The said Farmer hath power to make Proclamation, that whosoever hath any foreign Coin, he should bring it in within three days and receive the just price, upon pain of Confiscation. He hath likewise power to take the Ingots from the Mines, so many as shall be needful for his work.  
The Mines which furnish most of the Gold and Silver, which is mi●●ed in the Turkish Empire in Europe, are five in number. The one is digged in Macedonia under the Roots of a Hill called M● 〈◊〉, and this ye●lds Gold: The other which is of the same substance is opened in Bulgaria, upon the Confines of Macedonia▪ The three of Silver are in Greece, rich and very plentiful. Out of all which they draw that which Nature had wisely hidden, to be conversant among men: the which doth breed 〈…〉▪ dissolves Friendship, corrupts 〈…〉 Chastity, troubles Estates, obscures M● wits, ravishes li●e, unthrones reason from her seat, and robe● of himself▪  
But to return to this great City of Constantinople, the Magnificences of the Princes which possess it at this day, and the riches of some 〈◊〉, or great Men of the Court, have caused above three hundred C●vana serrails to be built: these are great and vast places to lodge Strangers. The number of this Hospitals for the poor and 〈…〉 to the number of fourscore: 〈…〉, the Turkish Emperors which have built these pound Mosques, have added them unto their Rubrics, where they are eternal marks of their Pl●▪ Moreover, there are 〈◊〉 Colleges for the instruction of young 〈◊〉▪ and the 〈◊〉 of the Scho●lers, which they call in their 〈…〉, that is to say wise Students, although they be nothing less. 〈◊〉 of them hath a Chamber for his Lodging, a Carpet for his Table, four loaves by the day, a proportion of Pottage and a Candle: They give them two suits of clothes yearly and they are paid out of Revenues of the College, by the Masters and Preceptors which teach them, who are called Soscha●i; that is for the first year when they enter into the College: for to the second they add to their entertainment an Aspre by the day, which is a fifth part more than a penny; afterwards they give two, three, or four Aspres by the day, according to the number of years they have continued. With this poor pi●●ance these Turks can keep no great ordinary, unless they receive it from other places: But the gain they make in writing of Books, (for the Turks use no printing) is not little but doth furnish their necessity abundantly, yea, their Riots: they go also to houses to teach the children of men of quality. But there is not in all Turkey more dissolute youths than these Turkey Scholars: there is no kind of villainy but they commit with all impunity. The privileges wherewith the Turkish Emperors have honoured them, or rather the abuse of them hath drawn them into all sorts of impudency: no man can apprehend them for any crime, unless their General be present, to whom only this power is given. It is true that the Prince's presence in Constantin●ple doth restrain the insolency of their riots: But the Towns of Carama● and Na●ol● are wonderfully pesteted. Amurath the third desirous (by reason of some troubles which happened) to know the number of such Gallants; they were found to be above nine thousand, aswell in Greece as Anatolia, not reckoning those which studied in Suria, Cairo, Arabia and elsewhere.  
Another great place environed with wall, and shut up with good Gates, doth likewise beautify the City of Constantinople, the Turks call it Seracy●●a, that is to say, the Sellerie, or the place where they make Saddles, and rich Caparisons for Horses of Service and Pomp. It is an unspeakable pleasure for those that love Horsemanship, to see four thousand workmen in this place, labouring in their shops, artificially upon diverse Capari●ons for Horses. Some 〈◊〉 great round Pearls upon the Saddle of an Arabian Horse out of the Grand Viziers stable: Others fasten a Bit of Gold to Reins of rich red Leather of Russia; some do fit stirrup Leathers to stirrups of Gold, enriched with a great number of Turkishes of the old Rock: Others fasten upon a large Crupper a great number of precious stones: In another place you shall see a rich Saddle cast forth a thousand flames, the number of the Diamonds wherewith it is enriched make it inestimable: The Bit and stirropes of Gold covered with Diamonds, the Tassels of Pearls which are at the Reins, and at the Trappers of the Crupper, and the other beauties of this royal Harness, ravish the eyes of such as look of it with admiration of their wonders, and some silently persuade themselves that Fortune adorned with these precious things which depend on her, means to go in triumph through Constantinople, to let the Turks see that she dwells amongst them. In the midst of this place there is a Mosque built for the devotion of these workmen, and a goodly Fountain in the same place which pours forth abundance of fresh water for their use.  
Two other great places likewise walled about, serve for the Lodgings of the janissaries, which are the best Footmen of the Turkish Armies: the one of these places is called Eschiodolar, that is to say the old habitations. It is of a square form, and divided into many small Lodgings, in the which the Corporals remain, called Ayabass●, which signifies the chief of glory: there are about a hundred and fifty of this quality, and either of them commands two hundred janissaries, who dare not go out of the place without leave: the Gates are shut by night, and the keys are kept by the Captain.  
The Arsenal is one of the goodliest and rarest things in Constantinople, it is upon the Sea shore, and contains a hundred and fourscore Arches, under either of which enters a great Galley, yea, three may be safely lodged. The Officers which serve in this Arsenal, and receive pay, are commonly forty six thousand men: But its greatest force is the good order that is observed by the which there are certain Merchants which have contracted to entertain fourscore Galleys always furnished with all things necessary, and ready to put to Sea: the Munition of Powder is kept in diverse Towers in the walls of the City which look towards Pera: they bring it from Grand Cairo, where the Sultan's cause it to be made.  
The Garners in the which they keep their provision of Corn and other grain are built in a corner of the City towards Pera, the walls are very strong and the Gates of Iron: there is sufficient to serve for many years, but every third year they renew it: In the time of Amurath the third, there was found a great quantity of Millet, the which had been preserved sweet and uncorrupted for the space of four score years.  
But this great Imperial City cannot be happily governed without the execution of justice, which is the soul of the World, and the order of Reason; A Sovereign judge is the chief, the Turks call him Stambolcadisi, that is to say, the judge of Constantinople. He takes notice indifferently both of Civil and Criminal Causes, and no man is put to death in that place, if he hath not condemned him. There are four Lieutenants general, distinguished into the four principal Quarters of the City, and execute under him the same justice, but from their Sentences they appeal unto the judge. Besides these there is a great Captain of justice called Sonbasi, who doth execute the greatest Function of his charge in Prisons, to hear the Causes, and to make report unto the Grand Vizir: There are also four Lieutenants under him, separated into the Quarters of the City, by the order of the Policies their 〈◊〉 and a great number of inferior Officers, as Sergeants, a●●ther base persons which serve him. The Prisons of Constantinople are divided into two, either of them is beautified (if there be any beautiful Prisons) with a great Meadow in the midst and a pleasing Fountain: It hath two stories, in that below are lodged criminal Offenders, in that above are such as are committed for civil causes. here the jews are separated from the Turks, and the Turks from the Christians, but in the lowest they are altogether, as Persons whom their Offences have made common. The Alms deeds & good works which are exercised there by the Turks, surpass in few days those which are done in our Countries in many years: The Turkish Charity towards his Neighbour surmounts ours, and it seems, that for such good deeds, Hea●en suffers them in the Empire of the World; for his equity doth recompense the good, in any subject whatsoever, aswell as it doth punish the evil. The Turkish Emperors themselves show great compassion, they many times deliver a great number of civil Prisoners, paying their debts for them. The other particularities which concern the Turks justice, shall be handled in another Tract. In the mean time seeing we are come near unto the Imperial Palace, which is the Serrail, let us strive to enter, although the Gates be carefully guarded, and let us see the rare beauties of this famous place.   

CHAP. II. Of the Grand Signior Serrail.  

Description of the Serrail in general.  THree Serrails do augment the glory of Constantinople, the one is called Eschy Saray, that is to say, the old Serrail, which was the first Royal House built within the City, after that the Turks became Masters: It is situated almost in the midst of it; the form is square, and the Circle contains an Italian mile and a half, or half a French League, such as are in Languedoc, or Provence. The women which have served the deceased Emperors, their Sisters if they be not married, & their children's Nurses, have it for their L●ing from whence they may not depart unless they ma● A Dame whose age and discretion hath purchased merit, hath the care and conduct of the rest as Superior; they call her Cheira Cad●n, that is to say, Great Dame. The Grand Seigneur in his most solitary humours retires himself sometimes into this place to seek the consolation which he cannot find elsewhere▪ The other Serrail is of a less extent, it is situated at the Hippodrome, and serves at this day for the solemnising of Plays, Pompes, and Sports for the Turkish Princes: and for an Academy to four hundred of the Grand Signior Pages, which are there instructed in the Turkish tongue, to manage Arms, and other Exercises fit for them, and they go not forth until they be made Espayn, that is to say, Men at Arms: they are bred up and taught at their Master's charge: this place is called Ebrayn Bassa Saray, that is to say, the Serrail of H● Bassa, who was son in Law to Sultan Solyman the Second, and his Favourite for a time. He caused it to be built at his own charge. The third is called Boyu●h Saray, that is, the great Serrail, now the ordinary abode of the Turkish Emperors: It is of this which we mean to speak.  
This great Serrail the Mansion of Turkish Emperors and of their Family, is pleasantly situated in the same place, where as Byzance was in old time, built upon a pleasant point of firm Land which looks towards the mouth of the black Sea: Its form is triangular, two sides thereof are warred by the waves of the Egaean Sea: the third is supported by the City, it is ●nuironed with high walls, and fortified with many Towers which doth better the defence. It hath three miles in circuse, Many Gates serve for the entry; aswell towards the Sea as Land: one principal near to Sancta Sophia, is usually open, the others are not; but when it pleaseth the Grand Seignour. This Gate is guarded day and night by Companies of Capigis who are Porters; which relieve one another, and in the night some I am i●●ies which are without the Gate in little Cabins of wood mounted upon wheels are in Sentinel, and when need requires advertise the Corpse de Guard of Capigis. In the Towers which are upon the Serrail, certain A●amoglaus, that is to say, Children without experience, or Rustics, of those of the Tribute▪ to see if any one doth approach by Land, or any Vessels by Sea near to this Imperial House: And in that case they discharge certain Pieces of Artillery, which are ready charged to that effect, upon a little platform of five ●athomebroad, which is betwixt the wall of the Serrail and the Sea.  
The Chambers and Royal Hals of the Sultan's Lodging are disposed according to the diverse seasons of the year: Those whither he retires in Winter are built upon plain and eeven ground: The others where he seeks after the cool and fresh air during the importune heats of the Summer, are situated upon diverse natural Hills: Some of them view the agitations of the Sea; and these are termed Ch●schi, that is to say, Cages, and places of goodly prospect. The Sultan goes sometimes to these places to take his pleasure alone in this goodly view, and sometimes he calls his wo●nto mingle with this recreation the soft deliges of their lascivious conversation. near unto this goodly place, is that where the Turkish Emperor gives Audience to Ambassadors; receives or dismisses those whom he sends to government of remoted Provinces. It is situated in the plain of a Court upon a little Island, enamelled with many goodly flowers, and watered by some pleasing Fountains, richly imbelished according to their custom. Within it, is s●●●s a Sophia, that is to say; a Throne, covered with somerich cloth of Gold, where is also to be seen one of Crimson Velvet, embroidered with great round Pearls: this Throne is called the Throne without, to distinguish it from that within the Grand Signior Chamber; and in this, Os●●● the Second, did sit, when he could not●y the other which was within, where his Uncle M●stap●● was shut up in the year 1617. There the Turkish Emperors are set in such actions. The walls of his Chamber are lined with certain white stones which are cast and burnt, and painted in diverse colours, which yield a pleasant sight. The Chamber which is joining to it hath the walls covered with Plates of Silver, pourfiled with Gold, and the Plancher is covered with rich Topestrie, after the Persian manner with Gold and Silk. The Q●●●ter whereas the Women and Virgins are lodged, which are des●●●ted for the Emperor's pleasure, is like unto a great Monastery of Religious Wom●●▪ But they do not observe the Vow of Chastity: There are 〈◊〉, or ●●●ping places, Refectuaries, ●●ths, Galleries, pleasing G●, and goodly Fountains, in so great a number, as they abound in all the Allies, and of all sides pour 〈◊〉 the s●t noise of their charming murmurs. The other Lodgings for the Domestics of the Serrail, have with the beauty of their structures, the commodities of their situation. Two great places are joined to these buildings, whereof the one serves for the Chasna without (for they have another within more retired from the household) the Mosques, Baths, Schools, Kitchens, places to run Horses, to wrestle, shoot, and to represent any action, augment the wonders of this Imperial Palace whereof we have spoken in general: Now let us descend to the particular description of the places thereof, at the least to those which we could yet see; for no man that lives abroad may enter into the Serrail unless the Emperor be absent; and yet he must be highly favoured by some person of credit and authority in that place: For the Turks would imagine they should offend the Majesty of their Prince, to give entrance into his Quarter of the Serrail, to any one be he stranger or other.  
The first wall of the Serrail is near unto the first Mosque of Sancta Sophia, with the great and chief Gate of that stately Palace, adorned with a great Portall painted with letters of Gold, in branches and compartments after the manner of java; fifty Capigi● with their Arms (which are Harquebuses, Bows, Arrows, and Semiters) keep the Guard: By it they enter into a great place or Court about threescore paces long, and a hundred paces broad, in the which upon the right hand is the place for the sick persons of the Serrail, kept by an Eunuch, who hath under him a great number of men employed in the service of sick persons; on the otherside on the left hand there are seen a great number of Wagons, with a great quantity of wood for the use of the House: above it, is built a long Gallery, in the which they keep ancient Arms, as Mortions, Gauntlets, Coats of Mail, Pikes, and Harquebuses; wherewith they arm the Officers of the Arsenal, and some other troops to go out of Constantinople in pomp, when as the Sultan or some other powerful Bashaw makes his entre. Into this Court the Pashas and great men of the Port may entry on horseback; but they must leave their Horses and got on foot into another great Court, which hath near three hundred foot in square, made in fashion of a Cloister, with a low Gallery round about it, supported by Pillars of Marble; it is more richly adorned then the other; the Gate is likewise guarded by Capigis, armed as the first. They pass on to a third Gate into a lesser Court, but more delicious; Many goodly Fountains pouring forth abundance of water, and some Alleys drawn by a line, and shadowed with a great number of Cyprus Trees planted upon the sides which beautify the place: And there are many squares of Meadow diapered with diverse sorts of flowers which augment the pleasures of the sight: No man passeth through this Court on horseback, but the Turkish Emperor, who descends at the third gate: On either side are many goodly Portals supported by rich Pillars of Marble: without these Portals are ranged in Battle the Companies of janissaries, well apparelled and better armed, when as they are commanded to show themselves at the entry of the Serrail, when as some strange Ambassador goes to kiss his Robe.  

The Kitchens,  In this Court are the Kitchens of the Serrail, the which are nine in number, separated in their buildings one from another, with their dependences, and served by particular Officers: The first is that of the Emperor; The second, that of the Sultana, which is most esteemed for her graces or for her fruitfulness: The third, that of the other Sultana's: The fourth, that of the Capiaga, who is great Master of the Serrail: The fifth, that of the Divan, which is the Council, whereas the Prince doth administer justice by the mouth of his Officers, of the which we will speak hereafter: The sixth, that of the Aga●●ris, which are the Sultan's Familiars, many are eunuchs, the rest are untouched: The seventh, is that of the lesser Officers of the Serrail: The eighth, is for the women which serve the Sultanas: The ninth, is for the Officers which attend the Divan, as Guards, Porters, Ushers, and such like.  
On the left hand in the same place, are the Sultan's stables, to contain only five and twenty or thirty goodly Horses, which are appointed for his Exercises with his greatest Familiars in the Serrail: Above these stables are many Chambers, in the which they keep the Saddles, Bridles, and other Furniture for these Horses of pleasure: But all so rich and so glistering with Pearl and stone, as the price is inestimable: There are some which the very Reins and Crupper, exceed the value of a hundred thousand pounds sterling: What must the Saddle and the rest of the Furniture amount unto? Along the banks of that Channel which doth water the walls of the Serrail, there are built seventeen great stables, whereas the Grand Seigneur hath a great number of Horses of rare esteem, whereon he mounts when he goes to the War; or when to dazzle the eyes of some foreign Ambassador, with the lustre of his greatness, he makes a solemn and stately entry into Constantinople.  
A little beyond in the same Court is the Quarter for the public Divan, 
Divan.  where as the Grand Vizir Lieutenant General of the Turkish Empire with a good number of Officers keeps the Audiences four days in the Week: near unto it is the Chamber of the Chasna, or Treasure without, where they lay up the Rents and Revenues of diverse Provinces, wherewith they pay the Officers: They likewise furnish the Chamber of Accounts, the rest is carried into the Chasna, 
Chasna.  or secret Treasure within, whereof the Grand Seigneur keeps the Keys: The first is usually sealed by the Grand Vizir. In the same Court on the left hand is the great Gate which enters into the Sultana's lodging; It is carefully kept by a troop of black and hideous eunuchs, to whom the Sultan hath entrusted the Guard. And as he hath lodged therein (by the number of goodly Women which are brought unto him from all parts) the lively Images of Love and the Graces; so he hath set at the Gates those of Hatred and Terror: He himself goes unto them by another passage near unto his Chamber. The last part of this goodly Court makes the entry to the Emperor's Lodgings, the which is forbidden to any whatsoever, except the slaves that serve him: If any great Bassa pressed with some important business desires to enter, he must first have leave from the Prince's mouth.  
The entry of this Gate leads towards the Hall, whereas the Sultan sits, when he will give Audience, and suffer any foreign Prince's Ambassador to kiss his Robe. At their entrance they discover the new beauties of this place more particularly: A goodly Court paved with fine Marble in Mosaike work, serves for a passage for those which are entered, and the goodly Fountains which beautify it, will not suffer them to go far, without fixing their eyes upon their pleasing structure: The Pavilions and stately Chambers which are within it, seem to have been built and embellished by the hands of delight and pleasure: For in them the Grand Seigneur eats most commonly, and takes his Recreations. The Baths, Hals, and Galleries of this place, surpass in their Magnificence the force of imagination: We may only say of them, that they are the buildings of the most powerful and rich Monarches of the Earth.  

The Sultan's lodging in Summer.  In another part of the Serrail, upon a little pleasing Hill is built a lodging for Summer, whither the Sultan retires himself during the Canicular days, to enjoy the fresh air which is found there, and the pleasures of his Gardens, upon the which he hath one prospect, and the other looks towards the Sea: The place is exceeding beautiful, but amidst this great diversity there is a Hall which opens towards the East, supported by rich Pillars of Marble like unto the ordinary Mansion of pleasure: It is enriched with the goodliest works the Tenant can afford, and furnished after a royal manner: The windows have their prospect upon a little Lake of a square form, made with admirable art: Thirty Fountains divided upon a Platform of fine Marble which doth environ it, furnish water to fill it, and pleasingly trouble the silence of the place by their continual murmurre. The Sultan goes often upon this Lake in a Brigantine, being followed by some jeasters, and Mutes, who minister occasion of delight, some by their pleasant encounters, the other by their ridiculous faces and gestures, and sometimes tumbling them into the water they give him occasion of laughter: He himself is pleased to lay ambush, for them, to make them fall by the Platform into the Lake. 
The Grand Signior Chamber.   
From this Hall they pass into the Grand Signior Chamber, it is proportionable in greatness to those of the Royal Palace: The walls are after their accustomed manner covered with fine stone, in which are graven many flowers: the Portals are of cloth of Gold, some are of Crimson Velvet embroidered with Gold and rich Pearl. The Bed is not inferior in riches, the posts are of massy Silver, upon which are set Lions of Crystal of the Rock: The Curtains are of green Cloth of Gold, the richest that are made at Bursia in Asia, without any fringes, but in their place there hangs certain Bells made of great Oriental Pearl: The work is excellent and the price inestimable. The Covering hanging to the ground, is also of rich Cloth of Gold, the Cushions and Pillows are of the same stuff. This Bed is rather a piece of the Turkish pomp then for any necessary use: For the Turks do not use these kind of Beds, but sleep on the ground upon Mattress: whereof we will speak in the sixth Chapter. The floor of this royal Chamber is covered with Persian Carpets of Gold and Silk: The Sopha, that is to say, the places where the Sultan sits, are about a foot and a half from the ground, and covered with the like Tapestry, upon the which are Cushions of Cloth of Gold. Over this seat is a Cloth of Estate of Wood covered with plates of Gold, enriched with stones, and supported by four Pillars adorned in the same manner. In the midst of the floor of this Chamber hangs a rich Candlestick of a mean greatness, and of a round form, the midst whereof is of exexcellent Crystal; the other parts are of Silver gilt, set with Turkeyes, Rubies, Emeralds, and Diamonds, whose diversity give a pleasing lustre: In a corner of the said Chamber, upon a Table of massy Silver, is a little Basin to wash his hands, It is of pure Gold enriched with many Turkesses and Rubies, with Ewer of the same. Against the walls are set two Cupboards, whose doors are of Crystal, which through their transparent light, show about two dozen of Books richly covered, in the which the Sultan sometimes spends his time, and passeth away his cares in reading. Sometimes one of their Histories, and sometimes the true examples which are mentioned in the Old Testament. Above these Cupboards there is one less, into the which the Treasurer of the Serrail doth every Wednesday, put three purses filled: whereof the one is with Gold, and the other two are of Silver, which the Sultan employs in his almesdeeds, 
Great Monarches should have able men about them, & not Grooms whom they advance, and are entertained by Fools and Ignorants.  and the gratifications which he gives to the slaves that serve him, and which are his ordinary Company Doubtless this kind of people do much embase the glory of so powerful a Monarch, and the shame to have none about him but base persons, causeth him to be disesteemed. Sovereign Princes should admit none but the ablest men of their Estates about their Persons. For as God hath in Heaven the Ministry of the Angels, and other intellectual creatures: So Kings, who are his lively Images, should have about them Men whose virtue and rare qualities of the mind have raised above others. What entertainment can a great Prince find, in such abject persons and so ill bred; and what service can he receive from a man drawn from the Stable, and from the profession of a Horsekeeper, or a Coachman, from a Huntsman, and the bawling of Hounds? What contentment from a brutish Faulkoner, whilst that Men of merit are in contempt? This disorder is sometimes seen in the World, 
Libraries.  yea, in the Courts of great Princes to their shame, and to the great prejudice of the public. near unto this Chamber is a goodly Library, where are many Books, rich for their stately coverings, and precious for their works, the immortal marks of the glory of their Authors: This is called the secret Library; it is the most renowned of all the Serrail. There is another towards their Quarter which serve the Chamber, and the Grand Signior Pages, filled with a great number of Books in all Languages, among the which there are to be seen at this day six score Volumes of the ancient Library of Great Constantine of an extraordinary bigness: They are above a fathom broad and two in length: Their leaves are of such thin Parchment, as they seem rather to be of Silk than Skins; most part written in letters of Gold, especially those which contain the Old and New Testament; their coverings are of Silver gilded after the antique manner, set with a great number of precious stones. The price (without doubt) hath preserved them from spoil and ruin, where as the rest have perished by the barbarousness of the Turks, who sacked Constantinople in the time of Mahomet the Second: The Sultan holds them so precious as he will not allow any one to handle them.  
The number of Gardens in the Serrail are not fewer in number, then are delightful to look on: The Prince hath his the Sultana's theirs, and without this Imperial House, there are eighteen planted towards the Sea, whereof the fruits and revenues are by the Law of State employed for the entertainment of the Prince's Table; whereof we will speak elsewhere. He which hath the chief charge is called Bostangibassi, that is to say, great Gardiner, and is one of the most eminent Dignities of the Empire, he is many times much affected by his Master, and feared by the other Bashaes', to whom he may do good and bad Offices with the Prince, when he governs him alone in his walks, and entertains him in affairs of Estate.  
Two Mosques serve in the Serraile, for their Devotion: The one is towards that Quarter where the Prince and his Officers lodge; and the other is near the Lodging of the women and their slaves. And although the Turks will not admit of the use of Bells; yet there are a great number of little Clocks in the Serrail, which strike the hours both by day and night. The Grand Signior Pages are instructed to keep them: and most part of the men of quality in the Serrail, and likewise the women have little Watches, whereof they make use. This is all that can be written of the Grand Signior Serrail, at the least that can come unto the knowledge of Christians, to whom the entry (unless it be upon the days of Divan) is expressly forbidden, and the inward parts of this Imperial House, whereof we have spoken, may not be seen by them, unless the Prince be absent; and yet he must have some particular friendship with the Officers of the Serrail, and money in his hand, the which doth not only open them the closest Gates in Turkey, but doth facilitate the most difficult affairs, through the avarice of the Turks, to the which all their other passions seem to yield. Let us come now to the Grand Signior Exercises, to his manner of living, to the number of his Officers, and other particularities of his Crown: But let us begin by his Coronation.   

CHAP. III. Of the Coronation of the Turkish Emperor.  
AFter that death (who strikes with an equal hand, aswell the stately Palaces of Kings, as poor Cottages covered with straw) hath taken out of this World some Turkish Emperor, he of his Children which is destinated to the succession of his Sceptre, parts from the government whither his Father had sent him (the which most commonly is Magnesia a Province in Asia) and comes secretly to Constantinople, and into the Serrail by that Port which looks towards the Sea; for the passage whereof the Bostangibassi, which is the great Gardener, goes to receive him in the Imperial Galley upon the side of Asia, passeth the strait, conducts him into the Serrail, and leads him into his Father's Throne, whither the great men of the Port, that is to say, of the Court (for so they call it) come to adore him, and to acknowledge him for their Prince. Presently the Bassa which is Governor of Constantinople causeth Proclamation to be made in the City, & then throughout all the Empire: That the Soul of the invincible Emperor Sultan N. enjoys an immortal Glory, and an eternal Peace; and that the Empire of Sultan N. may flourish and prosper in all felicity for many years. The third day after they hold the great Divan, which is the general Council, where as all the great Men of the Court and Officers of the Crown assist, and resolve concerning the affairs of the Estate: The Emperor doth not assist; yet he is in a Chamber near, and sees but is not se●ne, and hears through a Lattice window what they treat of, and what they say. At the end of the Divan all these Officers, go by four and four, or by six and six into the Chamber where the Sultan is, and there without speaking any thing make a low reverence, and so pass on, going forth to another door: They return to the Divan, where as Dinner attends them. The Sultan dines at the same time; and after half an hour, (which is all the time he spends at the Table) he mounts upon a stately Horse, being followed by the chief Commanders of the War, he shows himself to his people of Constantinople, and receives from them their cries and acclamations of joy: which are, Live, and long may Sultan N. Reign. He goes to some Mosque where his Predecessors have been buried; He makes his prayers, which being ended one of the twenty Preachers of his Court goes into the Pulpit, and by a short discourse gives him to understand after the Turkish manner the greatness of the charge whereunto God hath called him, exhorts him to have a care of his Estate, and especially to the maintenance and increase of Mahomet's Law. The Sermon being ended, the same Priest doth bless him seven times, and at every time the people answer Amen. At the same time the Moufti, or high Priest of the Law who is present, makes him to take the Oath upon the Alcoran; Girds him with the Sword which in old time Ottoman did wear; and blessing him says these words, God send you Ottomans Bounty: They do so much honour the virtues of this Prince, who reigned about three hundred and twenty two years since, as they wish them to his Successors. I have heard a Prince of the Turkish Emperor's house say, That the Learned in their History report, that Ottoman going through the Town of Prussia, being the chief of his Empire, he said aloud unto the people, that whosoever were an hungry, thirsty, or naked, let them come unto his house, he had wherewithal to feed and cloth the poor. After the Mufti the people bless him with their loud cries: Thus charged with all these blessings he goes to horseback, and carries them back to the Serrail; where he busies himself to cause his brethren to be strangled in his presence, whom he had caused to come from the places where they were resident: For it is written in their custom, One God in Heaven, one Emperor upon Earth: They believe this is the only means to settle the Estate, and to divert the Civil War which the plurality of Princes might breed: They have often this Proverb in their mouths, 
Nec Regna socium ferre nec taedae sciunt, Senec.  That a Kingdom and Lo●le, admit no Companion: Their Error makes them believe that the Princes of their blood are such. This bloody custom hath been rigorously observed for three hundred years and more, until the Reign of Achmat, who died in the year 1617. who gave life unto his brother Mustapha, and at his death left him his Sceptre: But the Officers of his Crown took it from him with his liberty, and kept him prisoner in the Serrail, to make Osman his Nephew Reign in his place, who was afterward miserably massacred by the people, and the same Mustapha restored to the Throne, where the inconstancy of his Fortune suffered him but few days, after which the Bashae's shut him up in his first Prison, and seated in his Throne Amurath the Fourth a young Prince brother to the unfortunate Osman.  

The Sultan's bounty at his Coronation.  The Largesse which the Sultan makes at his coming to the Crown, is distributed after this manner. He must give unto the great Mufti two thousand five hundred Sequins, as much to the Grand Vizir; the other of the Vizir or Bashae's have either of them two thousand, the Cadilesquers every one two hundred and fifty Sequins, the Tefterdars every one of them as much; the Capigibassi every one a hundred; the Aga of the janissaries two hundred and fifty, the Iman Royal hath but five and twenty: the most famous Doctors of the Law receive threescore, the other which are inferior have every one thirty two Sequins. They give forty to the Basrousnamegi, that is to say journalists, forty to the Carasmaesabegi, or Comptrouler of the Royal Tribute; twenty to the Mucatagis▪ which keeps the Books of the Divan; sixteen to every Mutaferagas, which are men at Arms; eight to every Spahi, or light Horseman, and moreover five Aspres by the day in augmentation of their pay. Every Deputy of the Teftardar, hath five and twenty Sequins: The chief of the Pavilions of the field, called by the Turks Almiectar Bassi, are set down in the Roll of this Royal distribution every one for five and twenty Sequins: They that lead the Horses before the King, called Sarrassis, have either of them eight: The Serchais have as much; The Meirery, which beat the Drums before the Prince the like sum; the Sardigis, four; the Capigis, eight; the Casnadaris, eight; and the Snalaris, who carry water to the Grand Seigneur, the like sum. The Emirs have a better portion, either of them hath a hundred. The janissaries by their violence have broken the bounds of the Monarch's liberality to them, they give them more or less according to the time and necessity they have of them; their pay is always increased at the least an Aspre by the day. The Grooms of the Stable and Cooks have equally eight Sequins a piece; and they which pray unto God after the Turkish manner, in the Chapels where the Sultan's are buried, have no more. This largesse and distribution of Sultanins, or Turkish Sequins, amounts (by reason of the great number of those which receive the Portions) to great and immense sums of money.  
The fourth day following, he takes his Gallion, and goes by Sea to a Garden environed with a Park near unto the Arsenal; the Turks call it Ase●i, that is to say, the house of Pleasure; and there he hunts some hours, and courseth what Beast he pleaseth; If he take any thing, the Turkish Superstition teacheth him to hold it for a good sign. From his sport he goes to affairs, he visits his Arsenal; and having near him the General of the Sea, called Captain Bassa, he makes him to give an account of the affairs of the Sea, what number of Vessels there are fit for the war, what Men, what Arms, and what Munition is in them: being thus informed of his Sea forces, he returns to his Serrail. The next day which is the fifth after his Coronation, the Grand Vizir, or according to the Turks, Vizirhazem, that is to say, the Supreme Vizir, goes unto him, and in few words yields him an account of the general affairs of his Empire. And as the Turks have Alms in singular recommendation, these first days of Coronation, after the Prince hath given a Largesse unto the people, in casting of money in the streets where he passeth, he useth great Charity to Hospitals and Prisons, in such sort as the charges of the pious Actions, were found to amount during the Reign of Am●rath, Father to Mahomet the third, who lived when as Henry the Great made France happy by the felicities of his Reign; to the sum of one hundred and threescore thousand pounds sterling, which is in their money four hundred thousand Sequins. Doubtless, the presages of their Reign cannot be but fortunate, when as they are accompanied with good Works, and Charity is a powerful support to a Crown. 
Gaspard Ze●lick, Chancellor to three Emperors, Optarese dicebat omnes Reges aliquando privates pauperesque suisse. Neque enim satis miseretur qui nunquam suit miser. Aeneas Silvius lib. 1. Comment. de reb gest. Alph.  It were to be desired (said a great Man) that Sovereign's had tried the condition of a private Man oppressed with misery; to learn compassion, for no Man is sensibly touched with the estate of a miserable Man, but he that ●●th been so.  
After the fifth day, the Ladies of his blood, be they Virgins or married to some Bassa, go to visit him: He receives them very graciously, honours them with many rich Presents of precious stones, and grants them what favours they demand, be it for th● 〈…〉 of their Husbands, or for his bounty ●● some other persons. But this 〈◊〉 Sultan is no sooner sealed in the Imperial Throne of the Turks, but he doth presently imitate the proud arrogancy of his Predecessors, and takes with the Sceptre the vanity of the proud Title, wherewith they are p●● up the following Chapter will show it.   

CHAP. IU. Of the Titles and Qualities 〈…〉  

●ecunda res a● 〈◊〉 animos explor●●t; quis miserie toleratur, f● 〈…〉 said it to Plato in Tacitly, lib 1. ●ist.  THe prosperities of the World are a trial of the force of the mind, ●●ther t● 〈…〉 These are more easy to bear: those do 〈…〉 men unto a 〈…〉 insolency. But where are g● 〈…〉 with Princes? 〈◊〉 they use them soberly, their m● 〈…〉 Heaven to the preservation of their Estates, and would force 〈◊〉 to cherish their memory. The Turkish Emperors are never crowned with this merit; their breeding to the excess of vices rather than to the continency of virtue, doth not make them capable to know themselves, and the excess of the prosperities of their Empire transports them to pride. So as if Heaven suffers them to continue in the Monarchy of the East, it is to punish our disorders. Their actions do not only show their Pride, but their Titles speak it more plainly: S●lym the First of that Name styled himself Master of all 〈◊〉 ●raignes of the World. Behold the Qualities which he did assume. Sultan Solym, Ottoman, King of Kings, Lord of all Lords, Prince of all Princes, Son and Nephew of God. He caused it to be written under his Portrait, the which Solyman the Second his Son did 〈◊〉 keep by his bed side. This man was no modester than his Father, for if he ●●th not set down in his Titles that he would be the only Prince of the World, he hath often delivered it in his words; By the Soul of my Father (said he being in Hungary at the siege of 〈◊〉) seeing there is but 〈◊〉 God G● 〈…〉 reasonable there should be but one 〈…〉 the inferior World The rest which have followed 〈◊〉 succession of the Ottoman Estate have used the same unto our days. Achmat the First, who died in the year 1617., treating with the invisible Monarch Henry the Great, by the means of the Signior of 〈◊〉 his Ambassador at Constantinople, causeth to be set down in the beginning of the Articles which were sent into France, the Titles which follow: In the name of God, a mark of the high Family of the Ottoman monarchs, with the beauty, greatness, and splendour thereof, so many Countries are conquered and governed. ay, who am by the infinite graces of the Just, great, and all powerful Creator and by the abundance of Miracles of the chief of his Prophets, Emperor of 〈…〉, Disposer of Crowns to the greatest Pri● 〈…〉 of two most sacred Towns, Mequa and Medi●●, Protector and Governor of the holy 〈…〉, and Africa; ●●ly 〈◊〉 by our 〈…〉   

them somewhat longer, and his shoes are without buckles, and cut in leaves: But when he adorns himself to honour with his presence the solemnity of some great day, at the Circumcision of the Princes his Children, or to make his entry into Constantinople: his Robes of Cloth of Gold, forwith Pearls and great Diamonds give the Majesty of his person a glorious lustre: This is the glory of such Princes. Majesty consists in Virtue, and not in the pomp of Habits. A King should rather show himself a King by his 〈◊〉 carriage and his authority, than by his Robes.  
The Sultana's differ not much in their Habits from their Sovereign Prince: They wear breeches like unto his, and under them linings of fine Linen; Their Robes are of the same stuff, and their shoes in like manner: They steep like unto him in their Linen linings, and little Cassocks of Silk pinked, which goes little beneath the waste.  
The Prince riseth with the Day, and the Morning sees him begin his Prayers after the Turkish manner, wherein he spends half an hour: After this he writes as much, during the which they bring him some cordial thing, which he takes presently: Then reading follows for a whole hour, but it is many times without fruit; for that he entertains the time with fabulous Books: It is true that some Sultan's have taken delight to read the life of Great Alexander, and some others have caused Aristotle to be expounded unto them. An ignorant Prince is a Pilot without Card or Compass. Alphonso King of Arragon, called such Princes by a Name which I forbear to mention, for the re●nce I owe to Kings. Having read, if it be a day of D● or of Counsel, he gives Audience to the Grand Viz●r, who come to make report of that which hath been done, and he receives the veneration of other Officers. From thence he descends into his Gardens or walks, contents his eyes with the 〈…〉 F●●●es, and pleasing Alle●e● and 〈◊〉 his ears with the 〈◊〉 and drollities of his ●e●tres 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 which follow him. At his return he falls 〈…〉 have any 〈◊〉 in it, or to some other 〈…〉 for Dinner, the which is speedily served: He never spends above half an hour at the Table, from the which he goes to his Prayers at noon, where after his manner he entertains the Divinity. But how variable is humane inconstancy: from this 〈…〉 to the embracings of humanity, and 〈…〉 with his Women for soo●● hours; until the time of Prayer at Night doth force him to leave them: When 〈…〉 another walk into his Garden, 〈…〉 by his 〈◊〉 and Dwarves, he entertains himself with 〈…〉. The last Office calls him to his Chamber, it is that which the Turks say, when as the day is spent and in the obscurity of the night, where he employs himself until Supper time. These are his employment i● general: Let us now speak of them in particular.   

CHAP. VI Of the Grand Seig●rs Table of his ●te, and of his sleep.  
THe Grand Seignor eats three or four times a day in Summer, but less in Winter: He sitzes cross legged after the Turkish manner: Most commonly his Table is low, made of 〈◊〉 Silver, with a little bo●der about it two fingers high, like unto a Table of Accompany which ●ll money. There is 〈◊〉 of pure Gold enriched with diverse precious 〈…〉 in the years: He 〈…〉 and another upon his 〈…〉 many leaves made of three 〈…〉 whereof the Grain is gathered 〈…〉 for his 〈◊〉. They 〈…〉 thereof they feed a great troop 〈…〉 of the Serrail. His Coo●es are at work 〈…〉▪ they 〈…〉 call 〈◊〉: The Essay is taken at the Kitchen in the presence of the Capiaga, or Master of the Household, and they serve it up in dishes of gold covered: His Agalaris, or Familiars go and receive it at the hands of the Capiaga without: For there is another of the same Office within, who goes not into the Kitchen, he carries them to him that serves at the Table, who is upon his knee: They serve out thirty Dishes, in the which are thirty forts of meats; the Table is round, and stands upon a Vise which turns as it pleases the Prince, for no man carves him, neither doth he himself use any Knife; his bread is so tender as it will not endure any, he breaks it with his fingers without any trouble; so doth he his meat prepared with the like delicacy: They serve no Salt unto him, and whatsoever he eats is not seasoned with Spices, his Physicians forbidding it in the Kitchin. The daintiest meat for his royal mouth are roasted Pigeons, whereof they serve a dozen in a Capson or Platter: Pullet's, Lamb, or Mutton, roasted & boiled are after the Pigeons, which he loves best: He makes a sign (for at his Table no man speaks any thing) that they should carry of this meat what he pleases to the Sultana's whom he affects most: Sometimes the dumb men and the jesters have a part: His Agallaries or Familiars are highly gratified, when he casts them one of his L●aues, they kiss it, and give it unto others for a testimony of a singular favour. In the silence which is strictly observed at his Table, as well by himself as those which do assist, there is an ordinary entertainment in a dumb fashion by signs and the gestures of the Mutes, and the jesters which are instructed therein, practice the abilities of their wits. He doth usually drink a liquor made of many sorts of fruits mingled with the juice of Citrons and Sugar: He swallows it in a spoon of wood, although they serve him with little Cups of Porcelaine and others of Indian Nuts, set upon a foot of gold enriched with stones. They do not serve any fruit before Dinner, his last course is a Tar●, and if he eats any fruit, it is at his after-meals, and likewise Parmisant, whereof they make great esteem in Turkey.  
In the time of Ramadan, which is the Turks Lent, they do not serve him in vessels of Gold, but in yellow Porcelaine which is most precious and hard to be recovered. He fasts from the Sunrising until night, when it is lawful for him to leave his fast, and to eat what meat he pleaseth: Fish comes seldom into the Servant, but when the desire of the Sultan's, or the Appetite of the Agalaries causeth it to be brought from the Sea.  
The Grand Signior Bed is not made while it is day in the Chamber where he lodgeth, they make it only when he goes to his rest: that whereof we have spoken is only a Bed of State The Grooms of his Chamber lay upon the floor a Mat, and upon it a fine Turkey Carpet, whereupon they lay a Matteresse and a Bed of Feathers. The sheets are of fine Linen, and the covering of goodly Carpets: In Winter they use coverings of white Wolves or of Sables, which keep the Prince from cold. After his Bed is thus made, they strain over it many strings of Silk, upon the which they lay Cloth of Gold, or rich Tapestry to make the Tester and Curtains: This Couch being made, the same Gabo●pes of the Chamber go and fetch the Emperor, and being him to his rest with a little Turbane on his he●d in stead of a Night cap: Whilst he steeps they watch; one stands at the door of the Chamber, another at his Bed's side, to raise up the Clothes and to cover him if it be needful: Two others are at the Beds feet with two Torches, which they never put out until the Sultan be risen. Their Guard continues three hours, after which they are relieved by their Companions. Thus he rests which troubles all Europe, disquiets Asia, and afflicts Afrrica, and the shore of the M● Sea with his Fleet.   

CHAP. VII. Of the gravity of the Grand Seigneur and of the ●be discourses which are made in the Serrail.  
THat Prince of the jews which made choice rather of the scourge of Pestilence them the rigour of War, had reason to say that he had rather fall into the hands of God, than to those of Man, for the one is a plentiful and in exhaustible Fountain of all Mercy: The others are unpittifull, although they be created after his Image. It is lawful, yea, it is commanded to speak unto God, and to beg those things which are necessary; and in the World it is a crime to presume to speak unto Men. The true Table of this humane Pride made be drawn from the Serrail, at this day the principal seat of the Arrogancy of Princes: for there it is not only forbidden to speak unto the Grand Seigneur, but he that dares to lift up his eyes to look him in the face, is guilty of a great crime: so as all the Bashaes' of his Court, except the Vizard, the Mufts, and the Physician, going towards him to reverence him, or rather to adore him, have their hands joined and their eyes cast down, and in this posture inclining themselves to the ground, they salute him without seeing him, although they be before him. When he goes into the City, they which present any Petitions unto him, to have justice from him, when they cannot obtain it from his Officers, lift them up upon the end of a ●●ed, and themselves lie prostrate on the groundily humiliation, another men which are of his Family, speak not unto him but by signs, and this dumb language is practised, and understood as readily in the Serrail, as a distinct and articulate voice among ●s. For which cause they use the service of as many dumb men as they can find; who having accustomed others to their signs and gestures make them to learn their Language. The Sultana's do the like. The gravity of his person, and the custom of the Empire forbids him to speak to any. The Sultana's his women practise it, they have many dumb slaves at their Serrail. Sultan Mustapha Uncle to Os●, who in the end of the year 1617. held the Sceptre of the Turkish Empire, for that he could not accustom himself to this silent gravity, gave occasion to the Counsel of end to chaplain of him; and to say that to 〈…〉 did, 〈◊〉 more fit for 〈…〉 Turkish Merchant, then for the Emperor. They 〈…〉 him, held his freedom and similiaritie unworthy of the Empire. To play the Sultan its state, h●e must out speak, but by an extraordinary gravity make men to tremble with the twinkling of his eye: For the frowning arrogancy of the Turkish Princes is grown to that insolency, 〈◊〉 lives amongst his Subjects as some divine thing, adored by the dumb admiration of his slaves. The Emperor of the Abyss, 
In the description of Aethiopia by Don Francisco Aluarez, printed 1558.  whom they do vulgarly call Prete-Iean, is also blamed for pride, although it differs from the Turk: He speaks but he suffers none to see him; saying, that being the Image of God in the Sovereignty of his Empire, he must imitate him in his answers, wherein God speaks and is not s●ene. When as the Master of the Ceremonies brings any foreign Ambassadors unto him, it is most commonly by night: His H●lls and Chamber are full of Torches burning; and he himself i● hidden in his Musta●a, or Royal Bed, before the which there are five Curtains drawn, whereof that in the midst is of Cloth of Gold, the rest are of Silk. The Master of the Ceremonies speaks with a loud voice Hunca, Hialchuchia 〈◊〉: that is to say, I bring those unto thee whom thou hath commanded me: He repeat it often, until he hear a voice from within which saith, Cafaci●ali, which signifies enter in: At this voice all they which hear is h● down and make a low 〈…〉 Then they advance a little making 〈◊〉 every sin steps, repeating the same word, and being come 〈◊〉 unto the C● they hear the same voice Ca●ingles: Then they advances little farther, to hear the words of Prete-Iean who speak and is not se●● and answers the demands which they make unto him. 〈◊〉 petty Kings of the Indies, 
Andrew Corsall 〈◊〉 Florentine ●ices it to Ju● de Me●hein, in a Let●er from Co●hin a Town of the Indies.  〈…〉, which they will 〈…〉 of ●●fti● 〈◊〉, who deliver it 〈…〉 it comes unto him. The gravity of a Prince 〈…〉 appear in his manners then in his 〈◊〉 and his wisdom: should wherein more ●●rable than all 〈…〉 fashion speaking and commanding. If the Prince will 〈…〉 living Image, let him know that there 〈…〉 in the divine Majesty, Power, Wisdom, and Bounty. Let them add unto their Sovereign power of Command, the effects of wisdom, and those of a Royal bounty. By these they shall reign securely in their Estates, and shall be more cherished and honoured, then by the vain gestures and signs of their puft-up gravity.   

CHAP. VIII. How the Grand SEIGNEUR receives the Ambassadors of Foreign Princes, and the form of his Oath in an Alliance.  
THere are two sorts of Ambassadors which come to the Turkish Court; those of Kings, and others of inferior Princes: The first who without contradiction have the precedence, must likewise have it in this History. We will speak of their Reception, and will take for a Precedent that of the Ambassador of France, Being arrived at Per●, he passeth within few days after to, Constantinople, sees the M●, visits the Grana Vizir, salutes the B●stang●bas●i, or great Gardener, useth some compliments to the Teftardar, or high Treasurer, and performs some testimonies of honour and courtesy to the other great men of the Part, to make them favourable unto him upon occasions. After this they advertise him of the day, when he shall be received to kiss his hand; It is usually upon a day of Dinan, when as the Sultan gives audience to his principal Officers: The Grand Vizir calls the Dinan or assembly of the Council he sends for all the Chaoux the M●feragat which are those of the light Horse, 〈◊〉 Spa● who are al●o of the Canallerie, the janissaries which are Footmen: All which with their Leaders have commandment to arm and attire themselves with as much state as may be, to be the Ambassador see with the curiosity of their A●, 〈…〉 his great Court. They come 〈…〉 (whereof we have formerly spoken) where all together make a body of stately troops. The Ambassador advertised of the hour appointed, parts from his lodging at Pera attired upon his own Clothes with a Robe after the Turkish manner of Cloth of Gold curled, and furred if the season require it with Sables: His Gentlemen and Secretaries are attired in the like Robes, but the stuff is not so rich, wearing on their heads caps of black Velvet like unto the Masters of the Accounts in France: He hath twenty servants attired in Robes of Scarlet, which the Turks call Ferrages: and upon them other long Robes of the same stuff, and on their heads caps of black Ta●fatae: The four Dragomans, or the King's Interpreters are of the number, the Captains, Masters of Ships, and other Frenchmen do accompany him. Being thus followed, he passeth the Channel of the Sea, which separates F●ra from Constantinople, being twice as broad, as the River of Seine is at Paris before the Louver: Being come unto the other shore, he finds many goodly horses for him and his followers, which the Turks that are friends to France, send him to carry him to the City. At the entry whereof he finds many Chambrand janissaries which attend him to conduct him to the Serrail: too Choux Basti one of either side of him, the other Turks go before: In this order he comes to the Imperial Palace, at the Gate whereof he finds two Capig●●asi● who 〈◊〉 him, and had him to the Grand Vi●r in the Hill of the 〈◊〉, (the day they dispatch little 〈…〉 against the Grand Vizir upon a form without 〈…〉 with Cloth of Gold. therefore a 〈…〉 or Dra●, they 〈…〉, until that the 〈…〉 has brought: The S● of the 〈…〉, where some other 〈…〉 and 〈…〉 the Cha● of Ac● 〈…〉. There is a Dragoman which 〈…〉 〈…〉 in a low Gallery, where a Table is prepared in this manner: A great Tapestry is laid upon the ground, and somedishes are set very thin and sparingly: Their Meats are Panado made with Sugar, and some broths with Pullet's, two men carrying as in a Scarf a certain vessel of boiled Leather, like unto a Bagipe, in the which they carry Sherbet, (the which is a Drink made of the juice of Citrons, water, and Sugar) They give to every one drink in his turn, in a Cup of Copper tinned, and they go betwixt the Dishes to serve them more commodiously. The Ambassador and his people having dined in this manner, he retires to a certain place near unto the Gate of the Sultan's Quarter, where they attend until the Officers of the Di●an have had Audience of their Master; after which they all retire, except such Bashaes' as remain about his person: Then the Master of the Ceremonies goes for the Ambassador, and brings him to the Emperor's lodging; The Capiaga assisted by many eunuchs receives them at the Gate, and conducts them into the Imperial Chamber, whose walls are within covered with great plates of Gold and Silver, enriched with stones and Pearl: At the entry thereofewer 〈◊〉 or Porters take him under the Arms, not to kiss the Emperor's hand, but his Robe. This unworthy custom to lead the Ambassadors of foreign Princes by the Arms, grows from the treachery of the Turks themselves. Baiazei the Second, son to him that took Constantinople going one day to a Monastery, he found in his way a Religious man of his Law of the order of the Deruis: This Monk of the Alcoran seeing the Emperor, ran towards him to execute his detestable design: coming near unto him he demands an Alms: and in saying his A●labithi, that is to say in the Name of God, he drew a Scimitar from under his ●obe of Felt, with the which Bajazet had been murdered, if his Horse in bounding had not received the greatest violence of the blow; yet he was hurt, and this wretched Parricide had already lifted up his arm to double the blow, if Bassa Scheuder had not suddenly beaten him down with his Bus●gutu, or Poll●. After which it was ordained, that whosoever should come to salute the Grand Seigneur, should be led under the Arms by Capigis; And this custom hath he carefully observed. We do not read that there was ever any stranger but suffered this Rigour, except an Ambassador of France, named Monsieur Novailles Bishop of Aix, who was sent to Selim the Second, by King Charles' the Ninth, to mediate some accommodation for the Venetians affairs: coming into the Chamber, when as the Capigis had laid hold of his Arm he scattered them with his Elbows, and spoke aloud, that the liberty of a Frenchman, and the dignity of a Bishop could not endure to be led like a slave: And so leaving the Sultan and those that were in the Chamber amazed, he went freely to his Reverence, and would not cast himself at his feet, as others do, but inclined a little to kiss his Robe.  
When the Ambassador had kissed the Sultan's Robe, who sits upon Cushions of Cloth of Gold curled, he retires backward with his face always towards the Prince, and plants himself against the wall of the Chamber, to give way to the Gentlemen of his Train, who go likewise to kiss his Robe: And then he presents the Letter which the King sends written in the Turkish Tongue. The Grand Seigneur answers nothing for the present; his Grand Vizir doth only speak some words to dismiss the Ambassador, who goes out of the Chamber having made a Reverence in bending down his head, but doth not uncover it. But you must observe that no man comes to kiss his Robe, unless he be attired in Robes after the Turkish manner, given him by the Sultan, the which is the Present of a Sovereign to a subject or slave: For this cause the Grand Vizir forgets not to send unto the Ambassador such Robes as are set down by the Ordinance of the Custom of the Empire, that is to say, two that are rich for the Ambassador's person, and one for either of his followers. Moreover every Ambassador must have a Present for the Grand Seigneur, the which he sees first before him thorough a Lattice window, whither he is carried by Capigis: There he busies himself to look on it, whilst the Ambassador and his Gentlemen do their Reverence; so as they can see but half his face. To this purpose a generous action performed by the said Monsieur Novailles Ambassador to Charles the Ninth is worthy to be related. Mahomet Grand Vizir to Selim the Second pressed him much not to forget a stately Present for his Sultan, and sent him word that if he had none ready he would furnish him. This Ambassador went, of purpose, to kiss his Robe without any Present. The Bassa reproached him, and imputed it to contempt that he had not given any. The Seigneur of Novailles made answer that the King his Master, who was the first and greatest Monarch of Christendom, hearing that Selim demanded it as a Tribute, had forbidden him to present any. Thus in giving none, he served his Master profitably and honourably; leaving among the Turks a great admiration of his generous dxteritie, and carried back into France the glory which those Ambassadors deserve, whom virtue and not favour have advanced to such Charges.  
Other Ambassadors of inferior Quality to a Royalty, receive Robes in like manner to go and salute him: But they enter not into the Serrail with so much Pomp, neither are they feasted, nor have so much familiarity with the Grand Vizir, yea, there are some which sit not in his presence. Thus the Turks can measure the honour which they do unto men, according to the Quality of the Princes which send them, whose persons the Ambassadors represent. They have long hands and portative eyes, to see into the Realms that are most remote to their Estates:  
The form which the Turkish monarchs use to swear a League or Alliance with any Foreign Prince, is no less specious than fraudulent; for most commonly they hold nothing that they promise, and their Oaths are as false as those of Lovers; thus they Court all the Estates of Europe. When as Marin Cabalus a Man doubly famous aswell for the lustre of his Birth as for knowledge, was at Constantinople Ambassador for the Venetian to renew the League with the Turk, Selim swore it in this manner: I swear and promise by the great God which hath created Heaven and Earth, by the souls of seventy Prophets, by mine own, and by that of my Ancestors, to observe with the Seigneurie of Venice, all the points and rights of the League and Friendship which hath been entertained to this day, and to hold them for sacred and inviolable, as they are declared by my Signature But he broke it suddenly; for jean Mique a Spanish jew, chased out of Spain by King Ferdinand, as a dangerous Spy, to Europe, who had run thorough all the Provinces, having related unto him that the Arsenal of Venice had been burnt, and that there was want of victuals in that State and Seigneurie, he persuaded him to the war of Cyprus, which he said did belong unto him as Sultan of Egypt, and King of Palestina, whereon Cyprus aswell as Rhodes depended, as Homagers. Selim undertook it without any other subject, and made himself Master thereof in short time, taking this Realm from the Venetians, who had kept it long: So to be a Turk and to keep his faith, are incompatible things.   

CHAP. IX. Of some Manual Works of the Turkish Emperors, and of the Religious custom which they observe, to live of the labour of their hands.  
THe Author of the Alcoran, hath decked the deformities of his Law, and covered the falsehoods thereof with some lustre of truth, to make them pass the better amongst his followers: Among the many Rules which he prescribes them, he enjoins them to labour and doth assure them that he is not worthy to live, that doth not labour with his hands▪ The people do not only observe it, but the respect of this precept is crept into the Imperial Throne of the Turks; The Sultan's embrace it, and of twenty Emperors which have swayed the Ottoman Sceptre, ye shall hardly find one which hath not laboured for his living. Mahomet the Second manured his Gardens, and of the revenue of the Fruits which were sold, he caused meat to be bought for his mouth. But as the actions of such men, how religious soever they be, have not true Charity for their Guide, they do easily incline to vice. This Prince added to his Manual labour so horrible a cruelty, as it was to be wished his hands had been idle. We have written in the History of his Empire, that visiting one day, (being followed by his Pages) the Squares of hi. Gardens which he did manure himself; one of the young Boys seeing hasty Cucumbers, gathered one and eat it: Mahomet returning that way found it wanting, his choler inflamed him to cruelty, he saw by the stalk that it was newly gathered, and he knew that he had no company but his Pages, and therefore some one of them had done the deed, the which he would know at what price soever: He calleth the Bastangies or gardiner's, puts sharp Knives into their hands, and commands them to open the stomaches of his Pages: They take them one by one and open fourteen, finding the Cowcumber not yet digested in the stomach of the fourteenth: Such was the rigour of this Prince, who for a light offence, caused fourteen of the goodliest young Boys (the flower and choice of all the youth of his Serrail) to be murdered. Solyman the Second, he which took Rhodes, spent his idle hours in making of Shoes, the which he sent to the Bazar or Market to sell, and with the money he caused victuals to be bought for his Table. Selim the Second who lost the battle of Lepantho, made little Crescents or half Moons, which the Turkish Pilgrims carry upon their staffs, when they goethe Voyage to Meque. Amurath his Son made Arrows, and others made little Knives, all which is sold at a dear rate, in regard of the grossness of the work: He thinks himself happy that can recover any for money. They ground this Custom of labouring for their living, not only upon the rules of their Alcoran, but also upon that passage of Genesis: 
In sudore vultus tui voscéris panem donec revertaris in terram de qua sumptu●es, quia puluises, & in pulu●em reuert●s, Gen. 3.19  Their Schoolmasters make them learn it by heart: In the sweat of thy brows thou shalt eat thy bread, until thou return to earth, whereon thou wert made. It is only in the time of peace; for in the time of war the Prince must live upon the charges of the people, for whose defence and increase he takes Arms. But in another season if the Sultan should employ the Money which he levies of his people in his delights, the Law and the custom of the Empire would hold it a crime. They call their Tax and Subsidy, Aaram Agemini Cani, that is to say, The prohibited blood of the people: And for that the labour of their hands cannot furnish the expenses of their diet to keep a Table worthy of their Quality, they add unto it the revenues of their Gardens, which in truth is great, and almost incredible. I have learned from some Turks, that they yield two hundred thousand Crowns a year rend: some others say a hundred thousand pounds sterling. Besides those which he hath in the Serrail, he hath along the Sea side, and towards the Arsenal, great Gardens which are very fruitful. Four Leagues from Constantinople, and further at Andrinopolis, and upon the side of Asia, at Scutary (where the City of Chalcedonia did sometimes stand) there are the goodliest Gardens in the East. The fruits which are gathered are sold at Constantinople, and elsewhere in so great abundance, as they furnish all the Country. The Bostangihassis or great Gardener, who is an Officer of the Crown: hath a care of this Revenue, causeth it to be brought to the Serrail, and the Sultan's hold it for their true Patrimony and Demesnes, wherewith they may feed themselves without any oppression.  
To these Manual works of the Turkish Emperors, we must add their Religious custom to plough the Land, when as they come from their Government to Constantinople to take possession of the Empire, they are bound to hold the Plough and to make some furrows. Amurath the Third Grandfather to Achmat observed it, after the decease of Se●● his Father, when as coming from Magnesia (where he was Governor) to go and take possession of his Sceptre, he met with an Husband man in the fields, where lighting from his horse he laid hold on the Plough, and made three or four furrows: After which he drew a handful of Gold out of his pocket, and gave it in charity to this Labourer: and withal he put off his Robe, which was of rich Cloth of Gold, furred with Sables, and gave it him. The Law which makes him to observe this Ceremony is mentioned in the Glosses of the Alcoran, in these terms: That the Emperor coming to the Empire and going to the Imperial City to take possession, he must manure the Land to banish sterility from his Country, and to make it fruitful. It is nothing the more for all this: For the Prince employing so great a number of his Subjects in his wars, much good Land lies waste, for want of men to till it. Thus do the Turkish Sultan's employ themselves, and yet they do not fly idleness, to the which they many times abandon themselves: We shall see something in the following Chapter.   

CHAP. X. Of the Grand Signior loves.  
AMong all the passions which rule the affections of Princes, Love (as the most powerful) triumphs more over great men, than all the rest together, for they obtain no victories, but to increase its glory: Covetousness heaps up to furnish the charges, Ambition aspires to make it great. So we see the most powerful Princes after they had subdued all other passions, were vanquished by Love.. Alexander laid the honour of so many victories in Persia at the feet of his Captive Roxana. Caesar being in Alexandria, submitted all his triumphs to the beauty of Cleopatra, who afterward was friend to Anthony. And the Turkish monarchs make subject unto the allurements of their Sultana's, the glory and lustre of that Sovereign power, whereby they are Masters of the best parts of the World. But behold how these singular beauties enter into their Serrail, and the bonds where with Love doth captivate their wills.  
After that the Rights of birth have brought a Turkish Prince to the Imperial Throne of his Ancestors, the women which his Predecessor did honour in the Serrail, are put forth, and conducted to a place called in their Language Eschy Saray, that is to say the old Serrail, as a man would say the old place: for Saray in the Persian Tongue, signifies a place or hostel: There they are shut up, until they be married to some great Men of the Port. In the mean time others must supply their room, to be new subjects of Love to the new Emperor. Then the Bashaes' which are at the Port, and others which represent the Sovereignty of their Master in remote Provinces, employ all their care to find out Virgins in the Levant or elsewhere, the rarest in beauty, and of the sweetest perfections of their sex; whether that the greatness ●f their treasurs force the necessity of miserable Mothers to deliver them for money, or that the chance of war hath made them Captives at the taking of some Town, and so fall into their hands: They cause them to be instructed after the Turkish manner in all gentile Qualities fit for their sex (if they be not already:) they learn to sing, to play of the Lute, and the Gittern, and to dance, & having had a special care for the keeping of their Virginity, they bring them to the Sultan, and present them unto him: The Prince's Mother, & his Sisters which are married labour in the same design, and make him the like presents: for the law of Polygamy or plurality of women, allowed by the Alcoran and received in Turkey, gives them leave to keep as many as they will, so as they be able to feed them. The Sultan doth recompense their care that bring them such gifts, with some rich present to buy (saith he) these Virgins which they bring, that they may be his slaves: But he will be soon fettered in their beauty. The Serrail of women being thus furnished, he passeth thither when he pleaseth, and is not seen by any man, by a door right against his Chamber, whereof he hath one Key, and the Chissar Aga or great Eunuch of the Sultana's another: He doth advertise the Cheyachadun, which is an ancient woman their Governess, to rank them in a Gallery, in the which he passeth and repasseth often, beholding their allurements or else he causeth them to dance in a round, in a goodly Hall, where he doth assist and place himself in the midst, like unto a Butterfly in the midst of many glistering fires, where heloseth himself: For feeling his heart suddenly inflamed by the eyes of some one of them, which pleaseth him best he casts her his handkerchief, for a sign that he is vanquished: she receives it with great demonstrations of humility, kisses it and lays it on her head; presently the Cheyachadun or Mother of the Maids, takes this fair slave, which comes to triumph over her Master's liberty, she leads her into a Chamber appointed for the sports of love, decks her with the goodliest Ornaments she can devose, perfumes her, and adds to her natural beauty the cunning of her Art: This is while the Sun shines; for imitating his course as well as his lustre, this fair Creature lies down as soon as this Planet sets: The Chadun conducts her into the same Chamber where the Sultan is lodged, lays her in the same Bed, where she enters by the feet for the greater reverence, and during the night season many old Moorish women watch and stand sentinel, one at the Beds feet, another in the midst of the Chamber, and a third at the door: They are relived every third hour by others of the same hue, until it be day: There is one stands at the Bed's head, with two Torches burning, and doth carefully observe on what side the Prince doth turn lest the light should offend his eyes. I have learned from a jew, a learned Physician which had served the Grand Seigneur, that the Chadun watcheth at the Beds feet, and doth sometimes speak some words to encourage they young Maid, giving her to understand that night would be the cause of her good fortune, and that she would attain to the dignity of a Princess. It is the custom in Turkey that on the Marriage night, an old woman doth assist in the Chamber of the married couple, and employs the experience of her time past, to encourage the and her Pension is 〈◊〉 sixteen Charges of Money.  
The rest of the Serrail which are yet Virgins, or have had the Prince's company but once, employ all their allurements to please him, and finding their cunning devices too feeble, they add the help of Charms and Sorcery, which they purchase at any 〈◊〉 whatsoever. But if any one of these women be delivered first of a Son, which is to succeed in the Empire, she is called Queen, the Grand Seigneur honours her with a Crown of precious stones; he causeth a cloth of Estate to be carried into her Chamber of Presence, enlargeth her Lodging, and gives her a Family sin for a Queen, on Empress of Turkey: She hath a sufficient Revenue to supply her necessities and her bounties. If she be delivered of a Daughter, they send her a Nurse, three thousand Sequins and Slaves to serve her, the honour is the less; but the joy which she concerneth (if there be Male Children formerly borne) is incomparable, for she is assured that the young Princess shall be bred up with her, and that she shall be one day married to a Grand Vizir, or to some other Bassa of the most powerful in the Empire, who will 〈◊〉, and fill her old age 〈…〉 if she had been delivered of a younger Son, he should be taken from her at the age of twelve years or thereabouts, and put into the hands of Schoolmasters to instruct him, where she might not se● 〈…〉 four times in the year●, and in the end he should be 〈…〉 ●o the saf● of 〈◊〉 elder Brothers Reign, and soon strangled by M●. This is that which makes them desireth have Daughters, w● is already a Son 〈◊〉.  
All these woman although they 〈…〉 the true Successors of the 〈◊〉, yet they are but the Emperour● Concubities; he 〈◊〉 marries any, unless be wonderfully surprised with 〈…〉, which hath first brought him a 〈◊〉, then be follows the blind motions of his passion. And doubelesse when as love makes him to feel in this sort the r●our of his 〈…〉 Tyrant should 〈…〉 for if the one doth captives that 〈◊〉, the other torments one to the succession of the Empire, brings him to ruin, and makes him to end his days miserably by the Sword. Solyman hath been the only Prince since 〈◊〉 the First unto this day, whereof there hath been fifteen Emperors, & twenty in all, by a direct succession from Father to Son, which hath married a Wife, Amurath the Third his Grandchild being charmed with the beauty of Asachi, being informed of the practices of Rovilana in the Serrail by the power of her enfranchisement, and the authority of the Prince's Wife, refused the Letters of Sabyn although he had had fourteen children by her, and loved her above all his Women. Yet they say that Osman which died last, had married the Daughter of the Mufti of Constantinople.  
But the History of the extraordinary Marriage of the Turkish Prince, hath made us abandon the relation of his loves with his Concubines: But let us return and follow him into his Garden, where he is in the midst of his 〈◊〉 love embracements. It is dangerous to see him: but no fear of danger should deter us from serving of the public. He goes 〈◊〉 out of his 〈…〉 go and daily with his women in 〈…〉 Eunuch's which 〈◊〉 the Women, are the only 〈◊〉 which accompany him, all the 〈…〉 they ca●. The 〈…〉 to worth the Sea, 〈…〉 Master. For if there should 〈…〉 Serrail, that should 〈…〉 when they walk with the 〈…〉 Thus the 〈…〉. Thus the 〈…〉 that they 〈…〉 is 〈…〉 which he observes against those which would see him, forbids to reveal the secret: Only we know that in the effeminate delights wherewith the women charm him, he is pleased with the ridiculous encounters of his jesters and dwarfs, and shows that Love is an entertainment of Men that are Birds. 
Diogenes speaks it in Laertius, lib. 6.   
A curious person which hath had authority in the Levant, informed me that in these places there many times happens light riots of Love betwixt the Sultan and his Women: He understood it from a black Eunuch of the women's Serrail: and he told him that if the jealousy of these fair creatures did raise them, they were suppressed by the discretion of the Chadun, 

Amantiumirae amor● redi●tegratio est, Terent.  
Que modo pugnarunt iungunt suar●stra culumbae; Quarum blandittas, verbaque, murmur habes, Ovid. 2. de Art.   which is their old Governess, and by her humility which is interessed in the Quarrel. Thus the giddy Quarrels of Lovers, are the winds which kindle and inflame their foolish passion. And the Pigeons bills, which were the arms of their choler, are the sweet instruments of their love.  
That which we have formerly written of the entertainment of the Turkish Prince with his women, is not the most unblamable of his affections. The greatness of his power, which makes all men's wills obey him, and the contagious example of his Courtiers, carries him to the detestable excess of an unnatural passion. He burns many times for the love of men, and the youngest Boys which are in the Levant, the flower of beauty and the allurement of graces, are destinated to the filthiness of his abominable pleasures. The Bashaes' bring them from remote Provinces, and present them unto him. This disorder is so inveterate in the Serrail, as of twenty Emperors which have carried the Turkish Sceptre, you shall hardly find two that were free from this vice. Achmat the last which died, abandoned it a little before his death, by the wise advice of the M●f●, and his Son Amurath the Fourth who reigns at this present 1626. is yet so young, as be may be easily diverted from this excess, and framed to virtue, eschewing the Rocks, where his Predecessors have suffered shipwreck. What doth it avail such great and redoubted Monarches to be the glorious vanquishers of so many Nations if they themselves be captives to vices? 

Terrena potest●● vult esse victrix gentium, cum sit captiva vitiorum, D. Aug. lib. 15. de civet. Dei, c. 8.  
Sidelect amini in sedibus & sceptris, ● Rege● populi, diligite sapientiam, Salome. sap. 6.   The Prince is the Physician of the State; but how can he cure it if he himself be sick? He is the heart; but what means is there to give it life, if it hath weakness and faintings: He is the eye, and how can he see and lead others, if it be troubled and darkened with passions? Every Prince that loves his Throne, his Sceptre, and his Estate, must fly vice and cherish wisdom: For a wise Prince is the assurance of those, and the support of his people.   

CHAP. XI. Of the Grand Signior Women, of their Lodging, their Lives, their Government, and their Fortune.  
THe precedent Chapter hath related the fire of the Grand Signior loves, this will show you in particular the manners and life of all those which cause it. Fair women are to unstaid spirits, flames which burn a far off. Those of the Serrail which make the greatest show by the lustee of their graces are most commonly strangers taken in the war, or ravished by force: But bred up with an incredible care, to make them learn Civility, to play of some Instruments of Music, to Sing, and to work with their Needles, most decent for Maids of Quality: These good parts added to their natural perfection, make them the more commendable: They are for the most part Christians; but their disaster causing the beauty of their bodies to serve the dishonest pleasures of Turks, prostitute their souls to the false worship of their Law. They are no sooner come into the Serrail, whither some Bassa sends them as a Present to the Sultan, and sometimes the great Cham of Tartary, but they cause them to make profession of the Turkish Faith, by lifting up the second finger of the hand, in sign that they believe but one God only in one only Person, and they speak this word Mehemet: There are old women which have the charge to instruct them in the rest of the Turkish belief: And thus the Prince's Serrail is furnished with women.  
They are of two sorts, the one have had his company and are women, and the others are yet Virgins. The women lodge a part and more a● large, they are better served, and have greater liberty in the royal Palace. The Virgins eat by troops in the common resectory, they retire by day into Chambers, under the guard and government of old women, who govern them by ten, to labour in some works; and in the night they lie like religious women (but not very chaste) in long Dorters, where their Beds are made of soft Mattresses and coverings (for the Women in Turkey as well as the Men lie clothed) and are ranked of either side; there is a passage in the midst and many Lamps burning in the night time: And every ten Maids have one of the Governesses lie by them. They which know not the Turkish Tongue, go to learn it in Schools appointed to that end in the same Serrail. These see not the Prince but when they first arrive, and converse not with him, but when he will make use of them. They are furnished with all things necessary for their Entertainment with that abundance which is found continually in the Sultan's Serrail.  
The eunuchs which bring them their meat observe the same order which we have described in the Sultan's service. But the Queen (who is Mother to the Prince, Successor to the Empire, is served in her Quarter (where she is stately lodged) by her own Officers: Her vessel is not of Gold like the Emperors, but of excellent porcelain artificially wrought: In her Lodging are the most sumptous Feasts of the women's Serrail, where as many Sultana's meet, to show themselves 〈◊〉 the Emperor, who is of the Party, to giu● the disordered appetites of all his senses in their company. There he● makes a dangerous trial, that Beauty wounds deeper than a Dare, and the respect which all these women yield him, carrying themselves towards him with a singular Modesty, 
Secundus Philosophus interrogatus, Quid esset mulier malae, respondit, viri naufragium, demus tempestas, quietis impedimentum, vitae captivitas, quetidianum malum, voluntaria pugna, sumptuosum bellum, bellua conviva leana complectens, exornata scylla, animal malitiesum, malum necessarium, Max. Severus.  and a sweet pleasing, exempts him from making that troublesome experience: that a bad Wife is the shipwreck of her Husband, the tempest of the House, a trouble-rest, a slavery of Life, a Quotidian Evil, a voluntary Combat, a Chargeable war, a Savage Beast which we nourish, a Lioness we embrace, a Rock adorned, a malicious Beast, and finally necessary Evil.  
The Ladies, the Subjects of the Sultan's delights, live deliciously near unto him: Their Serrail contains so great a space, as there are within it four and twenty great Courts, most of them paved with polished Marble, beautified with their Fountains, environed with stones and baths, very commodiously, where these Nymphs wash themselves, and plunge their fires, but do not quench them. A stately Mosque serves in the same place for the exercise of their devotion. The number of the Chambers and goodly Halls are fourscore, adorned with precious movables, the Planchers are gilded, the walls are painted in flowers of rare Art: The floor is covered with rich Persian Carpets of Gold and Silk, with a great number of Cushions of Tinsel, the Bedsteeds are of ivory, or of Aloes wood, and of great pieces of Coral, whereof one of them cost in the time of Amurath the Second ninety thousand Sultanins, 
36. thousand pounds sterling.  or three hundred and sixty thousand Livers; They are garnished with rich stuffs of Cloth of Gold. The Gardens in great number are the places where as Nature assisted by Art, sets forth the beauties of the Spring: The Bird-cages and Fountains adorn them, and the Alleys by their shadows defends the beauties of the Sultana's from the heat of the Sun. Seeing that in this stately Palace the most powerful monarchs of the Earth serve the beauties of these Sultana's, it is fitting that others should serve their persons: So they have many women that do that office: Some are Moors, others are white. But the Men that serve them are black eunuchs, from whom they have taken all: They were only mutilated of the inferior parts which serve for generation. But Solyman the Second, who ended his Reign, when as Charles the Ninth governed France, seeing a Gelding leap upon a Mare, he judged thereby that the eunuchs which kept his women might busy their lascivious passions, and then he caused all to be cut off; the which hath continued ever since. These eunuchs are all black, to distinguish them from those of the Sultan's Serrail: and their perfection consists in their deformity, for the most hideous are the fairest: For being near unto those beauties so perfectly accomplished, they serve for a lustre. They bring them from the Grand Cairo, the chief City of Egypt, instructed to serve in this Court, by the care of the Bassa who is Viceroy there: If they be not, there are Men in the Serrail appointed to teach them what they should know: From this School they pass unto the Ladies, they give them names fitter for their handsomeness than for their Moorish deformity. For to some Boys which have flat Noses, wide Mouths, thick Lips, Eyes almost out of their heads, great Ears, their Hair curled like Wool, and their Face fearfully black, so as there is no white to be seen but their Eyes, and Teeth: They call them Hycinthe, Narcissus, Rose and Gilliflowre. Doubtless such flowers are soon withered and unable to fructify. They assign them a hundred Aspres by the day (an Aspre is about a penny of our sterling Money) two Robes of Silk, a piece of linen cloth, and some other thing for their meaner necessities: They are under the obedience of an old wretched Eunuch, black like themselves, who is their Commander, called Chissar Agassi, that is to say, the chief of the Virgins: He is, as it were, the Chief and Superintendent of this Palace of Women, speaks when he pleaseth to the Emperors, and hath most commonly a share in the favours of the Court: For the Prince being inclined to Women, he is the Mercury of his affections: the other inferior black eunuchs pass many times to the Grand Seignours Serrail, to carry the secrets of the Sultana's in some note to the Capiaga, who presents it to the Emperor: Their Office honours them with this privilege, above the white eunuchs which serve the Prince, who never enter into the Woman's lodging, neither do they see them. The black go not out of the Serrail, without the leave of the Sultana Queen, Mother to the eldest of the Sultan's Children In other places they would make some difficulty to give unto Queens, yea, to women of an inferior condition, Moors to serve them, for fear that coming to conceive, their imagination should make an impression in their Children, of the complexion and form of such Grooms: But the Turks do not insist upon that. And I have never heard that any Sultana hath been delivered of a Moor, although I know this may be done: Histories furnish us with examples of such accidents, women have borne children like unto the pictures which were in their chambers. There are five hundred of these black Men, from the age of twelve years to five and twenty, and at the most thirty, The women are usually three hundred or thereabouts, aswell of the Sultana's as of those that serve them: To tell the number of the Sultana's directly, it is difficult: For they daily present Maidens unto the Grand Seigneur, who seeing his Palace sufficiently furnished, sends them to the old Serrail. The women slaves which serve them have five or six Aspres by day, two Robes of Serge, and one of Silk yearly, a piece of fine Cloth of twenty els or more, and many gifts from the Sultana's their Mistresses, who reward their fidelity and diligence with many Presents of Money and other things: For they abound in all sorts of Presents, as Bedkins se● with precious Stones, Earring, jewels, Plumes of Feathers, Cloth of Gold, rich Furtes, and other Movables which the King sends the more willingly for that they cost him nothing. The Bashaes' at the return from their governments present him. The Ambassadors of the Prince of Tartary, & other Sovereigns in Asia, bring unto him and fill his Wardrobe with rich diversity of Presents. But above all things these Lady's love to make provision of Money; for their beauty doth not hinder them to participants with the defects of their Sex, 
Mulierum genus est avarum, Cic. Rhet. li. 1.  which is subect to Avarice.  
This is the cause why they draw into their Serrail, some cunning female jew, with the Emperor's permission, whom they give to understand that it is to teach them new works with the Needle, or to make trial of some excellent Receipts in Physic for the cure of their infirmities, or the preservation of their healths: Thus the jew being entered into the Serrail, she gains affection of the Eunuch which commands at the Gate, in giving him Money and other rich Commodities, and in a short time she goes the love of the Sultana's; yea, she hath a transcendent power over their wills, bringing unto them from abroad whatsoever they desire to buy, and receiving from them what they are willing to sell. This trade is kept secret; for the Sultan would not take it well that they should sell that which he gives them. But these women desirous to make provision of Money, which hath always been the most precious of their Movables, to the end that if their Sovereign dye●, being conducted to the old Serrail, they may get forth in being married to some great men of the Port: The which is easy to effect in gaining the friendship of the Chadun their Governess by great gifts: They give unto this jew rich Diamonds, great round Pearls, great Turquoises, and most precious jewels for a base price: For they which have no conversation out of the Serrail, know not the worth of things, and part with them as it pleaseth the jew: she sells them to strangers, and buys such things as she brings unto the Ladies at a dear rate: So as the great wealth which they enjoy in a short time, 
Maze parta, mase dilabuntur, vetus poeta.  doth show that they frequent the Serrail of women: But goods evil gotten are many times wasted in the same manner. The jew is sometimes stripped, and for a punishment of her frauds, leaves her life coming out of the Serrail. The Bashaes' advertised of this deceitful trade, caused it to cease, and the Tefterdars or Treasurers, when their Coffers are empty, seek to fill them with the gain of these Brokers.  
If the Emperor be a child, and that his Mother hath any part in the administration of affairs, the traffic of these jewish women mounts higher, and from precious Stones they pass to the Offices of State: They which affect them rather by the power of their purse, then by the merit of their virtue address themselves unto them, and their affections being bought they do easily purchase the favour of the Sultana Mother: we have observed a famous example in the seventeenth Book of our Turkish History which will not be unfitting to make a brief description, for the commodity of such as have not that first Volume.  
Cheira Chaduna jewish woman being crept into the Serrail of women, by the means which we have mentioned, enjoyed the friendship of the Sultana Queen by the cunning of her indusirious trade, and the sweetness of her pleasing humour: Soon after Mahomet the Third left his life in his Serrail, and his Sceptre to Achmat his eldest Son, being about fourteen or firteene years old: The Sultana Vulida or the Sultan Mother, if called by her Son to assist in the Government of the State. Cheira was in favour with this Princess, who in short time purchased him that of the Emperor: For this Prince falling sick of the small Poxs', the jew did visit him with his Mother, attended him in his Bed, is she was cunning and endued with a good wit, she did ease the importunities of his Fever by telling of pleasant tales, and sometimes repaired his forces with a little wine, which shoe brought out of the City, and made him to drink contrary to the prohibition of his Law: The Sultan recovered his health; he remembers the jews good services, and gives her no less share in his affection, than she had in his Mothers: Thus she grows doubly powerful, and she deals no more in selling the goodly trash of the women's Serrail: The most eminent dignities of the Empire are her Traffic. The great Vizard buys the Scales at her hands, and the Dignity of Lieutenant General of the Turkish Empire. The Mufti mounts to that supreme Ecclesiastical Dignity by her means; and the other great Men of Port follow in the current of their Portunes the wind of her desires: Money and the jew do call things in Constantinople: And he which before durst not think of Offers in 〈◊〉 to admire them, doth now enjoy them by these two means: Avarice calls all disorders into the State, and leaves valour, and the rare virtues of Men of merit to contempt, if they were not furnished with Money: And the Prince did not only suffer them, but commanded it. for that the jew said it must be so. This must not continue long, and the Qualities of Cheira being of the Nature of those of the Court are found passable and perishable. The janissaries who are the force of Constantinople, and many times the violent reformers of the Turkish State, deal in it, and to this insupportable mischief they bring the rigour of their remedy: They go to the Serrail in arms, demand the jew, and they refuse her, they threaten to break the Gates, and to drag her, with many others, into the midst of the place, to revenge upon them the disorders of the State: They were ready to execute their words by effect, when as of many Mischiefs they made choice of the least, and thrust the jew out of the Serrail, to the mercy of their rage: There were none grieved in the Serrail, Novelties are pleasing, when they happen they love them, and Envy swims in joy and pleasure when as they see any Favourite fall. And what could they do in this case? What meines were there to calm the spirits of Men that are armed, and the force of the Empire, who at that time did not acknowledge any other Master but their passion? Moreover, the people followed their motion, and demanded justice of this Horseleeth who sucked all, swallowed all, and ledt other to suffer: Thus they abandoned her to force and to the rigour of the Sword. An example which tells us that the favour of the Court which doth not advance any to dignity but such as are incapable, which contemns virtuous Men, and builds the continuance of his fortune in the heaping up of perishing wealth, runs headlong to his own ruin, and makes himself fat to be an oblation which they will offer up upon the first sedition. The janissaries take Chiera, they strip her, whip her, and put a burning Candle into her privy 〈◊〉, and so drag, her laid all along thorew the City of Constantinople, to serve for a spectable unto the people: In the end they tear her in pieces, and nail the principal parts of her body, to the Gates of the greatest Officers of the Empire: That of the Mustice High Priest of their Law, had the head with this writing. Behold the hand which hath sold thee thy Office, & the favours of the Port: The Head was set upon the Grand Viziers Gate, & these words underneath it. This is the head which hath given thee counsel to the prejudice of the State. They did hand her Tongue at the House of the Cadi or chief judge of Constantinople, with this reproach in writing: Receive the tongue which hath taught thee injustice. Thus in the year 1604. ended the jew which practised in the Serrail of women: & the rest have as bad an end: if not so exemplary, which is for that they attain not to the like favour.  
This is the success of the jews covetousness which frequent the Sultanes Serrail: But none of them enter, 
The exact guard of the women.  before the Eunuch of the Gate unuailes her, and sees what she is; lest that some man under the habit and trade of such Brokers, should enter into this Palace, to make traffic of his amorous passion. The order which they observe in guarding these fair creatures is exact: They do not only search the women which enter, and the eunuchs at their return from the City: But moreover they have a care of beasts: They will not allow the Sultanaes' to keep any Apes, nor Dogs of any stature. Fruits are sent unto them with Circumspection: If their Appetites demand any Pompions which are somewhat long, or Cucumbers, and such other fruits they cut them at the Gate in slices, not suffering to pass among them any slight occasion of doing evil. so bad an opinion they have of their continency. It is (without doubt) a sign of the Turks violent jealousy: for who can in the like case hinder a vicious woman from doing evil? She is too industrious in her Designs; and he which had his body covered with eyes always watching was deceived. In the meantime if any woman in the Serrail be discovered in the effects of her lasciviousness, the Law long since established for them by the Sultan, condemns her to die, 
Their punishment.  the wh● executed without remission: she is put into a Sack, and in the night cast into the Sea, where she doth quench her flames with her life. This severe punishment doth follow the enormity of their Crimes: for less faults they suffer lighter correction: Their Superiors beat them, and if they continue obstinate, the Sultan causeth them to be put out of his Palace, and sends them to the old Serrail. At their departure the Cheira Chadun strips them of their goodliest commodities, and adds to their misfortune the loss of their most precious things, and most necessary for the comfort of their lives in that sad and troublesome abode.  
The others which enjoy a better fortune in the Royal Palace, 
Their diseases. Forma bonum fragile est, quantumque acce●t ad annos, Fit minor & spacie carpitur illa suo, Ouid. de Art. lib. 2.  do sometimes try that beauty is a frail good; The violence of an infirmity, and the burning of a Fever makes the Roses which adorn their Cheeks to vade, and the Lilies of their countenances to wither. When there is question to seek for remedy for their diseases, they labour after an extraordinary manner. If the sick person be none of the Sultana's, whom the Emperor doth most affect, the old women which govern them, go down unto the Apothecary's shop without the inner Gate of the Serrail, and showing the Physician her Urine, she relates the estate of the sick person. He prescribes without seeing her, upon the report that is made, so as many die for want of help. But if the Queen who hath given a Successor to the Empire, or some other whom the Sultan loves with passion, falls sick, they advertise the Lachin Bassi, which is the chief Physician, who having obtained leave from the Prince to go and visit her, he enters into the women's Serrail, where the eunuchs receive him, for all the women retire at his coming. They lead him into the Chamber of the sick party, who hath her face covered with her coverings, for they use no Linen, to the end the Physician should not see her; she hath her arm only out of the Bed, covered with fine Cypress, upon the which he feels her pulse, and knows the Quality of the Fever, but it is not lawful for him to speak, whilst he is before the sick person. After this he retires ●ard for that he may not turn his back towards her: ●medies which he doth prescribe are most commonly so●us potions, all other Physic is in a manner neglected in that Court: For the Turks believe that from the day of their birth, the time and continuance of their lives is written upon their foreheads, by an inevitable destiny, which no kind of Physic can change.  
If it were neccessary for the sick person to change the air, 
Theit going out of the Serrail.  this remedy would be very difficult. For the women never go out of the Serrail, but in the Sultan's company, and they go to no other places but to the old Serrail, and to his houses of pleasure, and are not seen by any Man: The black eunuchs which guard them, help them into their Coaches, which they shut up close before they go out of the Serrail: The streets of Constantinople by the which they are to pass, are made clean and hanged with cloth, to the end that no man should violate by his looks the absolute content which the Prince hath of these goodly creatures: who seem to be only borne for him: He alone doth see them, he alone doth converse with them, and he only doth enjoy them. But seeing the relation of the life of the women of this great Serrail, hath brought us to the Gates of the old Serrail, let us enter into it, and finish the History of their Fortune.  
This Imperial Palace was sometimes the stately design of Sultan Mahomet the Second, 
The old Serrail  whom the Turks call Conqueror, who after he had taken Constantinople, caused it to be built for his Mansion, in that part of the City, which his Architects did hold to be the most beautiful and the most commodious. It is spacious enough to lodge a great Prince, with all the Officers of his House. It's circuit contains above half a French League or a good English mile, the walls are high and strong, there is but one Gate guarded by a Company of white eunuchs, by the which no man enters but the Emperor: If the necessity of his house draws him thither, they cause the women to retire into a private place until that he be gone. It hath aswell as other Royal houses beautifyings and commodities; delightful Gardens, pleasing Fountains, commodious Baths, and a Moschee for their devotions. The three strange Harbingers, but all three allied, have lodged many fair women in it, that it to say, Death, Inconstancy, and Contempt: Death hath sent a great number thither, when she hath taken away the Prince, which cherish their beauties; and amongst those are the Sultana's. Mothers to the Prince's Children, his Daughters and his Sisters, and the Monarch's Aunts which is newly seated in the Throne of his Predecessor. Inconstancy; when as the Sultan wearied with the lascivious embracements of the women which have been the Idol of his affections suffered himself to be persuaded to a new Love, that they have abused his favours, and that they have made themselves unworthy to continue in his Palace. Contempt, when as some of these Virgins which are presented unto him, have not in his judgement, allurements sufficient to captivate him: Or when as years (an Enemy to beauty) doth blemish them with wrinkles, and doth ravish the honour of their delicate complexions, and the glory of their countenances. These unfortunate Ladies which have been that which they are no more, have no other consolation, in this kind of exile but the hope to be married to some Bassa, or some other great Man of the Port, at the least such as had no children by the Sultan: For the condition of others which are Mothers binds them to a perpetual widowhood, yet they may easily attain unto it if the Sultan gives way, if the Chadun or Governess be pleased, and if they have money: Of this last the other two depends, by it they gain the Chadun, and she persuades the Prince that they are worthy: Thus Gold may do any thing in all places, and the dares which love employs in such places, have golden heads. This is the reason why they gather together all the Money they can, partly by the sparing of their Pensions, and partly by the sale of their most rich Commodities brought from the other Serrail in secret, and without the privity of the Governess, who strips them at their going forth (but unjustly) of the pearls, precious stones and other rich gifts, which their graces have in their season deserved from the Prince's bounty: This fevere old woman restores them to the Sultan, but most commonly she keeps a share to herself. A strange alteration of humane things, they which formerly had possessed the Empire in Mastering its monarchs, suffer the disgrace to be shut out of his Palace, and to lose their movables: They which are more politic, which have foreseen their putting out, and have secretly conveyed their richest stuff, they have the advantage to be rich: They win the Lady which commands them, and by eunuchs let the Bashaes', understand the number of their Sultanins & wealth: These without any further bruit demand them in Marriage, and promise the Prince to make them a rich Dowry. Others which by their fruitfulness are deprived of this search, live in stately Lodgings in this Palace, with abundance of all sorts of commodity for life, with the which they enjoy the Qualities of Sultanaes' and Queen's: But those which have had Fortune adverse unto them, wh●ch hath deprived them both of the favour of the Court & of their goods, live in care with a small allowance in this Serrail, and if they can make any delicate Works, they have the gain by the Traffic of the jews which visit them, and therewith they do in some sort case their discommodities.  
In this old Serrail there is a quarter where as no body lodgeth, royally furnished, and reserved for the Prince when he goes to visit his Kinswomen, or practiseth the commerce of his Loves. Carrying with him close Coaches full of his fair Sultana's, as we have said elsewhere, with whom he spends the best of his days, and abandons all noble exercises, more worthy of a Prince, to enjoy their charming company. Thus these women detain him, possess him, and divert him from virtue. In this sense an Ancient had reason to say, 
Cato Vticens●s in Plutarch.  That if the World were without Women, Men should converse with the Gods. This must be understood of vicious women, and not of those that love virtue, the which is to be esteemed and embraced in what subject soever it be found.   

Chap. XII. Of the Grand Signior Sisters, and his other Kinswomen, and of the Marriages of his Daughters.  
THe Turkish Emperors Sisters lodge and live in the old Serrail; their Quarters are distinct from the other women, furnished according to their Qualities: Pleasures and continual delights, are their ordinary entertainment: In the which they attend until the Sultan gives them in Marriage to some of his great Bashaes'. When that happens they go out of that place with their rich Stuff, their Coffers full of jewels, and their slaves to serve them, to the number of fifty or threescore, besides those which their Husbands add unto them, who are bound to furnish them with a train fit for their Qualities, 
Two hundred thousand pounds sterling.  and to make them a rich Dowry (according to the custom of the Turks where the Men endow their Wives) at the least with five hundred thousand Sultanins, which are two Millions of Livers, with the great expenses he makes in presents of precious stones. The Prince their Brother continues the same pensions they formerly had, and augments them thirty six charges of money yearly, to buy them Pattens (saith the custom of the Empire) the Husbands which marry such wives, verify this truth to their loss, that a great inequality in Marriage doth many times breed a contempt; the authority of the House falls then unto the Distaff; they command them, they call them their slaves, they do them good or harm, according to the satisfaction they received from them, and when the 〈◊〉 gives way, they repudiate them to take others better to their liking, and many times make them to lose their lives: So for a sign of the insolency of their power over their Husbands, they wear at their sides a Cartar, which is a little Poniard enriched with precious stones. If the Marriage continue equally to the death of the one or the other; the husband must arm his spirit with an extraordinary patience, to endure the imperfections of a wife, who knows that all things are lawful for her, and who is not restrained by the love of any virtue, within the bounds of a commandable Modesty. The Bashaes' avoid as much as they can the vexations of this Royal Alliance, which is bought by their servitude, entertained with great charges, and many times ends with their blood: They seldom embrace it if the Prince's commandment do not force them. Such women have liberty by the favour of the Sultan their brother, to go when they please unto the Serrail of Sultanan's, and to visit him in like manner.  
The Grand Signior Aunts and his other Kinswomen live also in the old Serrail, with a train fit for their conditions: The Prince's Mother is in like manner lodged there, she is often visited by her Son, he honours her, and supplies her with all the things she can desire: she hath leave to go to the Imperial Serrail to see him when she pleases; and if he falls sick, she parts not from his Bed's side, where as natural love makes her employ all her care for the recovery of his health. The Princesses, Daughters to the Sultan are bred up near their Mothers, until they be married to such great Men of his Court as shall please him, so as he be a Renegado, or taken out of the Children of the Tribute which they levy upon the Christians, or some other which hath abandoned the Law of jesus Christ to follow that of Mahomet. These Marriages are made when as these Royal Daughters have attained the age of eighteen years, with a magnificence and pomp worthy of the Orthoman House. The thirtieth of june 1612, was famous for the like Solemnity, when as the Emperor Achmat gave his eldest Daughter to Mahomet Bassa Captain of the Sea: It is here briefly described according unto the order which was then in Constantinople.  
The day before the Consummation of this Marriage, the Movables and jewels of the Spouse (which we call the truss or bundle) were carried from the Serrail to the Bridegroom's Lodging: Before it, marched five hundred janissaries on foot, of the Gallantest Men in all their Regiment. The high Provost of Constantinople, and the Grand Vizir follow on horsebace, in rich Robes of Cloth of Gold. The Aga or Colonel of the janissaries came alone after them upon a Turkish Horse of great price: Two hundred Men of Quality mounted and stately attired, followed with a gentle pace; the Talismans', Alfaquis, Santons, Emirs, Seriphes', and other men of Mahomet's Clergy marched after with the puffed up gravity of their condition. About five and twenty paces off, came Ameth Bassa Taftardar, or high Treasurer, chosen by the Emperor to be Sag●, or Father to the Bride, in rich Robes mounted upon a Horse with a royal Caparison, having about him twelve Foot men, he conducted these precious Movables, or this Royal bundle, which had in the head of it Music on horseback of Hobbies and Drums after the Turkish manner: It was distinguished into seven and twenty Presents, diversely carried by seven and twenty Men.  
The first was a little Hat of Massive Gold covered with rich stones. The second was a pair of Pattens after the Turkish manner also of pure Gold, enriched with Turquoises and Rubies. The third a Book of Mahomet's Law, the covering whereof was of massive Gold set with Diamonds. The fourth unto the sixth was three pair of Bracelets of Gold and precious stones. The seventh and eighth two great Bodkins of Diamonds. The ninth a little Cofer of Crystal of the Rock, with the corners of Gold half a yard high, and half as broad, 
Fourscore thousand pounds sterling.  in the which were seen great Diamonds, and huge Pearls of the value of eight hundred thousand Livers. The tenth unto the fifteenth, were six Smocks embroidered with Gold and stones. The sixteenth to the one and twentieth, were six head-bands for her forehead of the same stuff and as rich The two and twentieth unto the seven and twentieth, were six stately Robes of Cloth of Gold, richly set with Pearls and Diamonds.  
After these Presents followed eleven Chariots full of young Virgin's slaves to serve the Bride; they were covered and close, and either of them accompanied or rather guarded by two black eunuchs: Twenty other Virgins slaves followed on horseback, and so many black eunuchs richly attired and mounted in like manner accompanied them. After all this marched a hundred and forty Moils laden with Tapestry hangings of Cloth of Gold, of Satin, of Velvet, with the ground of Gold, and a great number of Cushions of Velvet and of Cloth of Gold, which are the Chairs of the Turkish Ladies, with great store of other rich and sumptuous Movables. All these things made the Spouses Bundle, given by the Emperor her Father: Not comprehending the Presents and Movables which the Bridegroom gave her.  
The next day which was the day of the marriage, this Princess was conducted to her husband's lodging, with no less pomp and state than her movables. The jannizaries made the front of this royal convoy: The great Prevost and the great Surveyor followed as before. The Emirs or Cerafes, which are the cursed remainders of the race of Mahomet the Impostor, and only carry among the Turks a 〈◊〉 Turban (the mark of their sottishness, and of the 〈◊〉 of their predecessor) came after with a grave march of their vain holiness; The Priests, Santons, Talismans', and about two hundred scholars in the Alcoran divinity, came after. The Viziers or chief judges of Turkey, showed themselves in this pomp, and before the Grand Vizir who came in his rank, having on his left hand (which is the most honour a 〈◊〉 Turkey) the Mufti, or high Priests of the Law, thirty men on horseback with Drums and hobois made the music after the Turkish manner; seven or eight Egyptians showing of a pish tricks following them, made it known that foolery had a rank in the greatness of the World: forty Musicians marched two and two playing on Lutes, Harps, and Gitterns; A fool muffled with a Cap and a Cloak covered with sheep's bones, and held for a Saint by the Turks (for folly is esteemed in the Court and is reverenced for holy) danced alone, and showed tricks. Fifty of the principal Officer of the Arsenal well attired did honour this Solemnity, or rather were honoured. Thirty men followed them with Hammers and other instruments to break down the houses which advanced too far upon the street and might hinder the passage of two great trees of a wonderful height, laden with diverse sorts of fruits, wherein Art did imitate nature; They were carried by many men, and supported in the midst by many Ropes; under the shadow of these trees marched twenty Officers of the Testarder or Treasurer A●●● Bassa Sagon of Father to the Bride; He himself came after richly attired and royally mourned. Two great touches light carried by many slaven followed him A●her Torch of a wonderful great proportion, burning likewise was carried a part; It was covered with places of Gould. A man would say in seeing it, that this precious Metal had been moulded into a Torch, and kindled by a new stone, to give light in this Celebritis as well to the eyes of the body, as it did devil, yea, blind those of the mind. Moreover, this Torch was more glistering with precious stones, then with the flame which burn it. The Raisser Ag● with ●●tie of the Princess' Officers followed these stately Light●. After these, there was carried a great Canopy of Cri●●●n Velvet, where no man was, covered. Another came after richer than the first, all covered with plates of pure gold, with great Curtains like unto a bad hanging down to the ground, and close of all sides: Under it the young Princess was on her back, being the only subject of this joy: Some of her black eunuchs were about her: her Coach covered with Cloth of Gold, drawn by four goodly white horses followed 〈◊〉: Eight other Caroaches came after this, in ●he which were set among the black eunuchs many fair Virgins belonging to the Bride, as glistering stars amidst dark and black Clouds: In the number of these Gentlewomen slaves they had made choist of five and twenty of those whose bounty seemed most accomplished: They were on horseback richly at●●●ed, their hair confusedly dispersed waved with the motion of the Western wind, like waves of Gold in a Sea of Love upon their delicate shoulders: They made the pleasing end o● this pompous show, it may be artificially, but it was cunningly enough for Turks, to the end the spectorom of this Royal 〈◊〉, should for the last objects of their eyes for ●he 〈◊〉 of beauty, which might 〈◊〉 in their imagination 〈…〉 Marks of pleasure, and of the greatness of this po●pe.  
Yet it doth not 〈◊〉 the Children that shall be borne of this Marriage, a fortune equal to the Quality of the Emperor's Grandchilds: the fundamental Laws of the Turks Estate, (which supports it by all the means they can, and sometimes 〈◊〉 it with blood 〈◊〉 them ever to have any charge, or government which may make them eminent in the Court: The highest degree they can attain unto, is to be a Saniac; which is the Governor of a Borough or little Town; or to have the charge of Capigibassi, which is the chief of the Porters of the Serrail, as in France the Captain of the Port at the Louver. Thus they keep them under to the end they may never trouble the Estate by their authority, and Birth, which makes them Kinsmen to the Crown. chose, if the Bassa their Father hath children borne of his slaves before the Marriage, these shall precede them, and without contradiction may attain, if they deserve it, or be favoured, to the greatest Offices of the Empire.  
The Sultan's Uncles by his Wives and his other Kinsmen, have not in regard of this proximity of blood, any ●re●t access into his Palace, and near unto his person, then that which their places give them. They carry themselves towards him with the same baseness and submission as others do●, with the which they are equally his slaves. The reason hereof is, that the Turks make no great esteem of women, and they do not believe that they giving them to base slaves▪ or to great Bas●●s do dishonour or honour their Family: The Alliance which comes by their means is little regarded: Moreover the preservation of Majesty is so recommended unto them, as fort his reason they keep in subjection all the men of their Empire, and in like manner those which might advance themselves by the rights of their birth, the which makes them allied to the Prince▪   

CHAP. XIII. Of the Grand Signior Male Children, of their Education, and of the solemn Pomp at their Circumcision.  
THe Sultan's Male Children are after their birth, lodged and bred up together in the Serrail, if they be borne of one woman, but if they have diverse Mothers they are separated hav● 〈◊〉 lodgings. Their Mothers see them bred up to the 〈…〉 years', with the jealousy and envy which 〈◊〉 proudly among the women of diverse beds. After this time ●he 〈◊〉 causeth the Nurses to be recompensed, and sends them to the old Serrail, if they be not married nor have any houses in Constantinople. These young Princes from the age of five years unto eleven or thirteen which they are with the wom●n, ●e their Schoolmasters called Cozas, whom the Father gives them: Th●se enter daily into the Serrail of wom●n, and are led by black eunuchs without seeing any of the Ladies, into a Chamber where these young Princes remain: They instruct them in the presence of two old 〈…〉 as it i● allowed them to continue, after which they return with the same guides, who bring them to the Gate of the Serrail. This exercise is continued until the Prince comes to the age of thirteen years, which is the ordinary term of the Turks Circumcision, after the imitation of Ishmael, from whom they glory to be descended, who was circumcised at the same age. Sometimes the Father seeing him grow great and near him, stays not so long. He causeth him to be out at eleven years, to send him out of the Serrail, and to re● him from him into some Government of Asia. The Ceremony of the Circumcision is in Turkey the most famous of their Pomp, they call it Marriage, but a Marriage of the Soul: And for that the Soul is more excellent than the Body, so the solemnity of these Marriages do far exceed those of Corporal Marriage. We will succinctly describe the particularities, and will take for a Table of this royal Magnificence, the Prefines, Plays, Feasts, and gallant Shows, which were made at the Circumcision of Maho● the Third. Grandfather to him that now reigns: Some days before 〈◊〉: For the Circumcision follows the Feast; which was 〈◊〉 upon his occasion.  

The place of pomps and sh●e.  The Hippodrome is a great place in Constantinople, about fourscore fanthome long and sortie broud, artificially built upon a great number of Pillars and Bashaes' which suppose it strongly, and keep it from drowning by the waters of the Sea, which run under it, by certain Channels which give it entry: It was the ancient manage and course for Horses as the word doth signify, where the Greek Emperors caused their Horses to be ridden, and gave unto the eyes of the people which beheld them from a goodly Theatre built at the end, the pleasure of their stately courses. The Theatre is now ruined, and the goodly stones wherewith it was built have served for the proud Palaces of Bashaes', which they have raised thereabouts: This place is called at this day Atmeiden, that is to say Manage; There the Magnificences of the Circumcision of the Turkish Princes are performed.  
The day being come when they are to begin the Feast, 
In what Equipage the Turkish Princes go to the Hippodrome.  the Emperor goes on horseback from the Serrail, to come to the Hippodrome; the young Prince his Son is on the right hand, (which is the less honourable among them) attired in a rich Robe of Cloth of Gold, covered with an infinite number of Diamonds, and great round Pearls of inestimable value: The point of his Turban glisteren with precious stones: He was mounted upon a goodly Horse, with the richest Caparison that could be found in the Sultan's Serrail: The Bit was of massive Gold set with many Diamonds, the Stirrups of the same mettle covered with Turquoises, the Buckles were also of Gold enriched with Rubies, and the rest of the stately Furniture accordingly: The Grand Vizir, the Begtierbeys of Asia, and Europe, with other Bassa's of the Port follow their Lords, the janissaries, Solaquis, Spahis, Capigis, and the other Guards and Officers of the Court accompany them, all of them attired with so great lustre and pomp, as it seemed that all the wealth not only of the East, but of the whole World had been transported to Constantinople, to adorn the Men which showed themselves in this Solemnity. Being come to the Hippodrome, they were received with a double harmony: The first consisted of Hob●yes, Fifes, Drums, and Trumpets, with such a noise as the Air and Earth echoed again: The second, the acclamations of the the people, who cried with a loud voice, Live Sultan Amurath, and live Sultan Mahomet his Son. He to let the people know, how much he did cherish their affection, gave them a Largesse, and cast many great handfuls of Gold and Silver amongst them. Whilst the Princes cross the place, they caused to march before them five great Tapers of wax kindled and enriched with Chugnant, and beautified with all sorts of flowers: They we●● for their proportion of bigness and height rather like unto great Oaks than Torches: They carried forty foot in height.  

The places for the Sultan's.  The Sultan's having crossed the place entered the Palace of Hibraim Bassa, where the pavement of the Court was all covered with Cloth of Gold, whereon they marched, and went to take their Places, to be the Subjects and Spectators of this Royal Pomp. The Father entered into a Pavilion which was prepared for him, having a Portall adjoined beautified with rich pictures of Arabia, which looked towards the place: The Son went into a Chamber upon the left hand, where his seat was prepared. 
The place of the Sultana's.  The Sultan●es place was joining to the Pavilion; In the which were only the Mother of the young Prince and Wife to the Emperor, his Sister the young Princess, and the woman of their Ta●ine: Their Robes and glorious lustre of pearls and precious stones which they carried were worthy of the wife & Daughter of the most powerful and rich Monarch of the Earth. All the Agaes and Captains of the Port were in a Gallery near unto them: At the end of the same lodging were other Galleries erected of three stories: They had divided them into little Lodgings like unto Cabinets; 
Those of the ●●●haes.  In the first and highest was the Grand Vizir, and the other Viziers, with the Begliar●ey● of Asia and Europe were placed next, and the Bassa Oachiali Captain of the Sea, or General of the Galley, and of all the Fleets of the Empire, whom Fortune had d● from the Trade of a base Fisherman of Calabria, and advanced to that degree. In the second story were many Lords & Courtiers of the Port. In the third and lowest they had made places for the Ambassadors of Kings and Christian Princes: 
Those of the Christian Ambassador.  That of the French Ambassador was in the first Rank, the Emperors had the second, the Polonians the third, the Bailiff of Venice the fourth, and he of Raguse the fi●st: They were all in Cloth of Gold, and their Gentlemen in like manner. He of France did not assist, holding it unseemly for the Ambassador of a most Christian King and eldest Son of the Church to be spectator of a superstition, contrary to the Law of his Religion, yet his lodgings were kept void, above those of the Imperial Ambassador, and no man held it during the Feast.  
On the other side of the place there were theatres and Lodgings erected for the Ambassadors of Mahometan Princes, 
Those of the Mahometan Ambassadors.  who would not have their places near unto the Christians. The first place was given to him of Persia; who was stately attired in those goodly Robes of Cloth of Gold after the Persian manner, buttoned about him band● it awise; The Gentlemen of his Train did equal in pomp and gallantness any other of their condition whatsoeutoer. The top of their Turbans covered with goodly Turquoises, whereof their Country abounds, made a goodly show: They had brought their wines with them, who were wonderful fair, and attired with great advantage to 〈…〉: They cover their heads with many 〈…〉 Gold wretched with their hair which they suffer to hang down unto their girdles and they artificially make two little horns of ha●re enriched with Pearl and precious stones, the which fall upon their fair forehead: They made the B●itana's to envy them, who beheld them and admired their grace thorough their ●a●tice windows. Persia hath always had the glory to have had the fairest women in the World. The Daughters of Cyrus, and the Wife of King Darius, had so many frumenty in their beautiful countenances as Alexander durst not look on them, fearing to be vanquished, and Roxan● although of ●ase condition, was found so beautiful, as she deserved the honour to be wise unto the great Prince. The Turkish women enter not into comparison with the Persians for beauty, to whom they yield it; and they say that their Prophet Mahomet would never got into Persia; and when they demanded the reason, his answers was that the women 〈◊〉 so beautiful courtesy and friendship, that which the others brought for tribute: He gave hi● 〈◊〉 folly Clock of 〈◊〉 which struck the hours melodiously in Music, by length and twenty Bells of silver; and with it thirty p●ks of Sca●her. The Bailiff of Venice prose●d● Cupboard of silver pla●e, the one h● fragile, and the other white, six great Bay●es of silver to draw water, ten pieces of Cloth of Gold; ten of Silk, Satin, and Velvet, and twenty of Scarlet. The Polonian brought 〈◊〉 ●ter, whose 〈◊〉 and scabba● was all covered with precious flower. He of Ragusa give fifte●ne goodly Cups of silver, many Tapet● of white Wa●●, which the Turks esteem, and some piece of Scarlet. The Persian presented two ●o●an●, and some other Books of Muham●a Larv●, covered without 〈◊〉 Gold, many Persian 〈…〉 silk●, and a good i●●her of gr●●t 〈◊〉: Th● Ambassador of T●rt● gave many skins of Sa●es and other exquisite P● of great price. All the rest t●e their Presents according to the order and rank of the Prince's 〈◊〉 M●●●th●●.  
They 〈◊〉 that 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 love, 
Feasts of the Sultanaes' that were shut up.  and the rigours of 〈…〉 ●dered this 〈◊〉, yet they did celebrate the First, in those goodly places 〈◊〉 they are 〈◊〉: For the 〈…〉 the Grand ●g●s C●●bl●c● made Pi●y to 〈…〉 Serrail, where the 〈…〉 rich Presents, and ga● another time unto the S● As●●hi, that is to say crowned, whom we have lodged 〈◊〉 him in the P●l● of 〈◊〉 Bassa, a Crown of 〈…〉 of the 〈◊〉 of 〈…〉 brought 〈…〉 all made of Sugar presented to the life, of the 〈…〉 proportion they ought to be of, as Camels, Lions, Elephants, Tigers, and many 〈◊〉. The Ambassadors had their p● 〈…〉 were 〈…〉 of 〈◊〉. This was 〈…〉 〈…〉.  

Mahomet's Clergy.  The Mufti who is the high Priest of the Turkish Law, opened the beginning; he appeared first in the place, being Majestically set in a Tabernacle carried upon a Camels back: He had a Book in his hands which he turned always over: About him were on foot a great number of Priests, and religious Mahometans, who held Books in like manner. But their fantastic attire did show plainly the humours of their brutish spirits: Some had their heads covered with hoods, others with Mitres, some with Crowns, Many had Robes of beasts skins. They were no sooner come unto the place, but they made show of their Religious modesty, in whistling, howling, beating upon Pans and Basins, ringing of little bells which they carried in their hands, as a man would say that these testimonies of their zealous devotion, were an insolent jangling, at the sound whereof they did leap & frisk without ceasing. In this posture they made three turns about the place, after which they stayed before the Grand Signior window, who looked upon their fooleries. There they made their prayers, during the which some religious Men of the troop drew out great Knives, and cut their flesh in diverse parts of their bodies, for the leave of the Prophet, and of their Sultan. The Mufti descended from his Tabernacle, entered into the Palace, and made his Presents, which consisted in some Books of the Law. After which he retired with the brutish company of this monstrous Clergy.  

The Patriarches of the Christians.  And for that this first troop was ridiculous, that which followed was lamentable: They were the two Christian patriarchs, the one of the Grecians, the other of the Armenians, attired in long black Copes, which are their patriarchal Robes, the true colours of their servitude and heaviness: They were followed by some Christian Priests: Their Gate was pitiful, having their heads hanging down, in such sort, as the Christians that were come thither to laugh, found a worthy subject of weeping, seeing the Church captivated to the cruelty of Turks, and the Reverend Pastors thereof forced to go and humble themselves at the feet of their Tyrant, and Enemy of their Law, in a superstitious Ceremony, and contrary to their Religion: to life their sacred hands upon him, and prostitute upon his person the grace of their blessings: This is the estate whereunto the Division of Christians hath reduced them. When they came before the Sultan, they prayed unto God with a loud voice to bless him, they presented him with a great Basin of silver full of pieces of Gold, and so returned poorer than they came.  
The Merchants followed, 
The Merchants.  to vent without profit the most precious of their Merchandise: They were a thousand in a troop, Turks, Christians, or jews, all attired in Robes of Gold, and followed by a pleasing band of young men attired like maidens, having Bows in their hands, and Quivers at their backs full of golden Arrows. A childish troop of dainty young Boys like so many Cupids crowned with flowers, and holding Darts in their hands, drew without any difficulty a Chariot which followed them, whereon was set and opened a shop full of Cloth or Gold and Silk, with Tapestries of all sorts, which they presented to the Sultan, and cried; Live Sultan Amurath.  
The Goldsmiths followed after; 
The Goldsmiths.  their decking did show that they traded in precious Wares: They were all covered with precious stones: Some of their number drew a rich shop full of Vessels of Gold and Silver which they gave unto the Grand Seigneur. A small troop of other Goldsmiths made a band a part: They were those of Baiestan, whereof we have spoken before, stately attired: The stones and pearls which were upon their Garments, were valued at a Million of gold: The Presents which they made were great and rich.  
All the other Tradesmen came in their order, 
Tradesmen of diverse sorts.  and all laboured in their profession. The makers of cloth of gold and silk, to the number of five hundred men well attired, caused two Looms to march with them, whereon they made a piece of cloth of gold, and another of silk before they had gone thrice about the place. The Lace-makers did the like in their kind: They were in the midst of many sorts of beasts made of silk, which marched with them by Art: The Linen Weavers, Tapestric men, and Cotton makers, laboured also in their Vocation. The Feather-makers fed the curiosity of the spectators with Feathers and wind: They made many artificial Birds, which did fly in the Air, as if they had been natural. Tailors made Garments in passing upon the place; smith's did work in Iron, Potter's made Pots, Cutlers made Knives, and Saddler's Saddles, Masons did build, and Glass-maker's did blow their Glasses, Bakers did bake; and that which was not pleasing, the sluttish Butchers did kill and slay Beasts, and gave the flesh to the people. The Gardiner's were there laden with Flowers, the Ploughman with their Ploughs tilled the Sand: The Shepherds with their fat troops made their three turns: The Keepers of Moiles, Asses, and Carters, brought their Moiles, their Horses, and their Asses: Their gross speeches did not greatly tickle the Sultan's cares: Nor their Presents did not draw his eyes to the contemplation of their beauty: He had nothing but Wood, Stone, and Water: and that which he did, as I conceive, suffering their foolery to entertain his leisure, was only to represent unto his ambition the fabric of the World, to the government whereof he aspires, in receiving such homages as th●se men could yield. The jews were the last which gave Presents: They were three hundred young men separated into three bands, disguised in diverse Nations: The one was attired and armed like French, the other represented Spaniards, and the third seemed to be Swissers with their great Codpieces; They had for their train an infinite number of Dragons, Sirens, and Tortoises of the Sea, which marched artificially: And with this, pleasant Antiques, as women which had resigned their Distasses unto their husbands, and made them to spin: They were gotten upon their shoulders to show their Empire, and to let them see the miseries of these Coxcombs, charged with such importune burdens.  

Artificial Combats.  These Homages and Presents being thus ended, the Combats of war, did show the force of their art, and the sports the pleasure of their bravery: The Grand Vizir would have the honour to expose unto his Master's eyes, the representation of his victories against the Christians. He caused to be drawn into the place two great Castles of Wood, diversely painted, mounted upon Wheels, garnished with Towers, fortified with Rampires, and furnished with Artillery: The one was kept by Turks, who had planted upon their Tower, many Red, White, and Green Ensigns: The other was defended by Men, attired and armed after the French manner, who seemed Christians: Their Ensigns carried white Crosses; without doubt they had been taken in some encounter, or at the sack of some Town of the Christians: either of these Castles had thirty Horse, which made diverse sollies: The Turks forced the others to make their last retreat into their Fort, where they shut them up, besieged them, battered their walls, made a breach, sent to discover it, and marched to the assault with their usual cries and howl: The little resistance they found made them soon Masters and vanquishe is, although they were themselves vanquished, for they fought against themselves: If they had had to deal with Christians, they had not prevailed so easily. As soon as they were entered, they abandoned the place to their cruelty, put all to the sword, cutting off the heads of the principal, and lifting counterfeit heads above the walls. The contempt which they make of us ended the triumh; They let slip into the place about thirty Hogs which they had shut into a Fort, and ran after them crying and howling in mockery: Thus the Turks do not sport but in contemning the Christians, nor labour seriously but in ruining them: And they by a fatal division prepare their victories, and dispose the triumphs which they obtain of them with great facility.  
Occhiali Bassa great Admiral of the Sea, 
A representation of the taking of Cypress.  exceeded by his industry, the Viziers invention. He caused to come rolling into the place, a great Island, admirably well made of boards and pastboord, which represented Cypress: Two powerful Armies held it besieged, the one by Sea and the other by. Land: There was artificially seen their descent into the Island, the siege of Famagouste, the sallies, skirmishes, batteries, counter-batteries, mines, countermines, breaches, assaults upon assault, fireworks, and whatsoever the fury of War could invent. Sometimes the Turks were Masters of the Walls, and suddenly the generosity of the Cypriots repulsed them: But time, force, and the want of succours made them receive the composition which they offered them; yet the disloyalty of the Turks did not observe it, for some they made slaves, and the rest they put to the Sword: All this was seen in the place: When as the sound of Trumpets, the noise of Drums, the howling of Turks and the thundering of the Canons seemed to be at the taking of another Island at Cypress. The wonder of this artificial representation did much please the Sultan, rejoiced the people, and revived in the Christians minds the grief of their loss: Heaven would have it so to punish their great curiosity, for assisting with these infamous Mathometans, and to be spectators with them at the Pompes of their Superstition. But he did not suffer their insolency to be unpunished; He made it known that if his justice suffers them to be ascourge to the Christians, yet he doth not always suffer them, to have them in derision: The Cannonadoes, where there was nothing but Powder, slew many of these takers of the Island in Picture upon the place, & wounded a great number.  

Artificial Castles.  Some other artificial Castles appeared after, showing the like thing to that of the Grand Vizir: One among the rest, the least of all, carried two Towers, in the which there were two men armed, which fought on against the other with their Semiters, they did manage green Ensigns, and Battle-axes of glass without breaking them. The Romeliens and Albanois, whom the Turks hold for the best men at Arms, came after with their Lances and their Targets upon the left arm, 
That is to say, Italians, French Spanish, etc.  they have no Rest to bear it, like unto the Franques, it is only tied to their Saddles by a leather thong, for they carry no Cuyrasses: Many of their Horses were slain there in combating. After the Encounter, they did run at the Ring after their manner, which is to set a little rod of Iron on the ground, on the end whereof they put a Ring somewhat bigger than those which they use in France. They which took it, carrying the Ring on the end of their Lance being on foot, went to present it unto the Sultan before his window, who threw him out a Ring of Gold in recompense; the manner of receiving it was not without a Mystery: In raising it from the ground, the Cavallier kissed it, laid it upon his head, and bending down very low made a Reverence and so retired. When these men had voided the place, they brought in thirty Christian Soldiers, lately taken in the Wars of Hungary: They followed with their Irons the triumph of certain Turkish Captains which had taken them; some Ensigns and Drums of their Companies made up the Trophy of these Barbarians.  
A goodly troop of Archers on horseback arrived soon after with a more general joy; 
Archers on horseback and their dexterity.  They Activities which they showed are admirable. After they had finished their courses, with a Target in the left hand, and a long Dart or half Pike in the right, sometimes ranged in battle, sometimes disbanded, casting them one at another, and taking them up from the ground in running: They ran their Horses with their full speed, and in the swiftness of their course, drew their Semiters thrice out of their Scabbords, and put them up as often without any stay: In like manner they shot thrice with their Bows, with the first they hit an Iron on the hinder part of the horse; with the second they struck an Apple of Gold, which was upon the top of a great Mast of a Ship set up in the midst of the place: with the last they hit the Ring at which the Albanois had run: Then standing upright in their Saddles, they did run their Horses with full speed, and did manage their Arms as before. Some of their Troop did things which were admirable: There was one who took the Saddle from his horseback, laid it upon his neck, and set it in its place again all with running. The same m●n set an Orange upon the Turban of his slave, and in running pierced it diverse times with his Arrows, and never hurt his slave; He pierced a great brazen Mortar with an Arrow; Moreover, he tied two Horses together, set a foot upon either of them, and standing upright, supported a young Boy who shot with his Bow as the Horses galloped. Another of the same Archers ran with all speed his head in the Saddle, and his feet upwards betwixt four Semiters, which had their points set against him: Two men of their troop put themselves into one Saddle, and vaulted before and behind while the horse did run, lighting and remounting again without stay. An Arabian which was amongst them added the force of his jaws to their dexterity: He did set a pack Saddle on a horse with his teeth, having his hands bound, he put on the panniers, and then set on his Boy to load it, he did also saddle his horse after the same manner, and leapt upon him; doubtless the biting of such a Gallant would be dangerous.  
This day (for all these wonders were not one days work) ended by some actions of piety after the Turkish manner, which the Sultan caused to be performed at the Gate, by the which they got to Andrinopolis: Thither he went going from the place with the young Prince Mahomet his Son, and all the great Men of his Court, where being arrived he caused four thousand sheep to be sacrificed, and a great number of Beefs which he caused to be roasted whole, in either of which they put a whole sheep, and in the sheep a heu, and in the hen eggs, and caused all to be distributed to the poor. He than received news of the defeat of his Army in Persia; for the pleasure of humane Pomp is never so absolute, but it is accompanied with some cares and crosses: The feeling of this Rout fell upon the Ambassador of Persia. The Turk offers violence to his person, and commits him to Prison, and in the open day, and in the view of the people, and of other Ambassadors, caused his Lodging to be sacked and spoiled.  
But this was no hindrance, but the day following the Feast was continued. A troop of excellent Tumblers and Mountebanks (whereof Turkey abounds above all the Regions of the Earth) did to the common amazement of all the Spectators these things which follow. The first which showed himself in the place, shut a young Boy naked into a Hogshead, with five and twenty or thirty great Serpents, and rolled it about the place, and then drew out the Boy whole and sound: The same Serpents stinging and biting others which came near them. After this they buried a young Boy deep in a Ditch, and covered him with Earth as if he had been dead, and yet he answered as distinctly and intelligibly to that which they demanded of him, as if he had been out of the ground. Another presented himself naked without shame, but not without more than humane force, he laid himself flat on his back upon the edge of two Semiters; being in this posture, they laid upon his Belly a great Anvile of Iron, whereon four men did beat with great Hammers; and moreover they did rive many great pieces of wood without any offence to him. When this man was retired, a troop of other naked men exposed themselves to the view of the World all covered with wounds, their bodies being yet larded with the same arms which had made them, some with Arrows, others with Knives and Swords; But before these mad men had gone thrice about the place, two of the troop fell down dead, which showed that their wounds were rather marks of their folly than enchantments. Another showed the force of his jaws, and his hands: he held a horse-shoe betwixt his teeth, and pulled it in pieces with his hands; He broke a Ploughshare, with three blows with his fist; and he caused a piece of Iron to be made red hot, the which he took in his hand licked it with his tongue, rubbed it on his face, and yet was not burnt: Afterward he caused a Goat to dance pleasantly upon his shoulders, and never touched it, causing it to pass from one shoulder to the other without moving. A headie-brained fellow followed this man, upon whose head they did break with Hammers a great stone, which a man could hardly lift from the ground. He caused them to cover him with so great a heap of stones as he could not beseen, and yet for all this he felt no discommodity. Another b●d came after, whose ●eet were so hardened, as they went bare upon a Harrow full of sharp Pikes and cutting K●ines: There was one followed them, who with a cord, tied to his hair without the help of his hands, did lift up a stone of a hundred and fifty pound weight. Many Beasts instructed in this Art of tumbling augmented the pleasure of the Assistants: little Birds, went to fetch a piece of silver as far as they divided them, and brought it to their Masters, Asses danced, Dogs and Apes showed a thousand pleasant trick. The Grand Signior Wrestlers, came to show their force and activity, 〈◊〉 and greased to avoid the surprise of their Enemies▪ These are the most continent men in Turkey, they keep their Virginity pure and untouched, and say with reason that it doth e●●it●e and preserve the force of their bodies. The Speech, which are the Sultan's Footmen, would also be of the p●●ti●, they came unto the place with their feets●oe, running and leaping with admirable swiftness and disposition. These men ha●e ●e ●kin of their feet so hard as a Smithton hardly make a 〈◊〉 to enter; they do harden them see pleasure. The Dancers upon Ropes showed strange Form of Activity▪ In those places they exceed all others what 〈◊〉 for their A●i●i●y.  

Elephants and Giraffe.  Two Elephants, and a Giraffe, were brought into the Hippodrome, to augment the Sultan delight by this novelty. The Elephants differed in form: One was grant and the other li●e. The great one was thri● one high, and bigger than a Buffle, or small Socere, heads that upon his 〈◊〉 a little Castle of light wood, in the which might 〈…〉 six soldiers without crowling: The 〈◊〉 in comparison of the rest of the body 〈◊〉: 
Look Lipse Epist. in his Centuries where he speaks of this Beast.  Fro● the end of the upper part of the Muscle, than did 〈…〉, whereof this beast on 〈◊〉 use as readily as a 〈◊〉 doth his 〈◊〉, takes what his 〈◊〉 〈…〉 him, carries his entire to his 〈◊〉, use 〈◊〉 for a 〈◊〉 with incomparable force, 〈◊〉 are small 〈◊〉 to those of a Boar, his another chap is 〈◊〉 unto the 〈…〉 Her hath two great 〈◊〉, about 〈…〉 round and great, lying upon his back, he sometimes raises them up: his legs are even like unto pillars, in the which there appears no joints, yet this Beast hath some; he doth but half bend them, and therefore he suffers himself to fall upon his side this feet are round, and have five nails▪ his skin is black; and hath little hair. The Naturalists observe, and experience doth confirm, that this beast hath so powerful an instinct, as it seems, he is endowed with judgement: Examples are familiar in Histories: This beast being brought before the Grand Signior window, lifted up his head to look on him, than he bowed it down very low in sign of reverence. They cast upon the ground a handful of Aspres, which is a little Coin like unto the French Carolus; the which he gathered up with his heavy trumpets handsomely as any man could have done with his hands▪ Eight strong Turks held a long Pole in their hands, and gave him the end; as soon as he had seized on it with his trump, he made them to turn about as easily as if they had been feathers: Afterwards he lifted up the Pole, and struck it so hard against the ground, as those men were fore 〈◊〉 abandon it: ●ing Master of it, he did flourish with it like at two hand● sword with admirable dexterity. Wherefore the Indians have reason in their wars to make use of the force and address of these beasts: They carry many men, and when they tie a Scimitar to the trump, one of them kills more than a company of Foot could do?  
The Giraffe. The Giraffe, whereof the portrait is here represent to was at the same time brought into the Hippodrome. This beast for that it is little known in Europe was much admired. It is not only beautiful of itself, but it is also gentle and very tractable: It hath a head like a Stag, armed with two little harms half a foot long, covered with 〈◊〉; the ears; the feet and the tall are like 〈◊〉 a Cow: It hath a neck 〈◊〉 into a Camel, it hath hard knees upon the ha●s, and breast; The 〈◊〉 speckled like unto a Leopard, and some believe that it is that Ca●par● of the ●●dear; his 〈◊〉 before are four or five times longer than those behind, so as his natural posture represents a Goat standing upright against a Tree to b●ou●e the buds: The which makes him to feed with discom●●●ic: for in this action but is forced as open his legs to make passage for his hand. If we had not undoubted proofs of the wisdom of Nature in the wonders of her works, we might say that this beast always standing upright is one of her fantastic Creatures. Being led above the place, they were carried back, passing through the City, the Giraffe had such advantage in the foreport, as his head looked into the windows of their houses.  
Such were the pomp of the day, the night wanted not here, if there were any eight during the solemnity of this royal Circumcision: For at such time as the Sun did not shine in their Hemisphere, they had raised a ship Must in the Hippodrome, whereon there was a great Circle like a Crown furnished with burning Lamps: and near unto the Obelisque which is the ancient ornament of this place, there was a long wheel set up, the which did time continually, and made twelve other smaller to move, all which were involved with lights, which remaining some, 〈◊〉 notwithstanding to follow the motion of the wheels, not without a wonderful content to the eyes of those which beheld them: Besides this there were many ship Masts with their 〈◊〉 and taplings, all covered with lamps, which gave so clear a light, as in the dark night they made an artificial day; by the favour of which light, most of those goodly things which had appeared in the day, come after Supper to give 〈…〉 to the company by their 〈◊〉. After this, 〈…〉 Fireworks, some drowe by 〈◊〉, ●hers by 〈…〉 which did vorie for all ●ames, filled the air 〈◊〉 agreeable 〈◊〉, and pleasant thunderings, and the 〈◊〉 of the spectators with ●●●●ment: But their 〈…〉, their thundering 〈◊〉 and their 〈…〉 to those which did behold 〈◊〉 those●● and smoke of powers, 〈◊〉 sheth (If they 〈◊〉 comprehend it) that humans 〈◊〉, and the shewe● of 〈◊〉 greatness of the World, dissolve in the end into wind and smoke. The most stately of these nocturnal sports was the representation of a naval fight so artificially expressed, as it made the Christians that were present see, that the recompense of labour, and the reward of merit, having drawn into Turkey the goodliest inventions of men, have made them to lose the name of barbarous to send it unto us, where as virtue is not acknowledged. There they saw many Ships and Galleys under sail, furnished with Artillery, adorned with their flags, the Trumpets sounding, fight, invest, leap from one beak-head to another, kill, cast into the Sea, burn, and sink the Enemy's Vessels, with admirable dexterity. The battles at Land, Sieges, and taking of Towns, were represented with no less art.  
But if the description of this Royal Feast hath been a pleasing diversion unto us in the toil of this History, let us end it according to the natural course of pleasure, by the grief which follows. Doubtless it will be great enough to impart it to those which shall read the issue of this Chapter, where we observe than during the spectacles of this solemnity, the wretched Grecian ●y ●roupes in this place to make themselves Mahom●tans: Some abandoned Christianity to avoid the oppression of the Turks, others for the hope of private profit: The youngest and most beautiful were sent into the Serrail, with the Ichi●glans, and the rest among the Azamoglans: This hope of better fortune drew the Idleness of many young men, so as they could hardly find Masters enough to cut them: This detestable troop of Rascals, went to show themselves before the Grand Seigneur, their Bonnets under their feet, in sign that they did tread their law and honour under foot: There a Turkish Priest did cause them to lift up the demonstrative finger of the right hand, in sign that they did not believe but one God in one person, & to say with a loud voice, Laila ey lala alla Mehemer ●asoul alla; Then they led them into c●taine Pavilions, which were erected expressly at the end of the place where they were circumcised: he The number of these cast aways was found to be above four thousand soul●.  
These sports and triumphs being thus miserably ended, the young Prince for whom they had been made, was brought into his Father's Chamber, where he was circumcised by one of the great Men of the 〈◊〉 the p●s●re of all the Bassa's. His wound being cured within few days, he goes to take his lost leave of the Sultan's his Mother, whom she shall see no more until he comes to take possession of the Empire, after the death of his Father, if he be the oldest, or to end his life with a halter if he be a younger brother, when his ●der shall Reign. She gives him presents: and the other Sultana's do the like: All the Bassa's present him, and the Emperor his Father appoints his Family, gives him a Pra●r, an Eunuch for Governor, with many other men to serve him, and sends him into As●a, Sa●qua only of the City of the Magnesia, the chief of Alysia, as Lieutenant in that Region under the authority of a Bassa who is Governor whilst he carries the Title, he must govern his Actions with prudence and modesty; for if he should have any designs of innovation by the Counsels of some dished seditious persons, he should work his own mi● by his own hanes. The Eunuch which is the most ●pp● about him, he is bound to advertise the Sultan his Father, and the principal Basha'es, of all his carriage.   

CHAP. XIV. Of the Presents they make unto the Grand Seigneur, and of that which he himself gives.  
THe custom to give Present unto the Prince 〈◊〉 been so practised in the Turkish M●thio, 〈…〉 Law of State, so as it is written in the 〈…〉 Empire, that all the Bassa's and great men of the Port shall at certain seasons of the year, and at the Circumcision of the Emperor's Children, give him Presents, and likewise when they return from the Government of Provinces, where they have continued some years in the administration of their Charges of Viceroy. The Generals of Armies at the return from their victories, are bound to present gifts to the Sultan: They do it usually in a great quantity of Vessels of gold and silver, Swords and Daggers enriched with precious stones, and bows of the like manner, Plumes of Feathers with precious jewels, rich Girdles, exquisite Furs, and sometimes pieces of cloth of gold, with Tapestries of silk and gold: whereof the Prince's Wardrobe is commonly well stored, to supply his bounty to his Sultana's & slaves, and to send to foreign Princes: All these men being slaves to their Master, and as it were forced to these liberalities, cannot when they please follow their good advice which say, 
Et una noble necedad dare à los Regez, perque creen hazer merced. quando reciben, Antha Perez en las cartas segund●.  that It is a noble folly to give unto great Men, for they believe they oblige a man much when they receive that which he presents. The Bassa's which return from the government of Egypt, parting from Cair●, dispose the value of the Presents into ready money, and arriving at the Serrail, they sometimes present unto the Sultan four or five Millions of Livers, which is four or five hundred thousand Pounds sterling. The Generals of Armies do many times practise the same liberality, they are the better received by their Master, and the glory of their magnificence flies into the mouth of the people, and they find by their great gifts, that the offering of Presents, pacify both Men and Gods, 
Munera cre●● mihi pla●ant hominesque Deisque, Placatur d●nis Iupiter ipse datis, Ouid● de Arte.  (as they said in old time) These notable sums over 〈◊〉 the inward Chasna, which is the Princes secret treasure. The Christian Patriarch gives unto the Sultan newly crowned an honourable present, which the greeks call Pesquesian, or when the Patriarch co●ers into his charge, by the death or deposition of another. Besides this the Turks give unto the eunuchs which are familiar to the Prince many rich Presents, to make them speak from them upon all necessary occasions: for the balance doth always decline on that side which is heaviest, and the only means to gain the affection of these gelded men, is to glut their avarice, which is no small labour. Nassuf Bassa, who ended his fortune and his life in the year 1614, did often say that the eunuchs of the Serrail were insatiable: They do also hold, and they practice this Maxim in the Turkish Court, the which is generally received by all men, 
Omnium est dulcissimum etcipere, Senec.  that The sweetest action of men is, To take, although in truth it be more generous to give, for him that is able.  
As pleasure and grief are naturally joined together, have one Temple, and their Offerings are upon the same Altar: The Ottoman Monarch who takes a great delight to see himself glutted with Presents; not only by his own subjects, but also by strangers, yet he sometimes finds a distaste in it: As it happened to Sely●n the First, whose example shall suffice in this Chapter, that by its brevity we may ease the long descriptions of the former. This Prince having taken the Ottoman Sceptre, his hands being yet bloody by the death of his Brethren and Nephews, and the chief of his Basha●s; thinking to be honoured according to the ordinary custom of his Predecessors, with Presents which foreign Princes make, he saw his cruelty taxed, by that which the Persian Ambassador presented unto him, who gave him in his Master's name, a great furious Lion, inaccessible, always foxing for rage, and never made tame by any Man. This present being brought, Sely●n fell into a rage, stamps with his foot, complained that he was wronged, and swore that he would be revenged, and demanded satisfaction from the Ambassador; who being advised and cunning, covered the part which he had played with many goodly word▪ Herald, Sely●n that this Lion did rather represent the 〈◊〉 of his courage, and that of his generosity rather than any other thing; but this did not pacify him, he ch●sed him out of his Territories, and gave him to present unto his Master many great Dogs with bloody mussels, as if he would say, they had 〈◊〉 his Lion in pieces, and that in the assaults of War he would entreat him in like manner.  
Seeing then the Turkish Prince doth continually receive Presents from others, it is string he should likewise give: For it is more seemly for a King to give then to take, so his Wardrobe is usually open to give. The Sultana's are enriched by his Presents; The Mufti and his Praceptor are honoured, and the Bashaes' receive: and all this consists in precious stones, Purses full of gold coined, Robes of cloth of Gold, Plumes of Feathers, jewels, rich Arms, and other things of value. The Chasnadar Bassi, who is the high Treasurer, hath the charge to buy what is needful for Presents, he employs yearly in cloth of gold, for Robes which they give, 
Four hundred thousand pounds sterling.  the which is made at Bursia in Asia, four Millions of Livers, besides that which comes into the royal Wardrobe, by the Presents of Bassa's and other great Men: but as all Rivers come from the Sea and return unto it, so all the Grand Signior Presents return back in the end to his own Cosets: The Sultana's die, and their goodly stuff comes to him; The Bashaes' end their lives, he takes all as the Master doth of his slaves: Sometimes he leaves a part for the execution of the Will which he hath made. So as he doth not give but lends for a time, seeing that the fundamental Law of his Estate, which makes all men his slaves, restores that unto him which he had given, and moreover, all the wealth of his Subjects.  
But all the Presents of the Turkish Emperor are not pleasing to them which receive them, they are sometimes fatal fore tellings of death to him to whom he gives them; For when he sends for any great Men of the Port into the Serrail, to feast him, or to speak with him, after the Feast or at the end of his discourse, meaning to take away his life in his presence, he gives him a black Robe wrought with gold and silk: as Basa●et the Second did to Bassa Achomat, who had supped in the Serrail with the other Bashaes' at his Master's Table, amidst the delights and pleasures of a royal Feast, whereas Wine forbidden by the Law of their Religion, was poured forth as plentifully, as in any part of the World, Supper being ended and the Table taken away, the Bashaes' humble themselves before their Prince, some kiss the ground in his presence to obtain pardon for that they had drunk Wine, and so returned to their houses. The Sultan stayed Achomat, with their sweet Words, Milalah (that is to say my Protector) tarrit here with me. When the others were gone, he caused a rich Robe of black silk wrought with Gold to be brought unto him, ●t the fight hereof Acha●at entered into fur●e, he knew well what it meant, and assured himself of his ruin, he accuseth Bajazeth of injustice and cruelty, and tells him in his rage. Why didst thou Son of a Whore suffer me to drink wine against the holy constitutions of any Law, if their wilt presently put me to death? He ended his rage with the rest of the discourse which his passion had dictated. But his life was freed from the present danger: his Son seeing him not return with the other Bash●●s, informed himself from them what was become of his Father. They tell him in what a pitiful estate he was, whereupon he flies to the Serail, moves the janissaries to compassion, who loved Achomat for his valour, as he whom they had followed in the Wars, in Battles, and assaults of Towns, they filled the Serrail with the honour of their cries, Br'e, Br'e, that is to say str● 〈◊〉. They beat at the Gate of the Emperor's lodging, threaten him, ra●●e on him, called him drunkard, and force him to restore Achomat who was pale and warn ha●ling the ●alter about his neck, with the which the Princes made used were ready to strangle him. In this manner force hindered the effect of this fatal Present of a black G●ne wrought with Gold. But besides these accidents he that receive it must aspect his infallible Ruin. This Present is the 〈◊〉 by the Ottoman Monarch to any but to 〈…〉, but he sometimes sends others, which show the contempt which he makes of foreign Princes, as when he sends a Robe how r●●h soever unto a sovereign p●, for a Robe is the Present of a superior to his inf●. So 〈◊〉 the first 〈…〉 The●●r, or T●mberlan, Emperor of the 〈◊〉, when he sent him a Robe in disgrace to contemn him. Th● was much offended, and answered those which brought the Present from the Turk, that he should not 〈◊〉 those of his s●●t 〈◊〉 that manner: but he soon had his revenge. He entered Baiazet's Country in Asia, (Constantinople was then held by the Christians) and with eight hundred thousand fight men, took Sebaste the S●ate of his Empire, slew his Son Orthogules, defeated his Army in Battle, took himself Prisoner, revenged this contempt by many others, and afflicted him so in following him, as he died of grief, sorrow, and pain: to be an example to Princes, not to contemn those which are Sovereigns like themselves, and therein Images of the Sovereign God. But thus they give Presents of Death and contempt in Turkey, 
Hostium ●era non 〈◊〉, Hom.  the one is of cruelty, and the other of offences and not Presents, for the Presents of Enemies are no Presents.  
The Sultana Queen that is crowned, and Mother to the young Prince Successor of the Empire, gives many Presents a She receives daily from the Great Men of the Port which send unto her, and therefore she is bound to give; to this end the Emperor doth furnish her with much goodly stuff, and pieces of price which are given unto him, and with great sums of money to buy others. The Grand Vizir doth also give many Presents both within Constantinople and without: He sends many Robes of Cloth of Gold and Silk, to Ambassadors which arrive at the Port: and when he is in the Army, performing the the Change of Lieutenant General to the Sultan, he gives to draw strangers unto him that may be useful, or to recompense the generosity of some valiant Captain. And for that all these Presents are given in the Sultan's name, he doth furnish those things which he gives. And to this end the Teftardar delivers him Money, pieces of Cloth of Gold, of Silk and many other Stuffs. This is all that can be spoken of the Sultan's Presents.   

CHAP. XV. Of the Treasures of the Serrail.  

julius Caesar pote ●●iam diua●●● rebus, pecunia scilicet, & mi●ibus p●●●ri, conseruari augeri di●●e sa●bat, Ciphili●us in Caesario  THe Och●mas Monarch hath his Treasures: what Sovereign Prince can preserve and ●ine his power and estate without their force: It is gotten by Arms and Money, preserved and underlined by the same means. He doth lodge it in his Serrail, one part in the Co●he which is without his Quarter: and the other within it: In the Treasury without it laid the money for the ordinary and extraordinary expenses, which is buried upon all the Revenues of the Empire. The Grand Vizir and the great Teftardar, or Superintendent of the Treasure keep the Keys, But it is sealed only by the Grand Vizir. The other place for the Treasure is more important: it is within the Quarter of the Sultan's lodging, or most commonly under the Chamber where he sleep, taking his rest upon the subject of his disquiet. This is under the cha●ge and care of the 〈…〉, who is a white Eunuch, and a Favourite as the Prince; he hath one key and the Emperor another: The Treasure which is said to yearly there, is that which he sp● out of the Revenues of Egypt: When they have paid the 〈◊〉 of Ca●re, their Commanders, and others which are the force and defence of that rich Kingdom there 〈◊〉 usually 〈…〉 thousand Sultanians, 
Two hundred and forty thousand pounds sterling.  which makes two 〈◊〉 four hundred thousand Livers of French money. Besides this Treasure the jealousy of Turkish Emperor 〈…〉 ●other in the Serrail of the Sultana's, in 〈…〉 where as the Sultanas' Queen doth lodge, 〈…〉 of his Serrail should enter into it: The doors are 〈◊〉 Iron, and they will is up as often as they put any Treasure into it, and they which carry it are Mutes, to whose silence the Sultanas ●sides the ●●cret: They carry it in great s●●he of Leather like unto Purses, and let it down into ●mes, which are made of purpose to keep it: Thus the Money which 〈◊〉 with gain, is kept with fear, and if it be lost it is with grief. The Prince which doth waste it by his prodigalities, weakens his Estate, and exposeth himself to the dangers of many violent necessities. That Turkish Monarch which first made the place for the secret Treasure in the Sultanaes' Serrail, was Selym the First, who having drawn together all the coined Gold which he received of the Revenues of Cairo and other places, he caused it to be molten, and made a great Ball, which his dumb Men did roll to put into the Cisterns of this Treasury. Doubtless, it must needs be very painful to roll it, seeing the weight of this precious metal is so cumbersome, as it straws all the World after it. He himself had the Key of this secret place, making use of his dumb Men, to the end they should not reveal the rich treasure which he had drawn together. Amurath the Third did afterwards seek a more secret place, under the Chamber of the Sultana Asachi, (that is to say the crowned) where he caused Cisterns to be digged to that end: He entered into it four times in the year, and at every time he put into it above two Millions of Gold: This Prince drew together more Treasure than any of the rest, having in few years filled those Cisterns with coined Gold. Wherefore we must not wonder if the Turks Armies be so strong, seeing they furnish them with so many sinews; if they vanquish and triumph, seeing they have both Men and Money in abundance: But rather we have cause to wonder that they do not get all the rest of the World: 
jugurtha Roma egressus, came saepe tacitus respicicus, postrem●grave; ●risse sertur; urbem ●●nal●●, & maturè perituram, s●emptorem inveneris, S● hist. de bello jugurth.  For what is there in it that is not to be sold for Money? The King of the Numidians had reason to say in beholding that City which was the seat of the most powerful Monarchy of the Earth: A City that is to be sold, is ne'er its ruin, if it find a buyer. Men have given the Turkish Emperors that fearful greatness which they enjoy, but Money hath bought the men.   

CHAP. XVI. Of the Revenues of the Turkish Emperor in general and in particular, and of the extent thereof▪  
THe greatness of Monarchies consists chiefly in three things, in the number of men, in the extent of Countries, and in the abundance of his annual Revenues. Which three things are found in Eminency, above all other Estates of the World, in the Turks Empire: His Armies are many times 400000. fight men or more; the Towns and Champion Country are inhabited and abundantly peopled, by the Law of their Religion and State, which forceth Men to marry being five and twenty years old, and they have liberty to keep as many Concubines as they are able to feed. The yearly Revenue is proportionable in this abundance: We may comprehend it in two sorts▪ In the ordinary Revenue which is always equal, and doth not alter; and in the extraordinary and casual. The ordinary amounts yearly to twenty Millions of Gold; the extraordinary is not less, but more uncertain, for it is not raised but upon Escheates and casual things; as when the Turks die without Heirs, all their goods come unto the Prince; If they leave any Children, he takes only ten in the hundred▪ most of the rich Bashaes', and wealthy men of the Court, leave the best of their Estates to their Prince, although they have Children: For being all slaves by the fundamental Law of the S●●●e, the Sultan seizes upon their Palaces of their most precious movables, and doth not suffer that the great summers of Money which they leave should be otherwise employed, but to fill the Coffers of his Chasna, or Treasury. Besides all this he is the first and chief principal Steward of the Benefices of his Empire: For if any pious person according to his Religion, leaves any great Legacies to the Priests of his Law, to read the Alc●r●, or to perform some other devotion after their manner, he looks what is necessary for the nourishment and entertainment of a number of Priests, which are appointed, not according to the Laws of Excess, but in terms of modesty and Ecclesiastical Sobriety: He causeth it be delivered unto them, and puts the rest into his Coffers. So as he that could justly calculate the Revenues of the Turkish Empire, without doubt he should find it to exceed forty Millions yearly, aswell the Ordinary as the Casual: whereunto no Monarch of the Earth doth come near.  
They which have seen the Turks Court, dwelled in Constantinople, and conversed with the natural Citizens thereof, understand the greatness of the Annual Revenues of this spacious Empire. And others who have not traveled so far, to attain unto this particular knowledge, will not call this truth in question, if they consider the vast extent of the Othuman Empire; for the Sovereign Princes thereof are Lords of Africa; they possess a part of Barbary, they rule beyond Thu●● and Argier; they draw Tributes from the Crowns of Fez and Morocco. They are Kings of high and low Egypt: they force obedience in Asia: The three Arabiaes', that is to say, the Stony, the Desert, and the Happy, acknowledge no other Lord: The Holy Land suffers the rigour of their command, which is absolute in Syria, Mesopotamia, and Chaldaea, a part of Persia doth acknowledge them: Media and Assiria are theirs: Armenia the less bows under their Laws, and a part of the greater, with the Country of Mongrelia: All Asia the lesser obey them, and in it the Provinces of Caramania, Calicia, Cappad●cia, Pamphylia, Paphlagonia, Gallacia, Phrygia, Bichynia, Lydia, Caria, and Magnesia: The Emperor of Trebisonde acknowledgeth them for Masters: Their power is not less in Europe, which is the goodliest, the most flourishing and the civilest part in the World: All Greece, as Thr●●; Macedonia, Bulgaria, Polopos● now called Mor●a, B●sina, and Ser●ia, do what they command: Sla●ia is subject unto them: A part of Sa●, Dasia, Hungaria, and Valachia are peopled by them: The Provinces which lie upon the black Sea and the Archipelagus, belong wholly unto the Turkes● and the Lands of the Mediterranean Sea, which make the greatest number yield unto their 〈◊〉. They have 〈◊〉 from the Venetians the Crowns of G● and jerusalem that goodly Island of Rhodas, leaving 〈◊〉 in that Sea under the obedience of the Christians, but Candoe, Sicily, Corfon and Malta. Thus the 〈◊〉 of the great and redoubted Turkish Empire, 〈…〉 North at the River Tanais, the most famous bounds 〈…〉 E●rope: Towards the South it joins with the Countries of Preste-Iean, or the greater Neg● of ethiopia Towards the East it extends its limits to the Persian Gulf, yea, it passeth beyond ●als●t●▪ and in the wa● they are 〈◊〉 Neighbours to Ragousa a 〈…〉. And if God did not restrain the course of their great prosperities, they would add unto their Monarchy many other Provinces of Christendom, which the dis● of Christian Prin●ces, and the careless neglect of their subjects seen to expose to their Ambition: For if the Sultry do what they can to enlarge their Estates, these furnish them occasion by their divisions.   

CHAP. XVII. Of the Grand Signior going forth of Constantinople by Land, and his return i● Pomp where ●e displays to the view of strangers, the greatness of his 〈◊〉.  
THe Otheman Emperor 〈…〉, month at the 〈…〉 unto his Subjects, 〈…〉 which they might conceive of him, and 〈…〉 dangerous effects of any 〈…〉 the Friday (which is with the Turks 〈…〉 to go unto the Mosque to perform his devotion, and to shear himself in public. When he goes forth in this manner it is usually by the great Gate of his Serrail: He is always on Horseback, simply attired, and in the same manner as he is in his Palace. His head is covered with a little Turban, to be more at his ease: Few Ba●●u's accompany him, the most part of his train are the men of his Family. The Sonbasse, who is Captain of the justice, or as the Knight of the Wa●ch at ps, goes a little before with fifty Soldiers of his 〈◊〉, to free the streets from all encumbrances, which might hinder the Prince's passage, and to keep every man in awe while he passeth. His most familiars accompany him, the eunuchs of his Chamber; his Pages and therest which attend his person follow him: The Captain of the Pages, he of the Capigis, and the four Captains of the 〈◊〉 of his guard go before him well mounted, and at his horse head there march four Capigis on foot, and four Solarbis at his sti●ope; These men most commonly are very tall, 〈◊〉 being on foot, and the Prince on horse back, their hands must be equal with his 〈◊〉▪ They have 〈…〉 instructious and petitions, which are preserved on the 〈◊〉 the which contain complaints of the insolences of Bassa's, the injustices of Cadis or judges; the theft of T●ftardar● or Treasurers, and the other bad behaviour of his Officers. The Sultan hath in special care to have these papers collected, which many times poor miserable men, lying flat on their bellies in sign of humility, and lifting up their hands offer unto him, the which they present upon the 〈◊〉 of a Reed: Being returned unto his Serrail, he 〈◊〉 them to retread, and finds that which flattery had concealed from him, and learns these things which 〈◊〉 of the most sincere men durst not 〈◊〉 Presently has gives order, and loseth no time in the search of 〈…〉 the wicked to 〈…〉 and slip away 〈…〉 the power of their 〈◊〉 〈…〉 Presently they 〈◊〉 〈…〉 Royal 〈…〉 Many Officers are ●wovel. from their places, which they 〈◊〉 to 〈…〉 Mans●d●, and some others are put to death: Such is the virtue of these flying Notes and Petitions; yet they use prudence and discretion, and cause the crime to be well erred before they punish: For this cause the Bassa's and other great 〈◊〉 of the Port, who are i●ssed in th●se 〈◊〉, are not well pleased when they see their Prince go forth in public; seeming that the news of their unjust actions should come unto his ears. In these issues the people bless him with their accla●ai●n●, and he sal●es 〈◊〉 by nodding of his 〈…〉 ●times, to bind their affections more unto him, 〈…〉 forth handfuls of gold and silver and casts it amongst them. Two of those 〈◊〉 which are of either 〈◊〉 of him, carry in two purses of V●l●, two little fla● of gold enrich● with precious stones, which are full of boiled water, C●diall and delightful to drink. The Sultan makes use of it, when he is dry. The rest of his t●i●e come after: The dwarfs and jesters make a part, as the Apes of the Court, which never goes without them, to pre● 〈…〉 have always something ridiculous 〈◊〉 all 〈…〉 of about 〈◊〉 hundred.  

The Sultan's carry in pomp.  These are his issues when he goes from his Serrail ●to Constantinople. But when he goes out of the 〈◊〉 the fields to make a glorious return in 〈…〉 followed, and adorned in 〈…〉 some foreign Ambassador, and 〈…〉 to him of ●●rsia the magnific 〈…〉 report to his Master 〈…〉 ●ee that hath 〈◊〉 yea looked upon 〈…〉 Envy. He take occasion to 〈…〉 of 〈◊〉, 〈…〉 used it 〈…〉 built two 〈…〉. The 〈…〉 doth advertise hi● 〈…〉 to the City, and to 〈…〉 〈◊〉 for the way and 〈…〉 send from his Country 〈…〉 his great men of the Port, and all his 〈…〉 as is fitting at so Royal an entry. Achmat the First in the year 1612. gives us a precedent.  
A troop of above two thousand men at arms 〈…〉 first they were armed and mou●d as was fitting for 〈…〉. A sharely Regiment of Turkish foot, exceeding 〈…〉 followed them: After these came the Cadis or judges of Constantinople, with all the Body of justice, which were many in number: The Talismans' and other Doctoral and Priests of the Al●an in the order of their puft-up gravity, ma●ched after these judges, which is the only way of the justice which they hold in their life. The Grand Vizir, accompanied with all the other Viziers, and the Bashaes' and Beglierbyes' of the Empire, made so sta●y a Body, as in seeing them, a man might say they were so 〈◊〉 things, who 〈◊〉 by an extraordinary miracle drawn themselves together, much less to have taken them for the slaves of the Ottoman 〈◊〉: When these were passed; there followed the ●en of the Serrail, or the officers of the 〈…〉 with the to● of their 〈…〉 The first 〈◊〉 then on foot, who fed ten goodly 〈…〉 other Turks, with royal 〈◊〉, whereof the 〈…〉 the Dirt and sword of 〈◊〉 Gold, 〈◊〉 with precious stones: the Saddle was 〈…〉 and glistering with Diamonds: The S●●s 〈…〉 with strings of gold, at the 〈…〉 did 〈…〉 ground two great men of rich Oriental Persian upon the Saddle they had cast a long Horse cloth, of rich Cloth of Gold, 〈◊〉 ordered so thick with 〈◊〉▪ as they 〈…〉 〈…〉 follower so like order, 〈…〉 〈…〉 either of the● 〈…〉 〈…〉 presented by the French 〈…〉 negligent care of th● 〈…〉 from hunting. The 〈…〉 well 〈…〉 goodly entry, with a band of young men simply attired, entertained for their Services, with all the other Pages of the Serrail. The Ambassador of Persia, the chief subject of this magnificence, caused to be cast before his Lodging when the Sultan past, a hundred clothes of Silk: the Archers of his Guard took them up and kept them for themselves.  
This Pomp is made when as the Turk is in good terms with the Persian: But when as they differ, and that matters are disposed to war, the estate of things change. The Turk 〈◊〉 show in his entry before the Ambassador of Persia, of such Soldiers which he hath in Constantinople and thereabouts: and entering into the City, from his Country Palace of Da● Bassa, he marcheth about the streets with above a hundred and fifty thousand fight men well armed; as Amarath the Third did a li● before he sent his Army into Persia, where he defeared his Enemies, and get in a short time twelve rich Provinces from the Persian. When as this Prince had made show of so many war like tro●pe to the Ambassador of Persia, who was to 〈◊〉 wi●h admiral of 〈◊〉 some tribute which had 〈…〉 he sent him 〈◊〉 by one of his Bashaes' then all the 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 which he had s●ene in Constantinople, were but the 〈◊〉 which be kept in 〈◊〉, and that he should 〈◊〉 of the great ●mber which he had in field; the which being led into his Master's Country, they would 〈…〉 Commanding him in the 〈…〉 of Constantinople within three days, 〈…〉 go into Persia, there to attend his slaves which would 〈…〉 Turkish 〈…〉 and 〈…〉 place.   

CHAP. XVIII. The Grand Signior going to Sea, to 〈◊〉 himself.  
SEeing that the Ottoman Monarch domin●es over the best parts of the Earth, and extends the power of his Empire upon the waves of the Sea, it is fit and reasonable he should take his recreation and pleasure upon either 〈◊〉. The precedent Chapter hath 〈…〉 going ● by land: This shall describe him taking his pleasure at Sea, where we may follow him without danger; for 〈◊〉 never imbarques himself but the wind● are still, the 〈◊〉 are calm, and the superficies of the water p● and 〈◊〉. He goes out of his Serrail by one of the Gates of his goodly Gardens, which have a prospectes the Sea, whose 〈…〉 with many Pillars of P●phyry: Her into his 〈◊〉 called in the Turkish Language 〈◊〉, having above 〈◊〉 ●anks and 〈…〉 to a Bank▪ He 〈◊〉 his self 〈◊〉 the Po●pe, the which is gorgeously 〈◊〉 with Vel●t and such like stuff, embroidered with gold. He 〈…〉 Cushions of Crimson Vel●▪ which serue● him for seats 〈◊〉 the Turkish 〈◊〉 His 〈◊〉 Familiars, eunuchs of his Serrail 〈…〉 him: Only the B●stangi●assi, which is his great G●rdin▪ and his Pilot in his recreation, may sst in his 〈…〉 more commodiously, whereof 〈…〉. A troop of young 〈…〉 with such 〈…〉 through 〈…〉. They 〈…〉 and have Caps of the same 〈…〉 Oar with such care, as they employ themselves without failing: four other Caques go some little space before, to advertise all other Vessels to pass out of the way, or to stay, & not to pester by their encounter the way of this redoubted Sultan: they do it speedily (what is there in the Lou● which doth not obey him?) & seeing him far off salute his greatness and by the acclamations of their joy, wish him all happiness: Some other Caiques follow his, in the which are those of his family, to whom he would give leave, to be partakers of these pleasures. During this, he hath a wise lesson of the vanity of greatness, by the consideration of the inconstancy of the Element which bears him, if he would apply his mind unto it: But he passeeh that time in the ordinary trade of Kings, which is to raise up, and overthrow the fortunes of men by the effects of their love or hatred. For the Bostangi●assi, who is at his back, with the helm in his hand, and who alone hath leave to speak then unto him, informs him as he pleaseth of the affairs of his estate, of the carriage of the Officers of his Crown, of the designs of his Bassa's, and of the insolency of such as he favour above the rest. Sometimes he delivers the truth nakedly and plain unto him, and sometimes he doth disguise and dissemble it as his passion doth advise him, and doth cunningly practise the ruin of those which think themselves assured, and are many times without crime. A precedent to ●ch● 〈◊〉 ●uch it doth imp●r● them to know the estate of by themselves▪ and not by others, and to learn in seeing the carriage of their subjects, and to do in their Monarchy, as shepherds do in their troops, have a care of them, for the eye is not circumvented so soon as the ear, and truth enters seldom or disguised into their Palaces, if they themselves 〈◊〉 di●t by the hand. The greatest liars among men remain in Court, and there do easily vent out their fabulous inventions: Private interest is the 〈◊〉 Divinity which they adore to the which they refer the ambition of their thoughts, the flattery of their disco●rse● and the malice of their actions. The Bostangibassi finding his Mastermind be 〈…〉 had from all knowledge of affairs 〈◊〉 unto a plain Table, he paints thereon what he pleaseth, friendship for 〈◊〉 and hatred for others: He makes the guilty innocent and the innocent guilty: He raises and ruins according to his humour▪ So at the 〈◊〉 from this 〈◊〉 walk, the Bas●a's have sometimes felt the storms of a new disaster in the change of their fortunes: Doubtless the favours of the Court are very frail and inconstant, seeing that a puff of wind, a word may overthrow them: And as wind disperseth smoke, so the great Gardiner's discourse doth cause the greatness of the Bassa's of the Port to wither and fade. The which should teach the Favourites of Princes, seeing their fortunes are transitory and fading, to employ their credit in virtuous actions, which may serve them for a solid support, honour their lives, eternize their memory with posterity, and preserve them from ruin. But to speak these thing▪ to most part of those of that condition, were to sing unto the deaf, and to show colours to the blind: for the great prosperities of the Court blind the mind, and dull the judgements.  
When as the Sultan hath glutted his desires, with the delights of this Marine walk, and filled his ears with the Bostangibassi's tales, he returns to the Serrail, where being landed, the Azamoglans draw the Caiques out of the water, and lodge them in Vaults made for the purpose, which are within the walls of this Palace: The which they do, and put them to Sea again commodiously and with great facility.   

CHAP. XIX. Of the Grand SEIGNEURS' Physicians, Chyrurgians and Apothecaries.  
GReat Princes in the midst of their humane felicities are not freed from the crosses and discommodities of life, and much less from the infirmities that afflict them, to the end their pride might be humbled, and they should acknowledge themselves to be men. The Sultan Emperor of the Turks seeks ease for his griefs aswell as other monarchs: He entertains usually for he service of his person, ten Physicians of the most skilful of the East: Most part are jews, for the men of that Nation study carefully in Physic, and prosper well. And seeing that the Turks neglecting Learning do not attain to those Sciences which are necessary to make a good Physician. Amidst this number there is one superior to the rest, called in their Language Lecchin Bassi, or the first Physician: Their entertainments are great, and the Presents they receive make them rich: The first of them is reverenced in the Serrail, they serve him with the same bread they give unto the Sultan, which is a dainty kind of bread made of the Grain which is gathered at Bursia in Anatolia, reserved for the Prince's mouth: He hath what favour he can desire in Court, and his Master honours him extraordinarily: Necessity is a powerful Daemon, and his virtue makes him also to be honoured. But the merit of Physic hath made it so commendable in the World, and in Court, that many Kings have crowned it with their own Diadems: 
See what Marcilius Ficinus a learned Florentine doth write in the first Book in the Epistle to Thomas Valerius a Physician.  Sabor and Gyges have practised it in their estates of Media: Sabid married it to his Sceptre of Arabia: Methridatus to that of Pontus: and Hermes held it as great a glory to be a Physician in Egypt as to be a Sovereign King.  
When the Sultan is sick, his Physicians are called to visit him; if they hold his infirmity to be of continuance, they are presently lodged in the secret Serrail which is the Prince's quarter, in Chambers near unto him: They give them two servants to attend them; and they may not go out of the Palace, what necessity soever doth press them, until the Sultan be recovered or dead. But when he is in health, they are only bound to go three of them every morning, into the Apothecary's shop in the Serrail, and there to attend until noon, if there be any need of their help.  
The Sultan's Chirurgeons and Barbers have less liberty: They may not go out of the Serrail where they lodge, but on the day of Bairam, which is the Turks Easter, unless it be by the Prince's permission: The youngest of this profession serve him as Pages, some others are eunuchs, which attend the service of his Chamber: These shave him when he desires, and wash him in his Baths, when he goes to temper the heat which troubles him, or to satisfy the commandment of his Law.  
The Apothecaries are also lodged in the Serrail, their number exceeds both the others: So their Service is more ordinary. There are eighteen Masters which work, and three hundred Boys which serve them, most of which go once a year to search for Simples on the Mountains and Valleys for the composing of their Physic: Four Masters most expert in their Art are Superior to all those: They call them the Priors. The shop of these Apothecaries deserves so many men as serves this great Prince, it is above fifty fathom long, and half in breadth: The great Vessels which do beautify it, furnish it abundantly with all sorts of Oils, Syrups, Ointments, Waters, and other liquors proper for Physic: On the side of it are four goodly Chambers full of diverse sorts of Drugs. Besides these there are two others situate towards the Gardens, where during the Spring which doth enamile the Earth with flowers, and the Summer which doth crown it with Fruits, they draw the essences, and distil the Waters which are fit for Physic. But in all these Vessels, amidst these Drugs and diverse Quintessences, they find not any remedy which can mortify the amorous Passions of the Prince, wherewith he is continually afflicted: They devour his leisure, 
Null● emor est medica●ilu herbis. Quid. Metamor●l. 1. fab. 9  interrupt the exercises which are more worthy of his person; and ●eiect him under that which he is, and make him a slave to his slaves: for loving them desperately, he lives more in them then in himself.   
The end of the first Book.   

THE GENERAL HISTORY OF THE Serrail, and of the Grand SEIGNEURS Court. The second BOOK.  

CHAP. I. Of the public Divan in the Serrail, where they dispatch and judge all Affairs.  
IN the second Court of the Serrail, where as a goodly Fountain, covered with the shadow of many pleasing Cypress trees which environ it, pours forth a clear stream, as if it were liquid Christ all, is built upon the left hand, at the end of a long Gallery, a great Hall, where as the Sultan causeth the Divan to be kept four days in the Week; that is to say, on Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. This word Divan signifies a College, whither many men repair: whereas they distribute justice equally to any that demand it, 
Let this be spoken without violating the respect, which low unto such persons which relleve the public by their care in Suits, of whom I have no intent to speak in this place.  for what cause soever: And the greatest benefit they find, is that the parties are admitted to deliver their own causes, having no necessity to consume their goods and their time, (whereof the loss is irreparable) among wrangling Pettifoggers, who every themselves by other men's follies. The Turks policy gives this case unto the people, that they will not allow of any: Whosoever hath an action against any other, he brings him to the Divan by the fist, and the other dares not refuse: there by the justification of their Acts, if they leave any, or by a summary and verbal deposition of two Witnesses, the cause is judged with great facility, and the execution is not difficult: Or if the judgement be refered after the audience, and committed to some one of the judges, the importune delays, and the horror of wrangling which is practised in France, being not admitted among the Turks, hinder not a speedy dispatch.  
The Officers which assist at this Divan are the Bassa or Grand Vizir, Lieutenant General of the whole Empire, who precides: The other Viziers or Bassa's accompany him, the two Beglierbeys, the one of Nat●lia, and the other of Romania, two of the prime Dignities of the Crown, after the Grand Vizir: The two Cadilesquers or great judges of Armies Superior to all the Cadis or judges of the Empire: The three Teftardars, or general Treasurers for the ordinary and extraordinary treasure, who keep the Sultan's Coffers, and receive that great Revenue which is levied in his Estates: The Nassans Bassa or high Chancellor: The Netangi, who is as the Secretary of Estate with us, which serves monthly, who signs the Commandments, and dispatches with the Royal Signature: The Bassa's Secretary with a great number of jafitschi or Notaries, which are as Regist●s: The Cha●ux Bassi who is chief of all the Cha●ux of the 〈◊〉, which carries the Sultan's Commandments both within and without the Estate, they go in Embassies, although they be but vild and base Messengers, and execute the Decrees of the Bassa's; is at the doo●e of this Davan with a great member of his company, to execute that which the Grand Vizir shall command: He carries a Staff of silver in his hand for the mark of his authority. And all these men aswell Bassa's as others of inferior quality, come into this Hall of the Divan by four of the clock in the morning, with a commendable diligence, to discharge their duties in the administration of justice, until twelve.  
The places and ranks are observed according to the eminency of their Offices: The Grand Vizir sits first in the midst of two long forms fastened to the walls, which look towards the door, like unto the Seats of Audience for justice in France: On his right hand (which is the less honourable in Turkey) the Bassa's seat themselves: The two Cadilesquers are on the left; He of Romania or Greece, as the most noble Province, precedes him of Anatolia: At the entry of the Divan on the left hand, are set upon a form by themselves the three Teftardars: They have at their backs all the Notaries or Registers, sitting on the ground with paper and pens in hand, to write what shall be commanded. On the otherside of the Hall opposite to the Teftardars, is another form set apart, where the Netangi hath also a pen in his hand, being environed with his Clerks and Deputies. The parties which demand justice, being many in number, are placed in the midst of the Divan, with so great a respect and silence as they dare not spit. This public Council is like unto that of the parties in the Louver, with this difference, that in the Divan every man is admitted for any cause whatsoever, All these Officers being thus placed, the parties plead their own Causes, & they direct their speech to the Grand Vizir, who precides in this Council: The other Bassa's never speak: If he doth judge that the business propounded aught to be presently dispatched, he than decides the controversies betwixt the parties: If it require a longer inquisition, he refers the judgement to one of the Cadilesquers, if the matter belong to the Civil Law: If it concern the Treasure or Accounts, a Teftardar is committed: and when there is Question of any falsehood, or the verification of a hand or writing, he deputes a Netangi. The affairs of greater importance, or differences of consequence, which concern strangers, he reserves them to his own judgement.  
These employments detain them from the break of day until noon: When that comes, one of the Stewards of the Serrail appointed for the Divan, presents himself in the midst of it, to whom the Grand Vizard makes a sign to bring Dinner: Then the parties retire, and the Divan is free for the Rasha's; the service is made with that frugality that is fitting for judges: For a Table, they bring before the Grand Vizir a plain stool of wood, where on they set a silver Bason, and sometimes of Copper blanched, round in form, and as big as the bottom of a pipe, upon the brims thereof they set many lo●ues, in the midst the meat, which they serve one dish after another; One or two of the Rassa's are called to eat with the chief of the Council; they bring to every one a Napkin, wherewith they cover their knees: Their meats are Mutton, wild Fowl, Pigeons, & sometimes Pullet's; the drink is of Sorbet after their manner, made of water, the juice of Citrons, and of Sugar, for the Grand Vizir alone; the rest quench their thirst with fall water: Their fruit is a Tart or some Cake, wherewith they end their Dinner, which doth not continue above half an hour: The like is ordained for the Cadilosquers, ●eftariturs, and all the rest of the Divan: Their slaves dine at the same time. The Bassa Captain of the Sea, is also of the number of those which assist in the Divan, he takes his place in the last rank of all the other Bassa's if he be not a Bassa Vizir; in that case he mounts higher towards the Grand Vizir in the order of his inception.  
Dinner being thus ended without pomp, without excess, and without dissolution, the Grand Vizir disposeth of the most notable resolutions which have been taken in the Divan, and prepares himself to god and make report thereof to the Grand Seigneur; On Sunday and Tuesday, which are the days of Divan for public affairs, and the Council of Estate. This Prince descends to that effect into a Chamber which is near unto it: being arrived, he calls his Officers unto to him one after another. The Capigilar Agassi carries this command. He holds in his hand a long staff of silver, like unto a Beadle's Mace: First of all they call the Cadilesques, they rise up, make a low reverence to the Grand Vizir, and follow this Mace-bearer and the Chaoux Bassi, who is joined unto him with his other staff of silver: Under their conduct they go before the Grand Seigneur into his Chamber, they reverence him and in a manner adore him: For there is not any Sovereign Prince upon the earth, whose subjects stand in more fear, nor yield him so much reverence. After this they yield him an account of their places, than they retire backwards like men that had consulted with some great Divinity, and so go to their houses. The Mace-bearers go to fetch the Teftardars, these yield the like salutation to the Grand Vizir that the others had done; they go before the Grand Seigneur, they speak unto him of his treasure and of the affairs of their charge; and having satisfied him, they retire like the rest, with their heels first. This custom always to turn their face in retiring is not only practised with the Prince, but also observed with the Bassa's, who according to the Laws of Turkish Civility, would hold it a contempt, if in parting from them they should turn the back. After the Teftardars, the Captain of the Sea if he had been in the Divan, goes to relate unto the Grand Seigneur, the estate of his Vessels of War, with that of Arms and Munition which are in his Arsenal. The Aga or Colonel General of the janissaries, which are the Turkish foot▪ enters not into the Divan, he remains in the second gate of the Serrail, being set under a Gallery assisted by the Soldiers: He goes first of all to audience to his Master; and returns to his seat, until all the rest be retired; for he goes last out of the Serrail: The Viziers go one after one unto the Sultan, and being come into his presence they frame themselves to an incomparable respect: They join their hands, and bend down their heads and eyes to the ground, and stand silent: For amongst them only the Grand Vizard may speak unto the Prince; He comes last with a grave pace, as the party that bears the burden of all the affairs which have been treated in the Divan; he yields an account unto his Master, who confirms the judgements, or disannuls them, as he thinks good. Moreover, he leaves him instructions in writing, in a Purse of Crimson raised Velvet, the which he laye● before him with unspeakable reverence and humility; then he retires like the rest, unless the Emperor stays him longer to inform himself of the estate of his most important affairs.  
Thus the Turks do justice to men, whereof the quick expedition might repair the defects which they meet with, and yet in that place particularly they are reasonably exact to yield unto every man that which is due unto him: The fear of their own ruin if they had no virtue, were sufficient to make the balance eeven and strait. For the Turkish Princes are accustomed to go by one of their Chambers unto a Window, only shut up with a Lattice, the which looks into the Divan directly over the head of the Grand Vizir: From thence he hears what is spoken, and treated; with the complaints of parties, and the Decrees of judges; if iniquity do sway the minds and mouths of those, to deny unto the weakest the relief which justice doth owe them, against the violent oppressions of the Mighty, the punishment which he takes is very exemplary. Doubtless, as the foundations uphold a house, so justice is a strong support unto an Empire, without the which it cannot long subsist. Kings, whose principal office is to yield it unto men, aught to cherish it above all things; It doth advance them above other men, and makes them to reign happily; and without it violence draws all disorders in their Estates, troubles them, and ruins them in the end: They themselves without justice, are like unto those bodies which are troubled with the falling sickness, whom weakness and pain afflicts: This divine virtue should not only be the soul of their Decree, but the soul of their soul: In justice they shall possess all the other virtues, for it contains them all.   

CHAP. II. Of the Azamoglans, or Children of the Tribute of base condition which serve in the Serrail, and elsewhere.  
THe Christians labour so profitably to enlarge the Turks Empire, as they not only furnish them with occasions, by their wretched division, but they also breed them up men, which in time are the most generous of their troops, the greatest in their Court, and the most triumphant in Towns & Christian Provinces: But in this last, force and the constraint which these Barbarians use towards them, makes them more excusable, than when they abandon the reason and the interests of Christianity, to the blind passions of a fatal discord: For they see come into their houses, throughout all Greece or Morea, and in the Country of Albania, a troop of the Grand Signior Capigis, deputed to make the exaction of the richest, and the most exquisite Tribute, that can be levied in a Country, the which is of men, the best proportioned, and enriched with the gifts of Nature. There they choose the soundest, the goodliest, and the most active of all their Children, out of every three one, the which they do every third year; and having drawn together above two thousand, they lead them to Constantinople. At their arrival, they attire them all in Robes of Cloth of diverse colours; they give unto every one a yellow Cap of Felt, like unto a Sugarloaf. In this Equipage they are led before the Grand Vizir, who being accompanied with all the other Bassa's and Minister's of the Serrail, he makes choice of those that are most active for the war: These young men are set apart, and conducted into the Serrail by the Bostangibassi, or chief of the Gardiner's, and a part of them distributed where they wanted. Then they circumcise them: being children of Christians they become young Turks, and for an inconstant fortune of the World and of the Court, they lose the eternal happiness of Heaven, in the way whereof their first belief had directed them. They cause them to learn the Turkish Tongue, and if their spirits be capable of more, to read and write. But all indifferently are instructed to wrestle, run, leap, shoot, dart an Azegaye, and in all other Exercises, which are fit for them which will make profession of Arms.  
The rest of this goodly choice of the young Children of the Tribute is in the power of the Grand Vizir; He doth lodge them, and distribute them diversely; some are sent into the Sultan's Gardens and Houses of Pleasure; others are put into the Galleons and Vessels at Sea, which make Voyages for the Sultana's; The Patrons charge themselves, and are bound to restore them when they are demanded. They place a good number in Artificers shops to learn diverse trades, whereof they may serve for a Squadron when they shall be janissaries and especially in the time of War. The Bassa's and all the great Men of the Court have their part; They are delivered unto them by their Names, Countries, Marks of their face or elsewhere, and by the colour of their hair; they bind themselves in writing, which is contained in a Book for that purpose, to the end that if the necessity of the War should force the Captains to fill up their companies, in the place of those that are dead, they may take these to that effect. But most commonly they give the rudest and grossest to these Bassa's; and they employ them in their Stables, Kitchens, and other base Offices of their Houses. They which remain of these Azamoglans, are sent into diverse Seminaries, under the conduct of diverse eunuchs which have the charge, and take the care to breed them up, to be one day capable to bear Arms, and to serve in the War in quality of janissaries. These Children thus placed the Grand Vizir represents them in a Book to the Grand Seigneur. This Prince assigns them an entertainment according to his pleasure, and augments the pay which the great custom doth allow them, which is of four or five A●pres by the day besides their nourishment and apparel: He assigns the assignation with his own hand, and sends it by the Vizard to the Testardar, to the end he may be careful to pay it according to the order: He sees them every three Months, and visits them one after another, calling them by their names, to know the number of those which are dead, and to see how they be fed and governed.  
But the Azamoglans appointed for the service of the Serrail, are employed about base and vile things as the meanest of all those which are of the Royal Family: They serve for Labourers in their buildings, they employ them in their Stables, Kitchens, Gardens, to cut wood, and to carry it, to lead Dogs to the field as their Servants, and to do whatsoever their Superiors command them, whereof some have charge of ten, others of hundreds, and these are also under the authority of the Chicaia, or Steward of the Bostangibassi; the toil they undergo, the pains they take, and the miseries which they endure make them the most patient men in the World, and their Masters instruct them to mortification by most rigorous courses: the least fault is rewarded with fifty blows with a Cudgel, the which are sound set on. But their baseness is not without honour nor recompense: There are charges and eminent Offices among them to the which they succeed by the order of their antiquity, and their patience may make them hope and aspire to the place of a steward, yea of Bostangibassi, to show that there is nothing so base but long labour and invincible sufferance, may advance in time. For to come unto the dignity of Bostangibassi, is to be familiar with the Prince, to be great in Court, to speak unto him when he walks, to conduct him at Sea, and to govern his Brigandine, and to have an honourable privilege to wear a Turban in the Serrail, which is no less than among the great Men of Spain to speak unto the King with their heads covered.  
The Gates of the Serrail are the limits of their courses, they never go forth upon any occasion unless the Bostangibassi leads them with him when he goes out of the Palace to execute the Prince's commandments, and to ruin the fortune of some great Man of the Court, as he did in the year 1614 That of Bassa Nassuf, whom he caused to be strangled in his Bed, for these secret Commissions are most commonly put into his hands: When he takes what number of Azamoglans shall be needful, he slips in amongst these, the children of natural Turks at the entreaty of his friends, yet with the consent of the Sultan, and placeth them where they may be advanced, their Lodgings & abode are about the walls of the Serrail towards the Sea, where they dwell in Chambers, they have their Baths, their Stoves, and their Kitchens, and live at their own will; for they have their allowance apart: when they have leisure, they employ it in fishing, they sell what they take, and reserve the gains to themselves: They never see the Sultan but when he comes to walk in his Gardens, or goes a hunting, than they follow him, and Quest in the fields like Spaniels. They do not supply the companies of foot, when there is any want of janissaries, out of this number: If they go out of the Serrail, it is to be better bred in other Seminaries, whilst they are young: or when they are of riper age, the Grand Seigneur gives some of them to his Favourites, whom he sends out of the Serrail, as Bassa's of Cairo, Damas', or some other Governments of his Empire; they make use of these Azamoglans for their Stewards, Quirries, Treasurers; and such like Offices in their Family: Moreover, when the Prince goes a Voyage, or to the Wars, he leads a great number with him to pitch his Tents, unlade his stuff, and to do other manual works.   

CHAP. III. Of the Azamoglans, of better breeding and condition, who in time attain unto the Lignities of the Turkish Empire.  
Virtue hath this proper to her natural beauty, to make herself to be generally esteemed, and acknowledged even by most barbarous Nations: she doth not only make those admirable which do possess it, but doth also give the Title of their Nobility to their Posterity, and makes them commendable. The children that are well borne taken for Tribute from the Christians, make trial thereof in Turkey, whereas the Turks honour their Birth, and separate them from the rest, to be better bred and instructed in Exercises which make them worthy of the greatest Officers of the Empire: They teach them the Texts of Mahomet's Law, the ornament of the Turkish Learning, they instruct them in arms, and in all things which may add perfection to men, which are to attend continually near unto a great Monarch. They are all Christian slaves; but we shall see in the course of their fortune, that their slavery is a way, by the which patience doth lead them to the liberty to command Provinces, or whole Realms: and their condition doth teach us, that it is a happy infelicity, and an unfortunate happiness.  
The Capinga or great Chamberlain of the Serrail, brings some into their number, borne of natural Turks, commendable for their good dispositions, yet seldom and with the Prince's leave. For the custom of the Empire in its most ancient Constitutions requires that such Children should be Christians Renegadoes, the noblest and most civil that can be found. So when the advantages of the War, give unto the Turkish Armies victories against Christians, or the taking of their Towns, and they find therein young children to the age of twelve or thirteen years, the Bassa's reserve them for the service of the Grand Seigneur. For the Turks hold an opinion, that the Nobility of blood makes spirits generous and inclinable to virtue; especially when the care of a good education doth polish and make perfect the gifts of Birth, as they do in the Serrail with these young men. The Discipline, which they cause to observe is, so rigorous, as whosoever performs it in all points, becomes the most modest, the most patient, and the most mortified man living. The Masters which have charge of their persons, are white eunuchs, severe, froward, fantastic, and suspicious, as most of your gelded men be. They never speak unto them but in choler, and spare not their Bastinadoes, whereof they are very charitable; they make them watch and endure all pains; so as many of these young men, when they come to the age of twenty years, they seek all means to fly this severity: And although they know that they are in the course of a great fortune; yet they had rather get out of the Serrail, with the simple quality of Spain or Mutaferaga, which is like unto our Men at Arms or light house, than to suffer any longer the rigours of this Discipline. Their number is not certain, the Serrail receives as many as they send; but usually they are about three hundred. The order and method wherewith they breed them up, doth testify that the Turks have retained nothing of barbarous but the name, and have sent us the effect.  

1. Oda.  They call the forms where they instruct them Oda; this word signifies a Chamber: They ordain four, by the which these young men must pass, before they attain to Offices, whereunto the capacity which they learn doth advance them. In the first are placed all those of this condition, which enter into the Serrail at a childish age: There they circumcise them if they were not before; being made Turks, they teach for their first Lesson Silence, and the Countenance they must carry for a mark of their Servitude, and withal a singular Reverence towards the Sultan, which is when they are near him to hold down their Head and Eyes, and to have their Hands joined, or their Arms crossed. For most of those which s●rue the person of the Ottoman Prince, never speak unto him, nor look him in the face. At their coming into the Serrail the Prince sees them, causeth them to be enroled in a Register, by their names and Countries, and commands the ●●●●ardar to be exact in the present payment of the Money which is appointed for their entertainment. A white Eunuch overseer of all the other eunuchs which teach them, as it were the Principal of a College, takes also care to see them well instructed. After the first Precepts they teach them to read and write, and above all to pray after the Turkish manner, and the worship of their Religion, with an incredible care, 〈◊〉 the space of six or seven years, which is the time they remain in this Oda.  
After this long term they pass unto the second Oda, 
2. Oda.  where more understanding Masters than the first, teach them the Persian, Arabian, and Tartar Languages, and practise them in reading all sorts of written Books (for the Turks use no other.) Moreover to speak Turkish elegantly, the which they may do by the knowledge of those three Tongues, whereof the Turkish Language seems to be composed. For to hear them speak they do easily discern the difference there is betwixt them and those which are not bred up in like manner. They add to these exercises of the mind, those of the Body: In this Oda they teach them to handle the Sword or Scimitar, to shoot, to cast a Battle-axe, to dart a Ia●ehn or Azagaye, and to run lightly; all this is done in places separated from the Oda, at certain hours appointed with great attention, where the eunuchs spare not their Cudgels, but beat them sound for the least fault. They continue six years in these Exercises, after which they are Men and sit for all pain and labour.  
Then they come unto the third Oda, 
3. Oda.  where they do not forget what they had learned before, but practise it still; and moreover they learn to be good Horsemen, and to vault with disposition, to be the morefit and active for the War: Every one according to his inclination doth likewise learn an occupation, to serve the Prince's person; one to make Turbans, another to shave Hair, to cut his Nails, to wash him in the Bath, to make clean and fold his Clothes handsomely; some to lead Dogs to the Wood, others to be skilful in Hawks and Hawking, to serve for Stewards or Queries, to be employed in the Chamber, and to other Offices necessary for the service of great Princes, wherein they grow to that perfection in the space of five years as they are able to instruct others: Whilst they are in this third Oda, they may not see any one abroad but with great difficulty, and in the presence of an Eunuch; all conversation with others is prohibited, but with those of their Oda: But they must do it with all modesty and honesty: For if the Eunuch who is their Superior, shall enter into the least suspicion of the contrary, they shall be assured to be sound beaten, either upon the soles of their feet or upon the back after the Turkish manner, so as many times they leave them for dead. They sleep in long Rooms which may contain fifty little Beds made only of Matteresse: They lie in their clothes, in the night time they have many lights burning, their Eunuch's sleep among them, betwixt every ten Beds lies an Eunuch, to keep them in awe: Day and night their Masters examine them, to see if they be firm and constant in the belief of the Alcoran: For being ready to pass to the fourth Oda, and from thence to the greatest Offices of the Empire; if they had in their souls any love of their first belief, they might procure some great prejudice to the Turks estate. Having employed all care, and finding them truly Mahometans, they conduct them to the fourth Oda.  

4. Oda.  At their entry into it, they enter their names and Countries again into another Book, for all pass not into this last place of their continual travels: But those only which have finished their time in the other form, and by their diligence have made themselves capable to serve the Prince and State profitably: As labour and rest touch one another, so the end of one is the sweet beginning of the other; These men find it in this Oda, their Pension is augmented; instead of cloth wherewith they were formerly attired, the Sultan gives them Robes of Silk and Cloth of Gold: They have liberty to converse, with the greatest men of the Serrail and with the Bassa's, who seeing them entering into great places, adore the Sun rising of their Fortunes, make them great Presents, and seek to win their friendship by rich gifts. Besides these pleasing signs of a new happiness, whereas they were before all shaved, they suffer their hair to grow upon their Temples, to cover their Ears, an assured sign, that they shall be speedily of the Royal Chamber, they follow the Grand Seigneur in all his walks (where he is without women) and out of their number he takes the most familiar Officers of his person, and of his Favourites.  
As the Sechletar Aga, who carries his Sword.  
The Chioda Aga, which is he that carries the Royal Robe, called C●am●e●.  
The Rechioptar, or Rakduntar, he which goes at his Stirrup, when he is on horseback, or his chief Footman.  
The Materagis Aga, he which carries a Vessel of Gold full of water when the Sultan marches.  
The Tubenter Aga, he which doth garnish and carry his Turban.  
The Chiamaci Aga, he that doth wash his Linen, or his chief Landrer.  
The Camedir Bassi, or great Master.  
The Chilargi Bassi, or chief Butler.  
The Dagangi Bassi, or Master Falconer.  
The Sarrigi Bassi, or chief Cutler.  
The Nunasinugi Bassi, or chief controller of the Treasure.  
The Turmachis Bassi, or Firnaagi Aga, he that pares his Nails.  
The Berber Bassi, or chief Barber.  
The Amangi Bassi, he that washes him in the Bath.  
The Teskelegi Bassi, the great Secretary, or first Secretary of State.  
All which are the most ancient of the fourth Oda, and stand before the Prince when he comes out of his Chamber, with that respect and reverence which they learned in their youth in the first Oda; which is to be silent, to hold their heads down, and with their eyes fixed upon the ground, for they never speak, nor look their Master in the face; If he commands them any thing, it is by signs after the manner of dumb men, and they do execute it speedily, they carry his meat, which they receive at the Court gate from the Steward's hands who is without, and they deliver it from one to another, until it comes to the Grand Master, who sets it before the Grand Seigneur. This Prince is much pleased with the mute conversation of such men, who dare not entertain him but by signs: he causeth them to ride, and to practice running and leaping, he causeth them many times to cast a bar of Iron, and to make such like proofs of their force and activity. He favours them with many Presents, as Robes of Cloth of Gold, Swords enriched with precious stones, Purses full of Sultanins, and many other things of value. Moreover to the end that his Agalaris may gather the more money, to supply the expenses of their Equipage, when they shall go out of the Serrail with the Titles of Governors of Provinces, he gives them dispatches for Embassies: These men sell them to the Chaoux, or bargain with them for a Moiety or more, of the present which they shall receive from the Prince, to whom they are sent, the which is of no small importance: For the Princes which hold and depend of the Ottoman, when he confirms them in their Dignities, and sends them the marks thereof, by a gilt Staff, a Throne, or a Crown, they are bound to give to him that is sent a Present of that value which is set down in the great custom of the Empire, the which doth tax every one to a certain sum: And of this number is the Vallachian, the Moldanian, the Transiluanian, the Tartar, and many other Vassals, and Tributaries of the Ottoman Crown. This Present is divided betwixt the Chaoux, who receives it, and the Agalari who gave him, or rather sold him the Commission: Thus they every themselves, and make a stock to furnish themselves upon the first occasion, the which presenting itself by the death of some Bassa, they are made either Captain of the Sea, or Bassa of Cairo or Damas', or elsewhere. Besides these great and glorious Dignities, the Grand Seigneur doth honour them sometimes with the quality of Musaip, that is to say, he that may speak unto the Prince, and go to him in private: The which the Turks esteem above any thing in the Empire, the which the Ottoman monarchs do for a double intent, both to gratify those whom they love, and to have men among the greatest of the Court, to inform him of the Bassa's actions, and to discover their Erterprises against the good of the Estate and the Prince's person. But all the Agalaris are not so bountifully advanced. Those whom the Sultan will send out of his Serrail, with meaner dignities, he makes them Aga of the janissaries, Spacular Agassi who is Captain of the Spahis, or at the least Cap●igi Bassi who is chief of the Porters.  
When they go out of the Royal Palace, by any great or mean dignity, they carry with them all the wealth they have gathered together. Many young men whom a desire of liberty, and a curiosity to see the World, rather than any care to advance themselves, hath made them abandon the exercises of the Oda, and their importunities have forced the Prince to dismiss them, go forth with the rest without any quality or office, and with little entertainment by the day: But when as he that is advanced to the quality of a Bassa, and Governor of some remote Province, is ready to go out of the Serrail, the Grand Vizir sends to receive him at the Gate, by his Chicaia, who is a Steward or Overseer of his house, with a troup of Horse to do him honour, and causeth him to be conducted to his Palace, receives him with all courtesy, gives him many Presents, and doth accommodate him with lodgings for three or four days, until his own be provided in the City: After that he hath given order, he settles his Family, and gives the chief places, to such as came out of the Serrail with him, he stays sometime in Constantinople, until his hair be grown, for he was shaved at his coming forth, and likewise to receive the Presents which the Sultana's send him, as goodly Linen and rich Works: And those which the Bassa's present him, as Tapestries, Horses, Robes of Cloth of Gold, and all sorts of movables necessary for a man of his condition: He may be at that time about forty years old, having consumed the best of his days, in the expectance of this fortune. They of the other Odas succeed him by the order of their reception, the which is exactly observed in the Serrail, and favour cannot deprive any man, if he hath not committed some notable fault in the royal Palace: so as they of the third Oda do partly know by the succession what shall become of them, and wish daily, that it would please the Sultan, to send some of his Agalaris to Offices abroad, to the end they may make place for them.  
This new Governor parts not from the Court to go unto his charge, before he hath given thanks to the Capiaga for the care which he hath contributed to his advancement, terming himself obligeth unto him, and that he would depend of him for a perpetual acknowledgement of his favours, entreating him to hold him in his protection, near unto the Prince's person, upon all accidents that might happen. He makes this Compliment in the Serrail, without the Gate of the Sultan's Quarter; for being once forth he enters no more, unless the Prince calls for him, to treat with him, concerning the affairs of his charge. Such is their fortune, which have suffered their actions to be governed by patience, and have laboured to make themselves capable to serve. But such in the choice which the Ottoman Monarch makes of men, bred and severely instructed in their profession about their persons, to be in time the greatest Officers of their Empire, where they never advance to such Dignities uncapable men, who in the whole course of their lives, have not learned any thing but to play as Tennis, to cast the Dice, to speak brutishly, and to practise all sorts of vices. Wherefore we must not wonder if the Turks Estate prospers, seeing that amidsts great number of young men, they 〈◊〉 the choice of the best Wits, to be 〈◊〉 up with care under good Discipline, which makes them honest men, and 〈◊〉 to the gifts of a happy birth the perfections of 〈…〉 must of necessity serve for the 〈…〉 great Man, He that is borne a 〈◊〉 will 〈…〉 them make choice of the best Wits to supply their Religious House 〈◊〉 they have always amongst them most Learned and most rare Men, and as long as they shall follow this course, they shall make themselves 〈…〉, and admirable: Without a natural disposition, they may well sow, but they shall never reap, and no man ever made a good Sparrow-hawk of a Buzzard.   

CHAP. IU. Of the four White eunuchs, the chief Men of the Serrail, and of some other eunuchs.  
WE have said elsewhere that the women's Serrail hath no other Guard but black eunuchs, which are sent young to the Court by the Bassa's of Cairo, to be bred up to that place. The Sultan's Serrail receives none but white, the which are chosen in their infancy, out of that pleasing troop of children well borne, which are taken for Tribute from the Christians, whose fortune the precedent Chapter doth describe. They are cut or mutilated with their own consent, and not by force, the which would in danger their lives: The promises of the greatest Offices in Court, and the hope one day to enjoy Dignities whereunto they see such men advanced, over-swayes their will, to suffer themselves to be cut, the promise are true, for in time they attain to the greatness of Turkey, But the principal of these eunuchs, and the most ancient among them, which are about the Prince's person, the first and most powerful Heads of the Serrail, are the four which follow.  
The first is the Capiaga great Chamberlain of the Empire, in most authority in the Serrail; as he who may speak unto the Grand Seigneur, when he thinks good; he doth always assist near unto his person, wheresoever he goes, whether he go out of his Royal Palace, or enters into that of his women, he follows him unto the door, where he leaves men to advertise him in his Chamber, when the Sultan retires. Embassies, Packets of Importance, Instructions of Estate, and all great Affairs pass through his hands▪ to come unto the 〈◊〉 which make him necessary to all others, and gets him as many rich Presents, and as much money as he can well desire. This without comparison is more beneficial unto him, than the entertainment he hath in the Serrail, the which is regulated at ten Sultanins by the day, which make four pounds of our sterling Money, many Robes of Silk and Cloth of Gold, with such movables as he desires. Moreover, his Table is furnished at his Master's charge, and at the same time that his is. He carries a Turban in the Serrail, and goes on horseback where he pleaseth.  
The second is the Chasuadar Bassi, or the Treasurer of the Princes secret treasure; he hath one key and the Grand Seigneur another, who doth also set his Scale unto it. He hath care to lay up the gold and silver which comes from Egypt, keeps an account of it, and enters alone into this Treasure with the Sultan, he adviseth him for the gathering together of money, and entertains him with a subject which was never displeasing to Prince: The importance and necessity of his charge, make him to be much esteemed: For gold being the delights of men, whosoever hath the oversight, makes himself both powerful and necessary among them: Moreover, he hath the keeping of all the jewels of the Crown, and likewise of those which they present daily unto the Sultan; he gluts his eyes with the lustre of the goodliest Pearls, and the richest Diamonds that the East doth produce: Those which his Master gives, and wherewith he doth adorn himself on a day of pomp, pass through his hands. He lives in the midst of the Treasures of the Serrail, with hope to succeed to the place of Capiaga, if death forceth the other to abandon it.  
The third hath the charge of Chilergi Bassi, that is to say, great Dispenser. He is, as with us, the Master of the King's Wardrobe; by his place he hath a care of the Sultan's Apparel, and of other things which belong unto his person. Moreover, the pieces of Cloth of Gold, which they send for Presents, the exquisite Furs, the rich Swords, the Plumes of Feathers, and such like which they give unto the Prince, and those which he himself gives, are under his custody. He keeps a particular 〈◊〉, to the end they may see the price of that, which enters into this sturdy Wardrobe for Princes, and the value of that which goes forth in the same qualities: This exercise keeps him always in breath; for the custom of Turkey, (well practised in the Serrail) being to give and to receive, doth furnish him with employment enough to pass the hours of the day far from idleness. He hath under him to assist him in this painful labour a great number of eunuchs. The diligence which he must show herein, binds him to remain in a manner continually within the Serrail, his entertainments are his Table, many Robes of Cloth of Gold, a thousand Aspres by the day, or eight Sultanins, with many rich Presents. But the favour wherewith his Master doth honour him, makes the greatest article of his Revenue: he hopes by the means hereof to enter into the place of Chas●adar Bassi, when it shall be void. He carries (for a mark of the honour which he enjoys) a Turban in the Serrail, and rides within it, aswell as the two former, and he that follows; for these four eunuchs have this prerogative above the other Officers of the Ottoman Monarch, residing in the Serrail.  
The fourth is also an old pale withered Eunuch, aswell by the course of his years, as the want of that which they have cut away, who enjoys the Office of Sarai Agassi, which in Turkey is like unto the Captain of the Castle of the Louver in France, but with more lustre and authority, and so he hath more labour and care: For being to look unto the whole Serrail, the ordinary Mansion of the Ottoman monarchs, he must perform his charge so exactly, as such Princes will be served; he doth often visit all the Quarters and Chambers of this stately Palace, to see in what estate they are, and hath a care to see the meanest Officers do their duties, (which is more than with us, to add unto the charge of the Royal Palace the Office of a Master of the Household) that the Serrail be furnished with all things that are usually needful, he remains within it in the Sultan's absence, to maintain order, and to see that this royal Lodging be always in good estate. He hath the same entertainment with the Chil●rgi Bassi, and hope if his years de●●iue him not, to succeed in his place: For the order of the Serrail, doth not suffer suffer them to fly unto great Officer, but it will have them mount by degrees. You shall not see men there, grow up in one night like unto Mushrums or Toad-stooles; long attendance, and long services advance them to the places which they deserve. Thus the Shasnadar Bassi aspires to that of Capiaga, the Ch●lergi Bassi to that of Shasnadar Bassi, and this last to his. These four eunuchs attend usually in the Prince's presence, only the Capiaga may speak unto him, and not the rest, unless the Prince doth question them about their Offices. Besides these Honours and Offices of the Serrail, the Prince doth sometimes honour them with the quality of Bassa, and Governor of a Realm, as of Egypt, Damas', or elsewhere: They also attain unto the place of Grand Vizir, which is the first of the Empire, and by the authority thereof lead Armies into Provinces, where they go to make war. The which gave occasion to a generous Governor of a place belonging to the Christian in Hungary, to answer an Eunuch, General of an Army, who had summoned him to yield, that the practice of women was to sew and spin, and not to take Towns. The Grand Seigneur advanceth them in this manner to great places without the Serrail to a double end; the one to acknowledge their long services, the other to have their places, wherewith to advance other eunuchs, who during their long services have attended, that they should either die or be sent Bassa's into some remote Provinces. For the Serrail doth nourish many eunuchs under the sweetness of these hopes: They may be about two hundred of all Ages.  
Such as cannot be advanced by order of antiquity to these eminent places in the Royal Palace, are notwithstanding employed in things of less quality; some keep in distinct places, as Closets or Cabinets, those exquisite things that are given as Presents to the Prince, as great places of Ambergris which the Bas●a of 〈…〉 in his Government, and sends to the 〈…〉 Gods of Masque, gives Vessels full of excellent 〈◊〉 of 〈…〉 thridate, Balm of Cairo, Terra Sigilat●, 〈…〉 Bezar-stones, Vessels of Agath, Turquoises, 〈◊〉 Crystal, and other things of price, which they 〈…〉 and neatly for the Prince's person, others have a care of rare Furs, the use whereof serves for his health, with a thousand other Rarities which they bring from the Indies. Besides all this there is employment in the Serrail for many other eunuchs, which keep one place, whither they carry all the rich movables confiseated, of the great men of the Court, who have been executed for the enormity of their crimes, or by the sinister inventions of Envy; and likewise of other persons which die rich, for being all slaves their goods belong unto the Prince. Those eunuchs receive these goodly movables, and give advice unto the Sultan who goes to see them; and makes choice of what doth like him: the rest is set to sale in the Serrail, only to the Officers thereof, and if there remain any thing unbought, it is sent to the public Market of the City, and sold to them that will: The Money that is raised is delivered into the hands of the Chasnadar Bassi, who puts it into the secret Treasure. Some other eunuchs have for their employment the charge of other Serrails and Seminaries, where the Prince doth cause the youth to be instructed at his Charge, as in royal Colleges, both at Constantinople, Andrinopolis, Bursia and elsewhere. Thus by the wise Policy of the Serrail they which serve are advanced, for an example to the younger sort to fly idleness, and assurance that their continual labour, shall be one day crowned with an honourable and profitable recompense.   

CHAP. V. Of many other Officers serving in the Serrail, and the Sultan's Person, and of the number of Men which serve in this Palace.  
BEsides these eunuchs advanced to great Offices, and those which are under them, there is a certain number of other men, which do usually serve the Sultan's person: Some are Grooms of his Chamber, others in a more eminent Dignity: all ordered by thirty, as thirty for his Shirt, thirty for his Waistcoat, thirty for his little Cassock, which the Turks wear under their Robes, thirty for his Furs, thirty for his Turban, thirty for his Girdle, thirty for his Breeches, thirty for his Stockings, thirty for his Shoes, thirty to make his Bed, thirty to dress up his Chamber, and thirty to order and dispose of the Movables, thirty for his Arms, as his Bow, Arrows, and Scimitar, thirty for his Sceptre, thirty for his Imperial Crown, thirty for his rich Hangings, and as many for his Cushions; not that they serve all at one instant, but by order from time to time.  
They which serve for his Mouth, are many in number, governed by four principal Officers subordinate one unto another: The first is the Argihassis, who hath a care that every man do his duty. The second is the Mimmute Pag●, who doth furnish the money daily, that is necessary for the expenses. His place doth give him a privilege to speak often unto the Prince, to learn from him what he desires to eat. He hath like unto the former four Sultanins by the day, his Table and two Robes yearly, the one of Silk, the other of Cloth of Gold. The third is the Checaya, an Office like unto the controller General of the King's House in France, he is in a manner equal in authority to the Master of the Household, he reconciles the Quarrels, which Envy or Pride do breed among the Officers. He hath four Sultanins a day, and yearly two Robes of Silk and Cloth of Gold. The fourth is the Mutpariazigi, which is as a Clerk of the Office; All these men employ their cares, and the authority of their places in the Princes Kitchin. Without there serve many Sahangylers, as Stewards, or rather Gentlemen servants, which carry the meat; They are near fifteen hundred men, which serve at diverse times in diverse troops.  
The number of other inferior Officers in the Serrail shows that this stately Palace is of great expenses, and that the Prince which lives there is powerful and magnificent. The Baltagis which fetch wood for the Bakehouse and for other fitting, are above two hundred; The Bostangies or gardiner's, are eight or nine hundred, so vast and of great entertainment, are the Gardens where this great Monarch doth walk. The purveyors only for wild Fowl or Poulterie, are five hundred, the Grooms of the Stable eight hundred, and the other men of the like condition increase the number of the inferior Officers of the Turkish Emperor's house: So as they do number within the Serrail, thirteen or fourteen thousand Mouths, which are daily fed at the Sultan's charge, comprehending the Quarter of the Women.   

CHAP. VI Of the ordinary Victuals of the Serrail, and of the Provisions thereof for the nourishment of the Prince, and of those which serve there.  
AN order being so judiciously established in the Serrail, and so exactly observed, it hath not forgotten the necessary provision of victuals: They are brought and preserved with admirable husbandry, contrary to the ordinary confusion of Prince's Houses. First, the Corn is gathered for the Sultan's mouth, for the Sultana's, the great Bassa's and the Mufti, (for all of them have their part) in the Territory of Bursia, a Town in Bythinia, where retain for the purest and best of all the Eastern parts: They retain for the Serrail eight or nine thousand Quilots, every Quilot is two Bushels of Paris measure: The Mills erected to that end in Constantinople grind it, the great Ovens of the Serrail bake it into bread, and this goodly order distributes it by rule, as to the Sultana's twenty Loaves a day, to the Bassa's ten, to the Mufti eight, and to other inferior persons much less, and to some but one. This distribution is contained in a Book, which the chief Baker keeps, to cause it to be observed. The Corn which is appointed for the great number of men, which serve in the Serrail, is gathered in Gracia, and brought to Constantinople, to the quantity of forty thousand Quilots, and distributed with the like order to those for whom it is ordained. For there they feed men with necessary sobriety, to make them labour seriously in any business whatsoever.  
The Victuals, be it for the Annual provisions, or for the ordinary of the day, are brought and distributed with the like order: About the end of Autumn, the Grand Vizir appoints certain days to see the Pastromanis made, for the Kitchens of the Sultan, and of the Sultana's; They are made with the flesh of Cows that are with Calf, that they may be the more tender, they salted them as they do Stags or Hogs in Christendom; about that time they kill to the number of four thousand. The Serrail esteems this kind of meat, among the delicacies of their Feasts, and the Turkish Families if they have any convenient means make likewise their provision; this great store of flesh is for the whole year. But the purveyors do furnish the Serrail daily with two hundred Sheep, a hundred Lambs, or a hundred Kids, in their season, forty Calves, forty Geese, or Goslings, a hundred couple of Wild-fowl, a hundred couple of Hens, a hundred pair of Pigeons, with some other small Birds which the Poulterers bring. There comes no fish into the Serrail, but to please the appetite of some of the Agalaris who desire to eat it; then they cause it to be taken on that side of the Palace which looks towards the Sea, the which doth abundantly furnish all sorts of fish.  
The excellent Oils which the Sultan's Kitchen doth use, comes most commonly from Coron and Modon, in Grecia, a plentiful soil for Olive-trees. Candi● only doth furnish that which is employed for the Prince's service: for besides the delicate bounty of this liquor, it is without any ill sent, the which growing old in others makes them unpleasing. They have great provision of Butter in the Serrail, the which is brought from M●ldouia, and other places thereabouts; It comes down by the black Sea in great quantity but salted, the Turks do not seek after fresh Butter; either for that they know not the quality, or neglect it: Milk is little in use among them; that which is brought to Constantinople, is only bought by the Christians or jews; If the Turks make use of it, it is after it is sour, for than they say it doth quench their thirst.  
Other provisions of Victuals are drawn from those Provinces where they most abound, and are best. The Galleons make two Voyages yearly to Alexandria, to fraught themselves with Pulses, Sugars, and Spices, as much as shall be needful for the Serrail, and the chief Bassa's of the Port; yet the Turks use not much Spices, lest it should provoke them to drink wine, so expressly defended by their Law. Egypt doth furnish Dates, and the best Prunes that come into the Serrail. Apples which are the chief delights in their Turkish Feasts, and whereof they make a plentiful provision, are gathered in Vallachia, Transiluania, and M●ldauia, and brought unto the Serrail in great abundance: those which they serve unto the Sultan, are for their delicate sweetness bought in Candy. Italy doth also contribute to the Provisions of this great Serrail; the Bailiff of Venice, residing at the Port, causeth a great quantity of Parmasant Cheese to be brought for the Grand Seigneur, his Sultana's and Bassa's: they are pleased in the taste, and the Feast would not be acceptable if this meat were wanting.  
All these things concern the food, for their drink they make a liquor in the Serrail, called Sorbet, composed of the juice of Citrons, Sugar, and Water, and sometimes they add Ambergris, most excellent to drink; so it is only reserved for the Sultan and his women: The greatest men of this Imperial Palace make for themselves, as the four principal eunuchs, of whom we have spoken, and some few others: The Ice refreshing it in Summer makes it more delightful; They make their provision of Ice from the Mountains about Constantinople, they bring such great store, as the charges (before it be put into those places where they keep it) comes to twenty thousand Sultanins, or eight thousand pounds sterling. The rest of the Royal Family quench their thirst at those goodly Fountains, which power forth delicate water abundantly for the whole Serrail: Wine enters not into it without violating the Law of the Alcoran, which hath so severely forbidden it; and whereof the wisest of the Turks detest the use; they call it the Spur of Sensuality, and the Tomb of Reason.  
The Wood which serves for their Kitchen, is supplied with the like abundance; they measure the quantity by the weight, for so they sell it in Constantinople, aswell as in some Provinces of France, and particularly in Landguedoc: They cut it in the Grand Signior Forests, and this provision costs him least of all those that enter into his Palace. Thirty great Caramonsailes, chosen among an infinite number of his Shins take it in, and sailing by the channel of the black Sea, deliver it into the Serrail; his slaves have cut it down, sparing good summer of money to the Chasus or Treasure without, whereunto the charges would amount, both for the cutting and carriage.  
But if the victuals of the Serrail be furnished in abundance and excellency, the Kitchens which employ them are supplied with the goodliest Implements, which can be seen in a Sovereign Prince's house. Most part of the greater Vessels are of Brass, kept so neat and clean, as the very sight of them will give content and amazement 〈◊〉 other Implements which are of Copper blanch, are so great in 〈◊〉 they cannot well be numbered. The loss which happens many times is not small; the four days of Divan, many strangers eat in the Serrail, and they which have learned to ●●nish themselves at another's cost, take occasion to practice their Trade, and to take it where they can find it, and 〈…〉 a quantity of Vessels, as the great 〈◊〉 hath sometimes been of opinion (to avoid this great loss) 〈…〉 of Silver; and to commit the 〈…〉 who might answer for them▪ 〈…〉 the great charge and the fear of an 〈…〉 might befall 〈◊〉 hath always diu●r●ed him.  
Such are the victuals and other punishment 〈…〉 ●●nish the Palace of the 〈…〉 ●●der find the relation of the 〈…〉 the subject of these lines, let him consider that without this Chapter, the others which compose this History could not be: For this wanting victuals to supply the Ottoman Cou●t, the glory and lusts of his great Serrail could not be without them, nor be able to furnish matter for this work. The members of man's Body (saith the Fable) did one day mutiny against the Belly, who they thought slept in perpetual idleness: The rogue speaking for all the rest showed, that whilst the eye see, the ears heard, the hands laboured, and the feet walked, only the belly was idle and at rest, that it was fitting, that in his turn he should discharge some one of their Officer: They so resolved, they employed it, but nourishment failing them, for the want of the natural exercise of the belly, they gr●w cold; pale, and without motion. The truth of this take reacheth us, that by labour we must live, food maintains life in its natural functions, and this Chapter furnishing this stately Court wherewith to subsist, gives this History the subject of his employment.   

CHAP. VII. Of the sick Men, and of such as die in the Serrail.  
THe infirmities of the body, do most commonly follow the dispositions of the mind, and dissolution doth sooner cause them than any other thing; Courtiers feel the inconveniences of their 〈◊〉. Where they of the Serrail fall 〈◊〉, they put them into a clost Wagon, in the which they are drawn by men, and con●●cted to the Hospital, whereas the order of this 〈◊〉 house, and the Turkish Charity, do what they 〈…〉 them, the one gives care to the ordinary Physicians, 〈◊〉 the other (which as we have said is very great) forgets 〈◊〉 to assist them: They are so exactly guarded, as no stranger may speak unto them, until they have recovered their health, after which they are restored to their first Lodgings, and the exercise of their places. But if they die, the Law of the Court enjoins, that they of the Chamber or Oda, whereof the dead man was, shall be his heirs, and share the goods which he hath left, except it be some one of the four chief eunuchs, before mentioned, or the Chistar Aga of the Sultana's, who is black; for then the Prince is sole heir of his precious movables, and of the abundance of money which this wretched man had so greedily gathered together, by the sinister means, which follows the ambitions of the Court; having lived poor in his servitude, to die rich in the same, and to restore to the Sultan's Coffers, that which his avarice had drawn away. Such eunuchs do usually leave great wealth in Movables (for the Turks have no Lands) and particularly when their long services have advanced them to the Dignities of Governors of Provinces, than they have liberty to dispose of a third part of their estates, to make a Will, in the which the Sultan is always Executor, he gives shares to the Legataries, and many times takes all for himself, by the right of his Prerogative, and that of Master, not only of the goods, but also of the persons of his Empire: for all men being his slaves, he is their first and lawful heir.   

Chap. VIII. Of the Grand SEIGNEURS hunting.  
MOst of the Turkish Emperors, in the effeminacy of their Idleness, where they wallow wretchedly in the bosoms of their Concubines, have taken hunting for a pleasing diversion: But some finding it more pleasing than others, have loved it with more passion. Bajazet the first of that name, (who reigned in Turkey when as the weakness of Charles the sixth, suffered the disorders in France, which had like to have ruined it) was so transported with this exercise, as he therein spent the best of his days: his Court was fuller of Huntsmen than any other; whosoever went to advance his fortune, must go with a Hawk on his fist or a lease of Greyhounds in his hand; for the best course to rise in Court, is to follow the inclinations of the Prince, how brutish soever they be: Then a Falconer grew great, and a Rider got an Office, but a virtuous man was rejected and grew poor. What private men did, to merit this Monarch's favour, foreign Princes did imitate to win his love. john Earl of Nevers son to Philip the Hardy, Duke of Burgundy, accompanied by the Lords of Tremoulle, La March, Covey, Philip of Artois, Earl of Yew, Constable of France, Vienna, Admiral of France, Boucicault, Martial of France, the Lords of Breze ', Montrell, hely, and many others, led to succour Sigismond King of Hungary, a generous army of French, against the Turks which were in N●copolie: Bad intelligence and rashness ruined them, their troops were defeated by the succours of Bajazet, the men were put to the sword, the Earl of Nevers taken Prisoner, with the chief of the French Nobility: The Turks Prison is rough, and a Prince how great soever must suffer. Philip the Hardy to mollify the savage humour of the Turk, and to bind him to better usage of his Son, sent him Presents, and particularly many white Gerfaulcons, whereof he made great account: and to testify the pleasure which he received, he enlarged the Prison of this young Prince, and led him often a hunting. Therein the French observed the brutish passion of Bajazet: His Falconers had cast off a Gerfaulcon after a fowl unsetsonably, he grew into a fury, and would presently have put two thousand of those men which followed him to death with their Hawks upon their fists, if the earnest iutreaty of the Earl of Nevers had not diverted him: Then he vented out his choler in words, and told the Busgonian, that he did more esteem a good Hawk or a good Dog than any of his men and (adding this brutish speech) he said he could have as many men as he pleased, but for good Hawks, or good Dogs he could hardly find them.  
In his hunting whosoever did hurt a Dog unadvisedly, he was guilty of Treason, and was punished in like manner: But He, who with his powerful Hand controls the pride of Princes, measured him in the like manner. Tamburlaine King of the Tartars defeated him soon after in battle, took him with his Wife, and made less account of his person than of a Dog or a Hawk: When he dined he caused him to be set under his Table in a Cage of Iron, and cast him bones to gnaw: Ministering matter to History, to write this example to Posterity, to the end that Princes that love hunting, may not suffer their reason to be surmounted with the fury and brutish impatiencies of this exercise. The hunting train of this Prince was so great, as for hawking only he had seven thousand Falconers, which were entertained until the reign of Mahomet the Second, who coming to the Empire, looked upon this fearful troop of Falconers with amazement; and as he had no inclination to hunting he cashiered them all, and answered the entreaties of great Men, who spoke to have them restored, with these words: God forbid, that I should give my bread to such unprofitable persons, ordained for so vain a pleasure. Hunting is an honest recreation, easeth the mind, exerciseth the body, and he that loves it, shows the quickness of his spirit, and the agility and disposition of his person: But the time which he employs must be measured, free, and not stolen by violence from more serious employments, the which ought always to be preferred before this commendable pleasure. Hunting must be generous, and they must take that by force which they pursue, and not by cunning and policy, 
Plato amongst others in his book, de le g●b. d●cl. 7.  as to set Nets and Toils for beasts, than it is base, idle, and forbidden by the wise, who have laboured to settle flourishing Commonweals under the government of good Laws.  
Solyman the Second, he which took Rhodes, and erected the Turkish Crescent in the best Towns of Hungary, did often spend his time in hunting; during his Reign, he employed a whole year, which was in the year 1531, when as Italy apprehended that the great preparation of a fearful Naval Army, had been made for their ruin, and the Venetians pressed with jealousy, that it should cause some dangerous tempest in their Gulf, under pretext of seeking the Pirates of Malta, which did annoy the Turkish Merchants. they sent unto the Kings of Hungary and Polonia, to the end they would entreat Solyman not to trouble himself to send his Army into their Seas, and that they would promise and undertake, to keep the Levant Seas free from all Pirates: It succeeded according to their desire, Solyman being retired to Andrinopolis, spent the whole year (as we have said) in the pleasure of hunting.  
The Turkish Emperors which have succeeded him loved this exercise. Osman the last dead, entertained a great number of Huntsmen and Falconers. These Princes hold it a glory to make a show of them in their stately entries into Constantinople, as we have formerly observed, where among the troops of Huntsmen, we see Falconers with their Hawks on their fist, have a Leopard at their Saddle pommel covered with Cloth of Gold; they hunt the Hare or the Stag many times with some content; they pursue the Boar, although the use of it be forbidden by their Law: If they take any, they give the flesh to Christians, or cast it away, and reserve the skin to cover Books for the which it is very good, and preserves their Volumes long: Those which have come into my hands bound at Constantinople, are excellently well covered with Boars skins, although they be not artificially done as with us at Paris.  
But Superstition the Sovereign Mistress of Turkish Spirits, hath a share in this pleasing exercise, when they hunt upon the day of their Coronation, or when as they conceive the designs of an important war, they hold it for a good presage if they take the first beast that is put up; but this pleasure of hunting doth not so possess them, as it makes them forget the care of serious affairs. The Turkish Emperors have been accustomed in these sports to take the advice of their Bassa's, of the occurrents which concern the estate; they call them unto them in the field, they speak unto them, and command them to deliver their opinions: In Court they call this manner of consulting, The Council on horseback: whereby we may learn that this Nation is not so barbarous as men conceive, and that if they reign so powerfully over so many Provinces and Realms, it is not accidentally and by chance; their care and judicious Council give unto their Empire a wise Government.   

CHAP. IX. Of the train which follows the Grand Signior Court.  
THe number of men lodged and fed in the Serrail, which amounts to fourteen thousand mouths, would make those imagine, which know not the power of the Turkish Emperors, that many Sovereign Monarches, lodged together, had drawn all the Officers of their houses into one Palace. And truly he whom they serve having vanquished and ruined many Kings hath made an union of their Crowns: His Serrail, when he lodgeth there, contains in him alone the Emperor of Constantinople, him of Trebisonde, the Kings of jerusalem, Babylon, Damas', Egypt, Cypress, Thunis, Algiers, Fez, and Morocco, with an infinite number of other smaller Sovereigns, whose Empires, Realms and Principalities he doth possess: So as so many Officers as are in his Palace, serving his greatness, serve many Crowns. But when he goes out of his Serrail, to undertake a Voyage into some remote Province, the train and followers which increase his Court is wonderful. Thirty six thousand jamzaries, make the number of his ordinary Guard on foot, forty four thousand Spabi, which areas light Horsemen, make the Cavalry; two thousand Capigas or Archers of the Port follow him: These beside their ordinary Guard, execute the Office of the Ministers of justice, with men of meaner condition that are under them: Two thousand Solachiss, which are Guards on foot about the Sultan's person, are of his train: Four thousand Chaoux, Men employed in Embassies, and in the executions of justice march after him. There are also fifteen hundred Sahangylers, or Gentlemen Servants, which carry his meat unto the chamber door, where the Pages receive it and deliver it to the Capiaga, who sets it upon his Table. The number of men for base uses is not less, if we consider wherein they are employed, there are three thousand Grooms of the Stable, and a thousand Riders for hunting; the Balthagiss which cut the wood, and bring it to the Kitchen are eight thousand: There are a thousand Thavegys, which are purveyors, or Victuallers: two thousand five hundred Therezi, or Tailors to the Court, six hundred Bakers. And if the Voyage be made for the war, the Officers of the Arsenal, which are Commissaries of the Artillery and others, make forty six thousand men: The Gebegys which make Arms, and repair and keep clean those which are already made, are fourteen thousand: seven thousand Tufechgys or Gunmakers, follow with their Tools and ambulatory shops: eight thousand Topeys', which are the Cannoneers, increase the train of this monstrous Court. I omit a number of petty Officers, for that I have not their names.  
The beasts of burden are usually twenty thousand, that is to say, ten thousand Camels, and ten thousand Moiles, which is the ordinary for the Sultan's house, not reckoning the troine of the Bassa's which follow, the which is not so small but in seeing them march apart, you would take it for the train of a Sovereign Prince; for the Turks carry in their Voyages all sorts of Commodities, to the end they may be accommodated aswell in Field, as in the Towns of their abode. The supputation of the number of men that follow this Court, amounts to a hundred five thousand, six hundred, when the Sultan travels in a time of peace; but if he go to the war, his Court is composed of a hundred and fourscore thousand men, beside the Soldiers. So as who is he, that seeing this fearful Court to march, would not believe that it is a whole Nation, who having abandoned their own houses, go to conquer new habitations. Certainly, that which History relates of the Descent of the Northern Nations, as Cimbrians, Sicambrians, Goths, Vandals, Burgonians, Normans and others, is plainly seen there by the number of men; but with this difference, that those did but pass, and these remain still, and add to the continuance of their tedious Reign, the Rule and power over many other Nations, near and afar off, from the principal seat of their Empire.   

CHAP. X. Of the greatness of the Turkish Bassa's.  
THe brightness of the Sun doth not only show itself in the body of its Sphere, but it doth also shine in the greatest Starred. And Kings who are in their Estates what the Sun is in Heaven, do not only show in themselves the lustre of their magnificence, but it doth also shine in the wealth of the great Men of their Court. This is seen more visibly in Turkey than in any other place of the World, where the Turkish Bassa's display in the pomp of their great riches, the proud power of the Emperor, from whom they have received it. Machmut Bassa, Beglierbey of Europe enjoyed so great treasures during the Reign of Mahomet the Second, as the annual Revenues thereof, would have defrayed a powerful Turkish Army. This example would put them to silence, which brag so much of the treasure of old Crass●as, the yearly rent whereof, they say was able, to entertain a Roman Army. The least of the Turks Armies would contain many of theirs. As this Bassa had been the most powerful, and the most sumptuous, that ever the Ottoman Court had advanced to the height of an extraordinary fortune, it shall not be unfitting to deliver briefly by what means he came unto that greatness. He was by Nation a Grecian, and in his infancy his Mother who was a Bulgarian, led him one day with her, from the Town of Nebopride, to that of Sendero●●a▪ she met casually with the Turkish horse, some of them seeing this young child wonderful beautiful, took him away by force, and carried him as a Present to the Sultan their Master: The Prince loved him, and in a short time made the greatest of his Court know, that beauty is many times a powerful motive to a great fortune, he was placed among the best respected Pages of his Chamber, where he spent his younger years in the midst of the delights of the Serrail, after which he had the charge of Aga, or Colonel General of the janissaries; afterwards he was honoured with the quality of Bassa, than he became Vizir, & mounting daily higher, Romelia or Europe had him for their Beglierbey: The magnificences which he showed, during the possession of so much wealth, would be tedious to relate. One only example shall suffice for all. Mahomet the Second, caused the eldest of his children to be Circumcised; the custom of the Court will have great Men to give him Presents, as we have formerly spoken: all performed it; but that of Machmut, mounted near to a hundred thousand Sequins, which would make forty thousand pounds sterling. The Ocean must be vast and great, which doth breed such great Whales, living and walking Mountains: And the Ottoman Court must be stately, seeing the Bassa's encounter with such fortunes.  
But it may be that of Machmut will seem stale, for that it happened an age before ours: to satisfy those which love new things, and to augment the proofs of this verity, that the Turkish Bassa's are great, we will add an example which many have seen of late years. It appeared in the Levant in the year 1614, and in the person of Nassuf Bassa Grand Vizir of the Empire, whose treasures were so great, as they found in his Coffers at the time of his death a Million of Gold in Sequins, and in silver Coin eight hundred thousand Crowns, three bushels of precious Stones not wrought, a bushel of Diamonds not set in gold, and two bushels of great round Pearls of inestimable value: His other furniture was equal to his treasure; he had a thousand goodly Horses in his stable, whereof the least was valued at a thousand Crowns: Moreover, he had four hundred Mares of Arabian, Egypt, the goodliest that could be found in those Countries, with many thousand of Camels and Moils. His Armoury was full of the richest Swords that could be found in the Levant, and elsewhere: The lest had the hilts of silver: One was so enriched with Diamonds upon the hilt, as it was valued at five thousand pounds sterling. The rest of his movables were no less precious, his Persian Carpets wrought of Gold and Silk. The great quantity of Cloth of Gold & of Silk of most excellent works; the rich beds, and all, that excess of a monstrous fortune can draw into the Palace of a Favourite, exceeds the imagination of men, and gives occasion to say, that with the spoil of such men, they might not only enrich many houses, but many Cities.  
Such rich and sumptuous Courtiers go with no small trains: when they march in field, and undertake a Voyage, be it for their own particulars, or to receive the possession of the Government of Provinces, wherewith the Sultan doth honour them, the baggage which goes before, and the great number of men which follow them, doth equal, yea, exceed the attendants of the Sovereign Princes of Europe: Such a train may busy the eyes of those that see them pass, for a whole day, for so much time is necessary for the least entry into a Town, and yet many times they supply the want of day by Torchlight: It is the care of such Bassa's to show themselves, great to the eyes of the World: which makes them prodigal in their expenses, to be attended by many thousands of household servants, (if they be not ill served being a difficult thing, but such a number and troop should be importune and troublesome) to whom they give many Enunches to command them. They take a delight to be well mounted, and withal to have as many horses, as would serve for diverse Regiments. They will have their Baggage, to seem the more stately, to be carried by twelve or fifteen hundred Moiles, and as many Can●elis. The number of the Concubines which they entertain in imitation of the Prince their Master, employs the care and watchful diligence of many black eunuchs, which they appoint to keep them, and consume their great wealth. Their Lodgings are stately Serrails, which they have built with incredible expenses; as we may see in the Hippodrome of Constantinople, by the Serrail of Hibraime Bassa, whereof the Turkish Emperors have been heirs, the which is capable to lodge a great King. Their Movables and Ornaments of their Hals, are equal to their greatness, wherein they spare no cost, as the only acquisitions which the Law of their servitude doth allow them: for being all slaves, they can purchase no lands nor possessions, the which doth generally belong to the Sultan their Sovereign. But if of Caitive slaves they be so great and so proud in their wealth, what must the Master be who hath made them such?   

CHAP. XI. Of the affronts which the Turkish Bassa's are forced to pocket up in Court, and the disgraceful Chastisements which they suffer.  
THe honours and greatness of the World have their counterpoise; shame and contempt follows them at the heels: All that climb up may descend, yea fall. Thus the divine Providence hath wisely ordained, to teach man not to build his assurances thereon; and to bind him to seek them in that which is constant & eternal. The Court is the Theatre, wherein the Tragical Scene of change, shows itself; grief goes hand in hand with pleasure, and is an inseparable Companion; he cannot belong a Courtier that hath not tried it. That of the Turks doth many times make it sensible to the greatest Bassa's; in the midst of the glorious dignities of the Empire, they feel the displeasure, to see themselves shamefully entreated by the commandment of their Sovereign. For when he hath an intent to blemish their Names with eternal infamy, he causeth the crupper of their Horses to be cut, whilst they are upon them; an affront held in Turkey, the greatest that a man of their condition can receive. So was Mu● 〈…〉 in the 〈◊〉 of Selimus the first, Father to great Selye. This Prince having vanquished the Sophy of 〈◊〉, at triumphed in Tuaris, the chief City of that Repl●, was forced to lead it, when as he saw his soldiers into 〈…〉, saying plainly that they had rather lose all, when to spend the W●ter in Persia. This 〈◊〉 was very sensible, the thought to be revenged on those whom he should find to be the Motives: they persuade him that Mu●ap●a Bassa, who had credit among the ●ootmen, had induced them to 〈…〉 hangeth his 〈◊〉 upon him, and seeing him on 〈…〉 by a jester which followed him: The Bassa perceived it, and the disgrace which he received, made him to end his days in the midst of the cares and grief, which a man of his quality doth feel, when he thinks he hath 〈◊〉 the reputation, which made him to live gloriously in the World and Court.  
The infamy of this affront comes not alone; it hath for a companion, the 〈◊〉 of a shameful punishment, which the great men of the 〈…〉 ●ue, when he holds him guilty of some small crime: When he hath caused the Crupper of some of their 〈◊〉 be cut, he doth likewise ●au● others to be 〈◊〉 by his 〈◊〉▪ as it happened in the 〈…〉 the 〈…〉 Co●ell of the 〈…〉 who 〈…〉 co●ed to have 〈…〉 the 〈◊〉 the Emperor caused him to be taken and 〈◊〉. But 〈…〉 is not so 〈…〉 ●ble unto the●, is the 〈…〉 the Crupper, 
Mimio ●i ing●i●, natur●●firma, & m●●iri●, ipia 〈◊〉 i●i●ria, ins●i●entia, 〈…〉, quo● par● 〈…〉 interp●t●ti●, Senec. lib. In sapientem vi● 〈◊〉 cade● 〈◊〉.  as if the Leather of the 〈…〉 of 〈◊〉 horse were mor● 〈…〉 them 〈…〉▪ so much 〈…〉 which 〈…〉 things which 〈…〉 〈…〉 ●d Croupers to be cut, tha● 〈…〉 whip upon the body. But 〈…〉 which follow the greatness of the 〈…〉 of their Bassa's.   

CHAP. XII. In what ●i●e the Grand SEIGNEVE 〈◊〉 unto his Bassa's.  
The greatest dignities of the World are not the most happy, (said an Ancient) and the condition of 〈◊〉 monarchs hath secured miserable to some 〈…〉 had, little to desire and much 〈◊〉 fear▪ for being 〈…〉 height of humane greatness they cannot desire 〈◊〉, but continuing in the languishing of their spirit, they sometimes conceive jealousies and imaginary, terrors, and many times such as are true the which troubles, their 〈…〉 their lives, and fills them with tedious conceit. So saith the Master of Princes in the holy Writ in these true words delivered by a Prince, The heart of Kings is inscrutable. 
Cor Regum inscrutabile, Prou. 25.3.  Certainly truth doth teach us, that if Crowns and Scep● be weighty, as charge of ●re and trouble, the Office of Kings is painful; for there is nothing so difficult to man, 〈…〉 well, whereon depends the knowledge of 〈…〉. The Prince which commands must observe three things, 
Experiendo di●ticisse quam arduum quam subiectum fortuna, regendi cun●ta onus, Tacitus lib. ●. Annal.  that what he desires may be just, for the public good, and concern his own glory. The which is done by word or ●ing. The Ottoman monarchs, as Princes, retired within their Serrail, and not much communicable; command in 〈◊〉 not daily by writing, and the style which they use in writing that which they command, is particular unto them▪ We shall hardly find in Histories any one example of a Monarchi 〈…〉 wealth, in the which the Superiors have 〈…〉 so imperiously, and hath been obeyed secondly; as with the Turks; their letters breathe nothing but threats; and they speak no other language but that of cruelties. Behold some examples of those, which the Sultan● have 〈◊〉 their 〈◊〉 In the 〈…〉 third ●ring of the 〈…〉 in H●ria, which the Ch●st● had recovered, and holding this 〈…〉 very great must make this Bridge or die, he labours, hazards all, and loseth many thousand men, yet notwithstanding this overflowing of the water, he finished a Bridge in sixteen days over the River of Drove, being five thousand five hundred fathom long, and fourteen broad, supported by Boats tied one to another with chains of Iron. Solyman past his Army over it, and went to lay his siege to Segher, where he died. Assa●b●g had good & strong excuses, not to attempt the making of this Bridge, any other Prince but a Turk would have allowed of them: But he who was (as the Turks be) a bad husband of men's lives, would have it done at what rate soever. The threat of those Letters which we have related are with some condition. But the Turkish Princes many times write absolutely; as it happened in the year 1614, in the person of Nassuf, Bassa, Grand Vizir of the Turkish Empire. The Emperor Achmat the first would have his life and his treasure: He sends unto him being in Constantinople, the Bostangibassi, with two Letters written by his own hand, whereof this was the tenor of the first: Fail not presently upon the receipt hereof, in s●nd 〈◊〉 by the Bostangibassi the Seals of my Empire. Nass●f obeyed, and delivered them into the great Gardiner's hands; having received them, he drew another of the Sultan's Letters out of his pocket to Nassuf, whereof these were the words: After that thou hast sent me my Seals, send me thy Hand by him that shall give thee this Note. This command was rough, and the style of his Letter troublesome, yet he must obey, not of force, for Nassuf was in his house with a Family of above two thousand men, and the Gardener had 〈…〉 staff, and was only assisted 〈…〉 Rascals v●med, which were Capigis, or 〈◊〉 of the Serrail. Nassuf suffered himself to bestrangled, and the Bostangibassi carried away his hand in the view of all his g●as Family, whereof the least Scullions might have 〈◊〉 him with their 〈◊〉, with his goodly train. Y● 〈…〉 〈◊〉 the people of the Serrail, and knowing that it was the Prince's pleasure, their Arms were their tears and sorrows. Thus this rough means of writing proves very beneficial to the Turkish Princes, and they reap many co● 〈◊〉 thereby. First, they are not forced to 〈◊〉 money to the Governor of a strong place, who is not faithful or profitable to draw him out of it, and to buy with great sums of money (as they do in other places), the Towns and Forts of their Estates; the least of their Letters draws forth a Governor, where they place whom they please they compass great erterprises, causing that to be done by fear which love cannot do; they are less betrayed in affairs of importance, and are generally exactly obeyed.   

CHAP. XIII. Of the malicious in●ent 〈◊〉 and poisoning which the Turks use the against another, and ●sse● tally great Men.  
AMbition hath brought other Vices into the Cour●, where s●e employs there, in her designs: Slander and Treason are the 〈◊〉 of her prestable invention, and poisoning y●rs them in execution. But this last finds more employment in the Court of Mabo●an Princes than in any other part of the World● They resect in al●●mi●able mean to revenge 〈◊〉, and to content their passions. And after ●heir example the great Men and Bassa● employ it: Former ages, and the disorder of that wherein we live, turnish example. In the year 137●, 〈◊〉 told King of Gram●e, a Ma● Poi●t●, 〈◊〉 where 〈◊〉 that 〈…〉 King thereof, 〈…〉 rich 〈◊〉 〈…〉 things, 〈…〉. He 〈◊〉 〈…〉 〈…〉 〈◊〉, and 〈…〉 with an infinite number of 〈…〉 to Castite; Don Henry 〈…〉 pleased with so rates Present, he doth publicly commend the magnificence of the Turkish Prince. But he doth soon learn to his cost, that poison is rather among gold and precious stones than among poverty. He puts them on the next day, but presently the poison where with they were infected, lays him in the bed of death, and deprives him of life: Spain hath been always subject to such accidents whilst the Mahometans commanded there, and the Kings thereof had cause to fear a double poison: For whilst the Turkish Princes did attempt their persons by poison, the Alphaquis, and Priests of the Alcoran, poisoned the souls of their subjects by the contagious impurities of a false and brutish Doctrine. A little before the death of the King of Castille, he of Leon called Don Sancho, was poisoned by the invention of a Turk, who taught Gonzales, his Lieutenant at Leon, the detestable means to kill his Master in giving him an Apple, 
The Spaniards write it, and Mayerne Turquet in the seventh Book of the history of Spain.  the which this wretched Lieutenant performed: This was at the same time when as a Deluge of fire come out of the Ocean, the which carried its flame far into Spain, burn a great Country, and of many Burroughs' and Villages, made heaps of ashes as far as Z●ora.  
These examples show the malice of the Turks against the the Christians; but they do no less among themselves. A Turkish King of Fe●, not able to endure the prosperities of him of G●anad●, called joseph, a Mahometan like himself, he resolved to take away his life: He sends to visit him oftnes than he had accustomed, he makes a greater show of friendship, and after he hath received many effects of his, he sent him for a 〈◊〉 Cassock of Cloth of Gold of great 〈◊〉, King joseph receives it, and puts it on, not he had not worn it a day, but the poison wherewith the Prince of Fe● had infected i●, 〈◊〉 upon him, and gave him such cruel convulsions and 〈◊〉, as his flesh fell away in piece, and the Physicians 〈…〉 the true cause of his disease, nor could apply ●hy re● that he of Granado and by the damnable 〈◊〉, Moorish King. The like villainies which were practised among the ancient Turks, are used at this day in the Lovant, at the Court of Constantinople, and in other places, whither they send great Men to 〈◊〉 charges. In our days a Turkish Courtier affected by all means possible the dignity of Bassa of Al●ppo; the beauty of the place, the lustre of this dignity, but rather the great gain which the Viceroys make, inflamed his desire to the possession of this Government; to attain unto it he purchased by great gifts the affections of the Agala●is, or Fo●i●s of the S●rrail, which are the eunuchs attending the Prince's person: These men content his ambition, and obtained the government which he desired from the Sultan; he receives the Letters, takes his leave to go unto his charge, he arrives and is received with the applause of the people; but he had scarce begun to enjoy the first honours of this new dignity, but another doth dispossess him by the same means which he had used; he gets the friendship of the eunuchs, and gl●ts their awarke with greater gifts obtaining Letters for this place. He was advertized hereof; the displeasure which he conceived to see himself deceived by the Courtiers of the S●rrail, to whom he had given much more money than he had gotten in so short a time, that he had 〈◊〉 Bassa of Al●pp●, made him to draw his dearest friends about him, to resolve with them how he should govern himself in this important business. Many were of opinion that he should 〈◊〉 the entry i● the Town to this new Bassa who was upon the way, until he informed the Sultan, the M●f●, and the Grand Vizir of the covetous disloyalty of the Agala●ie; and this Counsel was conformable to his apprehension. But one of 〈…〉 him aside, told him, Th● 〈…〉 him, brought a 〈…〉, wherein i● was dangerous to use 〈…〉 was the safest way in such 〈…〉 him a 〈…〉 make the 〈…〉 than his had been, that 〈…〉 the Bassa which came, and 〈…〉 him a 〈…〉, and all love and friendship to him, and 〈…〉 him out of the World by the 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 Persons. They resolved it, and laboured in their design. In the mean time the new Bassa arrives, the other receives him, and yields him the place. It is the custom of the great men in Turkey, to give Presents to the new Governor when they enter in charge, some to testify that they are welcome, and others to gain their affections. This discontented Bassa, who left his charge before the ordinary time, would not be the last to present this new comer. He gives him a poisoned Handkerchief, embroidered with Gold and great round Pearls, the price thereof could not be easily valued: The new Governor receives it with unspeakable joy; for great men hold nothing so sweet in their places, as to take whencesoever it comes; but God doth many times suffer that such greedy Takers, are taken in taking, as it happened to this Bassa of Aleppo: The Handkerchief of price, which was the price of his life, contents him: He admires the work, looks upon the great Pearls, and his hands do not abandon it, until the poison forced him, the which exhaling and infecting the Bassa, they grew weak and make him to leave it; whereupon he died and left the government which he had not enjoyed: The other Bassa flies speedily to Constantinople, redemands the government, whereof he had been dispossessed, and grounds his reason upon his speedy obedience, and forceth the iniquity of the Favourites to consent that he should enjoy it. Thus covetousness had deprived him of a Dignity where it had first placed him, and poisoning restores him: Whereby we may judge what these Governors can be that are settled by such means. It is certain that the like offences are committed daily in the Turks Court by the Bassa's thereof, who employ their greatest care, to find out the most subtlest poisons, and how to employ them cunningly one against another. The most ordinary which they use is drawn from Toads: They cause a Toad to suck the Milk of a woman that hath an extraordinary red hair. When it is full they beat it gently with a little wand, they put it into choler, its poison mingles with this Milk, and it bursts in its rage; this poison is so violent and strong, that in rubbing only the stirrup of his horse whom they mean to poison, it is an assured death. Thus corruption is absolute in Turkey; for if their Prophet hath poisoned their souls with filthy Doctrine, they poison their bodies with all sorts of venom.   

CHAP. XIV. Of the filthy and unnatural lust of the Bassa's and of the great Men of the Court.  
THe great fortunes which are found in the Courts of great monarchs, produce great riches: and these furnish Courtiers with delights, in the which they glut their sensual and brutish appetites. The Bassa's of the Court, great in dignities and abounding in riches, plunge themselves in all sorts of voluptuousness, and their spirits mollified in the mire of filthy pleasures, they seek them by a contrary course, and demand that of nature which she hath not: Being many times tired with the love of women, they abandon their affections to young Boys, and desperately follow the allurements of their beauties: They embrace them, and use them in the place of women. This abominable vice is so ordinary in the Turks Court, as ye shall hardly find one Bassa that is not miserably inclined unto it: It serves for an ordinary subject of entertainment among the greatest when they are together; they speak not but of the perfections of their Ganimodes: One says, they have brought me from Hangarie the most beautiful and accomplished Mi●i●a, that over was borne among men: he is the height of my felicity, and the only object that my thoughts adore. Another saith, I have lately bought a young Infant of Bassa, who hath not his like in all the East, and I dare assure you his 〈◊〉 is not humane, but that of an Angel: Some So● of the company entreats him earnestly to have a fight, and that he may be satisfied by his eyes. These are the discourses of those lustful ●ts. The care they have to keep neatly, and to attire richly those poor stirs, destinated to so damnable an use is not small: the eunuchs which have them in guard are always near them, to beautify them outwardly, they plaite their hair with Gold, and sometimes with Pearls, they perfume them, they attire them in Robes of Cloth of Gold, and add to their natural beauty whatsoever Art can invent: what virtue, what wisdom, what piety can be found in a Court composed of such men? He that is the Head and commands them, doth furnish this pernicious example; for the Sultan's Serrail is full of such Boys, chosen out of the most beautiful of the East, and vowed to his unnatural pleasures: This doth countenance this disorder and corruption in the Ottoman Court: Such as the Prince is, such are most commonly the Courtiers which follow him: the principal Maxim which they give for a precept to their fortune, is to follow the humours and manners of the Prince, whatsoever they be, yea, many times they incite the Prince to these disorders. The miseries and diasters which happen daily in Turkey, are too many to be couched in this History. The great Men kill or poison one another for such subjects, Families are in combustion, Wives make away their Husbands, and Husbands their Wives. Mabemet the second Emperor of the Turks, was ●abde in the thigh, and if any misfortune seem monstrous among them, this vice which is so monstrous doth produce it: Men well bred abhor it, Heaven detests it: 
Sodomia & idololatria simul inceperantsimul creverant, D. Tho. 4 sent. dist. 1. q. 2. ●. t. 1  When it was borne upon the Earth, Idolatry was her sister Twin. So being the aversion of Nature and the contempt of the Author thereof, Heaven doth punish it, and casts forth the fire of his wrath upon those which are polluted therewith; whole Towns have been consumed, men eternally lost, and the memory of the one and the other in execration upon the Earth. The Turks do not punish it; they allege, as we have observed in the History of their Religion, that God hath reserved the chastisement to himself, and they bring an example of a miserable wretch who had abused a young Boy which stabbed him. This Sodomite being thus slain, Mahomet their Prophet sent his Kinsmen to open his Tomb, and see how many wounds he had; they came and saw no body, but found in the place a black and smoky stock. Hence they say, that seeing the divine justice doth punish those that are culpable of this offence, they must leave the execu● him, and in the mean time suffer this unnatural ex●. The Turkish Ladies detesting these damnable affections of their husbands, have also abandoned themselves by their example or for revenge, to another disorder: the following Chapter will show it. For the husbands are many times the cause of the loss of their wives; and the contagious example of their vices, gives them occasion to ill, and to fail in their faith to him, who had first broken it.   

CHAP. XV. Of the Loves of the great Ladies of the Turks Court, and of their violent affections among themselves.  
THe provocations of a hot Climate, the servitude of women restrained, and the bad example of loose and luxurious husbands, are the principal Motions of the loves, whereunto the Turkish Ladies abandon themselves. Some to have free exercise, take occasion to see their Lovers, when as they are allowed to go to the Bath, to receive the Purifications which their Law doth enjoin them: others better qualified, from whom the commodity of Waters and Scoves which are in their houses, hath taken away this pretext, make use of other man. Sometimes they borrow the habit of their slaves, and thus disguised go to find them they love: When this course is difficult, by the encounter of some great obstacle, they employ man and woman (whom they reward) to find them subjects which may please their eyes, and content their passions; but this last means is more apparent and better known in Constantinople: for such Messengers of 〈◊〉 discovering themselves to some that refuse them, they di● their secret. They address themselves usually to Christian strangers of the West, and if they can find Frenchmen, the service they do unto their Mistresses is the more pleasing: The disposition of their humours, the grace of their bodies (say they) and the ordinary courtesy of their Nation, makes them more desired. But it is dangerous to serve the passions of such Lovers, where the recompense and the reward or a painful love, is a Dagger or a Glass of poison: For these cruel women, when they have kept some young stranger three or four days hidden in their Chambers, and have made use of him until he be so tired and weary with their lasciviousness, as he is no longer profitable, they stab him or poison him, and cast his body into some Privy: Whether it be that they fear their affections should be discovered, or that their light and inconstant humours, doth always demand new subjects, or that it is the nature of their lascivious love, to change into Rage and Fury tragically cruel. They which are advertised at Constantinople, avoid this danger, and reward their pains which speak unto them with a flat denial, but not without danger: For such Messengers aswell as the great ones that employ them are Witches, and revenge a denial upon the person of him that made it, as it happened of late years to a French Gentleman, which was at Constantinople, when as the Baron Sausy did serve the King there as his Ambassador: This Gentleman going to the Divan, which is the public Audience of the Serrail, was encountered by a woman, whose age, habit and discourse did show plainly that she did pleasures for the Turkish Ladies: She came unto him and used these words: Hast thou the courage to see a fair Lady, which is in love with thee? He who knew well with what Mertils such Ladies are accustomed to crown their Lovers which have served them, excuseth himself for that time, pretending some important business which drew him to the Serrail: But he promiseth at his return to content her desires, imtearing her to attend at the passage. In the mean time he goes to the Serrail, follows his business, and having dispatched in, ro●es to his Lodging another way, and leaving the woman in the impatiency of a deceitful attendance, she saw herself in the end deceived by this Frenchman: who to revenge this affront, had recourse to her Witchcrafts, and employs them against him: They work their effect, and this Frenchman found himself suddenly seized with a kind of Palsy: The sick man took his bed, and was continually afflicted with sensible pains and convulsions. The Physicians were called to his help, but all their learning could not find out the cause of his infirmity, nor prescribe a remedy: Some days passed in these extremities, after which an old Turkish woman offers to cure him; she visits him, and having looked upon him she told him in her gibbridge: I will soon cure you: But tell the truth, have you not refused some Lady that sought your love? By her Charms she expelled those which tormented him, and restored him to health: After which, this man going in Constantinople, he encountered a woman which told him in his ear; Remember another time not to abuse the courtesy of Women which affect you, and deceive them no more by your vain promises.  
All the women of Turkey, and especially those of Constantinople, do not tie their affections to men only, they grow passionately in love one with another, and give themselves to false and unlawful love, especially the wives of men of quality, who live cooped up in Serrails, under the guard of eunuchs. This vicious appetite doth domincere over them so tyrannously, as it smothers in them the desires of a natural and lawful love, and many times causeth them to loathe their husbands. This disorder may grow for that their affection wanting a lawful prize, they tie it to a strange object: Moreover, the revenge of the unnatural love to their husbands, carries them unto it; for most men of those Eastern parts, and the greatest are given to that beastly and brutish lasciviousness. These Ladies love one another most ardently, and come to the effects of their foolish loves, they embrace one another, and do other actions which love seeks, and modesty forbids to write. They whom this strange love makes slaves to others, go to find them in the B●th to see them naked, and entertaining them upon the subject whereof they languish, make such like discourses in their Language: They had reason to say that the Sun did plunge itself in the waves, seeing that you are in this water, the which by Nature should quench the fire, but it kindles my flames when you are in it. Is it possible that you should receive to the enjoying of so rare a beauty, other persons than those of your own sex, which are like yourself? Fly the embrace of Men, which contemn us; and have no love but for their like, and enjoy with us the Contentments which they deserve not. When as a foolish womanish Lover, hath made such like discourses, she goes into the Bath, and burns with a flame which it is not able to quench, she embraces her Lover, kisseth her, and attempts to do that (although in vain) which I must here conceal: And these loves of woman to woman are so frequent in the Levant, as when any Turks are resolved to marry, the chief thing which they inquire of, is whether the party whom they affect be not subject to some woman whom they love, or is beloved. Thus these people live far from the light of true Faith, in the darkness of Mahometan ignorance, which have carried them to the excess of all sorts of vices.   

CHAP. XVI. Of the four principal Bassa's of the Port.  
THe four chief Bassa's of the Port, and the four prime Wheels, which move this vast and powerful Turkish Empire are the Vizir Azem or the Grand Vizir, the Captain of the Sea, the Aga of the janissaries, and the Captain of Constantinople, called the Captain Bassa: Their places are the chief of the Empire, and the glory there of gives them respect with the Prince, to be honoured by great Men, and feared by the people. The Vizir Azem, or Grand Vizir holds the first place next unto his Master, he is Lieutenant General of the Empire, and Armies, high Chancellor and chief of the Divan, which is the Council where justice is administered; the Captain of the Sea is high Admiral, and General of Naval Armies. The Aga of the janissaries commands all the Turkish foot, as sole Colonel thereof. And the Captain of Constantinople governs the City, and takes knowledge of the chief affairs which pass. These four Bassa's differing in Offices and Honours are notwithstanding powerful in authority, the which is of such weight, as they give and take the Crown from their Sovereign Prince when they think good. We have seen the experience of late years, in the persons of Sultan Mustapha, and Osman: Achmat ended his life and Reign in the year 1617., he left two young sons; Osman and Amurath: He knew by experience that the weight of such a Crown could not be borne by a Child, and that the absolute government of the Turkish Monarchy required a man: He called to the succession of his Sceptre, his brother Mustapha who had been fourteen years a Prisoner in his Serrail, and made him to taste this sweet change, to come from a Dungeon to a Throne, and from the fetters of a tedious captivity, to that power to command the greatest I state upon the Earth. But the great rigour of his command, and the extravagances of his inconstant humour, made him odious to the Captain Bassa; he gained the other three, who drew the Soldiers and some great men unto their party, they unthroned him, put him into his Prison, and set up Osman son to his brother Achmat. This example was in our daye●: but that which followeth is so fresh, as the news hereof came when I was labouring about this work. Osman not well satisfied with the affection of the janissaries, (who are the sinews of his Estate) and disliking some of the four Bassa's, had an intent to change the Seat of his Empire to Cairo, and to abandon Constantinople; he prepares himself, gathers together as much Treasure as he could, and covers his design, with the pretext of a Pilgrimage to Meque, where he said his intent was to accomplish a vow, and to make as great a gift as ever Prince made unto a Temple of what Religion soever. When as he had managed his enterprise unto the day of his departure, when as his Galleys were ready, and the Bassa of Cairo come with an Army to receive him; the janissaries were advertised, they run to the Serrail with the consent of the Aga, the people are moved, the Captain Bassa stirs them up, they take the Sultan in his Chamber, kill some great Men in his presence, drag him into a prison, and there make him to suffer a shameful death by the hands of an Executioner, having drawn Mustapha his Uncle out of Prison again, and crowned him the second time Sovereign Sultan of the Turkish Empire. That which is here set down for true proofs of the authority and power of these four great Bassa's. They are not alone in greatness, although that no man doth equal them in all the Ottoman Court; There are two Beglierbeys (that is to say Lord of Lords) the one of Romania or Greece, the other of Anatolia or Asia the less. The Nissanzi Bassa or ordinary Chancellor, who signs all the Dispatches of the Court; three Teftardars which are the high Treasurers, through whose hands the Revenues of the Empire doth pass. The Raise Kintap, whose charge is to keep the Books, Papers and Records of the Empire. Besides these there are many others of less consideration. Doubtless, as Whales are in the vast and deep Seas; so great and eminent Dignities are in great Empires, and those of Turkey make those which enjoy them to seem like so many petty Kings about the person of a great Monarch.   

CHAP. XVII. Of the Tymar, Tymarriots and Pensioners of the Port.  
THe Turks give two sorts of pay to their Soldiers, the one is called in their Language Vlefe ', which is paid daily by the Treasurers of the war and is the entertainment of ordinary Soldiers: The other is called Tymar, or pension assigned upon Houses, Lands, or whole Burrougheses; this is not given but to men, who by their valour have done some notable service to the Prince, and deserved well of the public: These Pensions are honourable, the recompense of their virtue, and the mark of their merit. It seems that the Turks have borrowed the name of this recompense from the Grecians, who called it Tymarion, and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which signifies Honour. Such Pensioners are called Tymariots, they are most commonly Spahis and Horsemen, who enjoy the honour and profit of such Pensions taken out of the Lands in Turkey which belonging all unto the Prince, by the right of Sovereign Master of the persons of all his Subjects, who are his slaves, he gives them to such as have made themselves worthy by their good Service; as they do with us the Commanders of Military Order, or the Fees or Lands which the Princes have instituted in our Countries to honour Gentlemen of merit, and to bind them to serve them upon all occasions. It is true that the continuance of such fees, doth far exceed that of the Tymar, for they pass unto their Successors, and this is temporal, and no man is suffered to enjoy it any longer than it shall please the giver. If the Spahi be not in his Equipage fit for a Soldier, if he doth not serve with that care and diligence as he ought, the judges which the Sultan appoints to visit the Tymar, deprive him, and recompense another that may serve better, so that Tymariots, or Pensioners of the Turks Court, are not unprofitable mouths, as in other places; there the credit of an insolent Favourite, cannot take them from virtue, to give them to the idleness of some one of those which follow him, and idolatrise the greatness of his fortune.   

CHAP. XVIII. Of the Grand SEIGNEURS' Favourites advanced to the greatness of the Empire, and of their fall.  
FEw Kings have been without Favourites; and what reason were it to 〈◊〉 the most eminent among men from that which is allowed to the most object, that is to love one man above all others, and to honour him with the effects of their friendship, by honours and greatness, whereof they are the Masters and absolute Disposers? 
jesus Christ had Saint john the Evangelist for his Favourite.  Doubtless the Sovereign of Kings, who came into the World to teach both Men and King's perfection, hath not denied them this liberty, when as he himself gave them an example, loving and favouring above the small number of men which were in his Ordinary Court, him whom he thought most worthy of his favours. But few Favourites have been without insolency, whether it be that most Princes are not much careful to make choice of men, whose virtues have made them worthy of their friendship; or that the nature of favour and honour which follow them, be such, as it blinds their understanding, and puffs up their spirits with pride. This History having taken for its principal Subject, the Court of the Ottoman monarchs, it shall seek no farther for examples of this truth.  
Hibraim Bassa Favourite to Solyman the Second, 
Hibraim favourite to Solyman  had attained to the height of greatness which he enjoyed by such degrees. He was a Christian, borne of a very base extraction; at the age of seven or eight years, they which exact the tribute of Christians Children, took him from his Father's house, and conducted him with a troop of other young slaves to Constantinople: At his arrival he was given unto a Bassa, who caused him to be bred up carefully, and soon after presented him to Solyman; This Prince to whom Hibraim was equal in age, took him into his affection, his service was always more pleasing unto him, than that of the other slaves: He honoured him with the charge of Capiaga, who is Captain of the Gate of the inner Serrail: From this place he came to that of Aga or Colonel of the janissaries: Then the example of some great Men of the Ottoman Court, ruined by the inconstancy of Fortune, gave unto his spirit the first apprehensions which the great Dignities of the Court gives unto Favourites which enjoy them, and served as a bridle to restraint his passion: he besought Solyman not to advance his fortune so high as he might full with the greater ruin: He showed him that a mean prosperity, was more safe than all the greatness, wherewith he would honour him: That his services should be sufficiently rewarded, if he gave him wherewith to spend his days in rest, far from the necessities of life. Solyman commended his modesty, and meaning to advance him to the chief Dignities of his Empire, he swore unto him never to put him to death whilst he lived, what change soever should happen in his Court. But the condition of King, which is humane, and subject to change, and that of Favourites which is proud, and unthankful, shall cause Solyman to fail of his promise, and Hibraim of his faith and loyalty, as we shall see. In the mean time this Favourite becomes a Bassa, and soon after Grand Vizir, and Lieutenant General of his Master's Empire; his credit, his train, his wealth, and the pomp of his greatness, teach every man that he is the Arbitrator of Turkey. But his fortune is too great to be without Envy; 
Vel●t arbitrum ragni agebat serebatur● digre● to, magna profiquentium 〈◊〉 it u●, saith Tachtus in the 15. Book of Annals, speaking of P●lta● a freed Man to Clo●tius and his Favourite.  and it seems unreasonable, that the highest trees which are on the tops of the highest Mountains, should be free from the violence of the winds. The Princess Mother to Solyman, and Roxillana his wife, the best beloved of his Sultana's, envy the credit of Hibraim, and his unlimited authority is insupportable unto them: They practice his ruin, and employ all their power both within and without the Serrail, to dispossess him: he finds it, and judging that the affections of a Mother and a Son are so natural, and the love of a Wife and a Husband so strong, as there is not any fortune nor favour in Court, which should not fear the encounter, he resolves to draw his Master out of Constantinople, and to remove him from the embrace of the one and the conversation of the other, and from the persuasions of them both. To effect is with the more pretext, he propounds the design of the War of Persia, and being in Counsel with three or four Bassa's, he persuades Solyman in this manner. Sir, Great Kings must have great 〈◊〉 Their principal office is not only to preserve the 〈…〉 their Ancestors have left them, but also to enlarge is 〈◊〉 stand the limits; the Sword wherewith the M●s● 〈◊〉 your Greatness, on the day of your Coronation, is not so much a sign of your Sovereign power, as that you are bound to maintain and defend the truth of our Alcoran, and to publish its belief far: The Persian hath always been an Enemy to your Estate and Religion, and their Kings have not had any stronger passion, then to see the ruins of the one and the other: The History of the Wars which our Predecessors have had against them doth furnish many examples; now you may be revenged of their insolency, and lay at your feet these ancient Enemies of Turkey. Tachmas who is their King, is a man without valour and experience, his people are yet in necessity, being the remainders of the wars past: Your Empire is flourishing you are borne to great matters, and to you alone the destinies have reserved the glory of an absolute triumph over the Persians' Heaven doth promise it, Honour binds you, the weakness of your Enemy invites you, your Treasures and a great number of fight men, which attend your Commandments in Arms, furnish you with means. Go, go, then great Prince, add unto your Crowns that of the Realm of Persia, and to the Bays which your valour hath gathered in Hungary and at Rhode●, the Palm to have subdued Persia, and to have tamed the most troublesome of all your Enemies. To these persuasions he added a trick of his Trade. In Damus the chief C●tie of the East, there lived an excellent Magician, called Mule Aral, he draws him to Constantinople, and makes use of his Predictions to further his designs; he speaks with him, and having caught him what to say, he brings him to Solyman. This Sorcerer foretold the Sultan, that he should take the principal Places of Persia, and should be crowned King of that Realm: All this makes him resolve to go to horseback, and the war was concluded: The tears of the Mother, nor the sweet kisses of the Wife, could not frustrate this design: These poor Sultan's see the order of the Estate overthrown by a Favourite, and their persons contemned by Hibraim, who carried him from them, and drew him far from their just jealousies; but the mine, into the which insolency drags itself, is in●itable Hibraim by this retiring, deferrs his loss, but doth not avoid it; he shall return from the war of Persia to dye in Constantinople strangled with a Haker: The sequel of the history will tell us. In the mean time Solyman departs, with above six hundred thousand men, most Soldiers: Hibraim goes before to make the way with a powerful Army, he passeth at Aleppe, and fortifies it: From thence he goes to Carahomide a Town upon the Frontiers of Mesopotamia or Dierbetch, built upon a strong situation: Vlama a great Nobleman of Persia commanded therein: his quality and valour had bound Solyman to make him governor; he had formerly married the Sister of Scach Tach●as, son to Ishmael Sophi, and then King of Persia, who discontented for some disgrace in Court left Persia, and came to serve the Turk. Hibraim gave him thirty thousand men, and sent him before to discover the Enemy's country. Vlama who know the language and the country, approached near unto Tauris, whereas Sultan Musa a near kinsman to the King commanded: Being advertised of the approach of the Turkish Troops, and finding himself too weak to attend them, abandons the City: Vlama enters and takes it: Hibraim who followed him near came speedily, fortifies it, and in a new citadel which he caused to be made, he placed three hundred and fifty pecces of Ordinance, and sent to advertise Solyman of this good success. Never favourite held himself so happy, nor so powerful over the envy of his Enemies: But he shall find his misreckoning. Solyman advanceth, comes to Tauris, and stays three weeks, to see if Tachmas had any will to come and encounter him. But he had neither power nor will. He was retired into the Mountains, expecting greater forces than his own, that 〈◊〉 say, that 〈◊〉 and the necessity of all things, with the 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉, might force his Enemy to retire: They followed 〈◊〉 after the Northern winds, the Snow, Frost, and went of victuals forced Solyman to take his way to Curd●stan, which is Assyria, having left thirty two thousand men in Garrison within Tauris, under the command of Vlama, of I●digiarberg and Serum Ogly. Fa● 〈◊〉 was watchful seeing the Turkish Army far from Tauris, approacheth with ten thousand men: The Garrison go forth to encounter him and charge him; but jadigiarberg a notable Coward, growing amazed fled, and put all the rest in disorder, and gave the advantage to Tachmas, who recovered Tauris, and brought a notable change, causing the three hundred and fifty Cannons which were in the Citadel to be molten, whereof he made Manguris, which is a Coin of Persia, and so that which was the terror of his people, became the delights of their affections: Solyman in the mean time conquered Curdistan, and Baggadet; he took Babylon, where he was crowned King of Assyria by the Caliphe, but not of Persia, as the Magician had promised him. Winter was now spent, and the Spring approached: Vlama and Hibraim persuaded Solyman to return to Tauris, to punish the rashness of Tachinas': He returns with his Army, and being within few day's march, Tachmas abandons the City and retires, burning and razing whatsoever he found in the way, to stay his Enemy from following: The Turks re-enter Tauris and their rage puts all they find to fire and sword, not sparing senseless things; the stately Palaces became the subject of their fury, and the City was the pitiful remainder of a sack and a cruel spoil. Solyman retires, giving order that his chief forces should be in the Rear, lest the enemy should follow and charge them behind. Tachmas was wonderfully discontented, to see this fearful spoil in his Country, and in the Capital City of his Realm, and could have no revenge; when as one of his satraps, or Governors, a Caramanian by Nation and the most resolute man in his Court, surnamed Delimeus, for his courage, (that is to say Fool) offered himself, and promiseth (so as he would give him troops) to follow the Enemy and to overtake him, and when he should think least of it, to make him pay for the spoil which he had made in Persia. Tachmas grants which demands; Delimeus goes his way, he runs or rather flies towards the place where the Enemy was: His Spies being him word, that the Turks were camped near unto Bathlis, ●yrod with long marches, and with the toil of a troublesome way; that they slept without Guards, without watch, and without any Sentinels, so as it would be easy for him to surprise them, if he would make his troops to double their pace: Deliment makes more speed than they requi●ed, he draws near unto the Turks at the shutting up of the day, and in the night goes to surprise them, environs them, chargeth them, beats them, kills the greatest part, and takes the rest prisoners, few escaping by flight. Solyman understood the next day of the loss of his men, and seeing the small troops he had remaining, finds four hundred thousand men wanting, of those which followed him from Constantinople, the which were dead in Persia, either slain by the Sword, or famished with hunger, or frozen with cold, the which made him return towards his Serrail. He comes to Aleppo, and soon after to Constantinople, and detests in his soul, the Counsellor of this Voyage and the War of Persia. The Sultana's find at his return, a ample subject to ruin Hebraims' fortune, and to be revenged of the presumption he had used against them. They observe the murmuring of the people against this Favourite, and what the great mens●e of him, and make it known to Solyman. Moreover, as they were busy to ruin his greatness, they discover that this Bassa favoured the House of Austria, and that he had secret intelligence with the Emperor Charies the fifth, an Enemy to his Master: This treachery being averred, it did wholly overthrow that which the Sultana's had already shaken. Solyman to whom they had made known the truth of all this, concludes his death; but the promise and oath which he had made unto him not to put him to death whilst he were alive, suspends the execution until he might find a Dispensation by the advice and pretty of the chief Priests of his Law; 〈…〉 of the most Learned; one of the number gives him a pleasant 〈◊〉, to free himself of the Bassa, and yet to keep his Word. You have sword, Sir, saith he, not to put him to death, whilst you are living; 〈◊〉 him up be strangled when you are asleep: Life consist 〈◊〉 ●gilam action, and he th● sleeps doth not truly 〈◊〉 to you may punish his disloyalty, and not violate your oath. Doubtless if Solyman were dead when he slept, according to the saying of this Talisman, he hath revived many times whilst he lived. This Prince seeks no more, he contents himself, to have found a Clergy man which absolves him for this deed: He sends for Hibraim Bassa to the Serrail, he causeth him to sup with him, and supper being ended he let's him see his crimes by his own letters written to Charles the fifth, and Ferdinand his brother; he reproaches his ingratitude and commands his dumb men to strangle him whilst he slept, and thereupon went to Bed. Thus ended the life and greatness of Hibraim Bassa favourite to Solyman: For an example, that if the fortunes of the Court shine like gold, they break like glass. His Master had advanced him more than he desired, fearing a fall in the beginning of his fortune, into the which he did precipitate himself by his disloyalty: he supported the continuance of his greatness upon his Prince's Oath: 
Cuncta mortalium incarta; quanto pl● adeptus forot tant● se magis in lubrico dissitants Tacit. li. 1. Annal. speaking of Tiberius who discoursed in in this manner to the Senate.  But they were humane, and their nature is to have no other stay, but the declining where they slide. A Courtier's favour is never durable, if it hath not justice and Pity for Companions, which makes them zealous towards God, and well deserving of men: If these parts be found in a Favourite, they make envy to yield, and impose silence to the bitterest slanders Hibraim Bassa had not these good qualities: his forms services had deserved some share in his Master's affection; but his pride against the Sultana's, and his treachery against Solyman made him unworthy of that which he enjoyed. So the Lion of Lybia wipes out with her long tail the steps of her feet: the insolency which followed, defaced all the good which went before. To enjoy the favour of the Court, they must have so strong and generous a spirit, as they must never suffer themselves to be transported with pride, nor dejected with amazement but remaining in a commendable equality, continue courageously in doing well.  
The example of the fortune and disaster of Hibraim Bassa shall be followed in this History with that of the great credit, 
Deruier F●rites to At●  prosperities and disgraces of Bassa Derueir, a Favourite to Achmat the first, Brother to Sultan Mustapha, who reigned of late years. This man of a base condition laboured in the Gardens of the Serrail, when as he began to enter into favour: Achmat in his Garden-walkes, seeing his jovial humour, took many times delight in his tales, stayed to see him work, and in the end so affected him, as without knowledge of any other merit, he made him Bostangibassi, or great Gardener; This charge (as we have said) is one of the goodliest of the Turkish Empire, being then void by his death who had enjoyed it: Therein Deruier served with so great care, and made himself so pleasing to his Master, as he bound him to make him greater. The General of the Sea dies, and Achmat gives him the place: he doth it with that lustre and pomp which follows this dignity; he causeth the Galleys to be armed, goes to Sea, takes all he meces with, and sails so happily as the inconstant winds seemed to favour him, and the most inconstant Elements seem to joy in the happiness of this new Favourite; his courses are fortunate, and his return glorious: But the Sea of the Court more stormy than the Sea itself will one day teach him that it doth amaze the best Pilots, and will make him feel to his disgrace, a more troublesome shipwreck, than he could have found upon the waves of the Lovant Seas. The reception which he found at his return, and the triumph wherewith he is honoured after the taking of many Christian Vessels, are felicities which flatter, 
Nibil esse tam e●elsum, quod non virtutes isla, tuusque 〈…〉 ●●ntur, Tacit. lib. 1. Annal. Tiberius spoke so to Sci● his Favourite, who demanded Lanis in Marriage.  and deceiving him, make him imagine that happiness itself did him homage. Achmat cherished him more than himself, and had no rest, until he had advanced him to the height of the prosperities of the Court: That is to say, to the Dignity of Grand Vizir, Lieutenant General of his Empire: Soon after it fell void, and he bestowed it on him, with these words of affection: There is not any thing in my Estate, how great soever it be, which thy virtues, and the affection thou bearest to my service, hath not well deserved. Thus De●r became the first man of the Turks Court, and his Master was sorry, that he could not make him the prime Man of the World. In this charge he restored many good Laws, which disorder had overthrown; he reduced every man to his duty, struck terror into the Magistrates: and let the Soldiers know that they were unworthy to make their Musters, and to receive the pay, if they be not in case to serve. These things doubtless had crowned his name with new glory, if violence and cruelty had not blemished him: He caused more men to be executed in one day, than his Predecessors had done in a whole year: The least suspicion of a Crime was culpable of punishment, and this Favourite made less account of the life of men, than of the Coleworts which he had sometimes planted in the Gardens of the Serrail. But violence is never durable, and that Favourite which follows it suffers himself to be led to his own ruin. He that kills, shall be killed (sai● God) he that loves blood shall perish in blood. Doubtless, it is a miserable thing in Princes Courts, and prejudicial to a whole Estate, that a base fellow, and a man of nothing, without virtue or merit should be advanced to the quality of a Favourite; master the affections of his Sovereign, and enjoy the prime Dignities of an Empire: For such persons are most commonly cruel; contemn the Nobility, and make no account of virtue, as being ignorant of the one and the other. Derueir in all these Offices had gathered together great treasures, the which with his extraordinary severity, furnish matter of Envy to the other Bassa's, who all jointly undertake his ruin, and labour so carefully therein, as they find means to entertain Sultan Achmat, with the insolences of his carriage: he hears them, believes part of that which they tell him, and grows so violently jealous of the credit and authority of Deruier, that he resolves to free himself of him; he concludes his death, and commands the execution to a troop of the Capigis of his Serrail, who received commandment to strangle him, as soon as he should come: But he will trouble them to perform it, they shall not find in him a delicate favourite, bred up from his youth in the softness of the Court, he will defend his life courageously, and let them see that a man, which hath long time handled a Spade and a Mattocke, is not so easily mastered. Achmat sends for Deruier to the Serrail; he comes and is scarce entered when he suspects the party which was made against him; he goes into the Grand Sigueurs quarter, being there, this troop of Capigis fall upon him to seize on him, and to put the Halter about his neck; he frees himself from them, and stands upon his defence although he had nothing in his hands, and with his fists scatters them bravely; he beats one of their Noses flat, puts out the eye of another, and strikes out his teeth that held the Halter, and puts him out of breath which had taken hold of his Arm, and remains free in the midst of all them which did i●biron him, and durst not take him: The fear of punishment which doth attend those which do not speecily execute the will of the Sultan in such affairs, and the shame that one man alone disarmed should slay them all, guised one of the troop to fetch a Leaver, wherewith approaching to Deruier, he gave him so great a blow as he broke his thigh, and overthrew him; then they put the cord about his neck and strangled him. Thus he ended his life, which governed the whole Turkish Empire, and struck a terror into the greatest: The jovial humours and the humble discourses of the Gardener, had raised him to the greatest fortune that a Courtier could find in all the world; and the insolency and pride of the Grand Vizir had humbled him, and delivered him to the mercy of a dozen Rascals which strangle him: For a new example, that favour is not durable, if it hath not moderation for its companion, and justice and Piety to support it. His body is buried without pomp or honour, his treasure came unto the Sultan, and his name was so forgotten, as in three days they did not know in Court if there had been any such man. The which may serve for a lesson to great Men, which possess their Princes, that the course of a boundless and proud favour in Court is like the flight of a Bird in the Air, the passage of a Ship at Sea, or the gliding of a Serpent upon the stones, where there remains no show.  

Nassuf Favourite to Achmas  This thing happened at Constantinople in the year 1606. But of a later date in the year 1614 Nassaf Bassa, of whom we have formerly shade mention, Grand Vezir of the Turkish Empire and favourite to the same Sultan Achmat, gave (by the fall of his fortune) as much amazement to the East, as his prosperities had given admiration his riches were greater and his credit more absolute than the two former favourites; but his extraction and Birth as base as theirs, and his pride equal. He was Son to a Greek Priest, borne in a little Hamlet near to Salonica. The Collectors of the tribute took him from his Father's house in his infancy, and led him to Constantinople, where he was sold for three Sultanins, (which is four and twenty shillings of our sterling money) to an Eunuch of the Serraeil, who bred him up unto the age of twenty years. Then he sold him to a steward of the Sultana Mother to Achmat, to serve him in his charge. This Man soon found in his slave the eminent gifts of a free spirit, which is enlightened with dexterity: and holding him fit for greater affairs than those of the household, wherein he employed him, he gave him the oversight of the building of a rich and stately Mosque, which the Sultana Mother caused to be built at her charge, to be an immortal mark of her pictio and magnificence. He prospered so well in this charge, and gave so good proefes of his judgement, as he gave good content unto the Sultana, and hard such part in her liking and affection, as she made him Superintendant of her house. In thi● Dignity he let the whole Serrail See, what an able and sufficient Man may do when he is employed in affairs; his merit came unto the knowledge of Sultan Achmat, who would have him to his service. Thus he changed Master, and mounted to a new Dignity. Achmat gave him the place of Capigibassi, soon after he made him Bassa of Alepp●, where having finished the time, which they give to such Governors, they honoured him with the Dignity of Governor General of Messopotamia: he parted from Constantinople, having the train, attendance and pomp, of a Turkish Viceroy. The commodity of this Province, Frontier to Persia, filled his Coffers with treasure, and his Spirit with ambition. He knew that he was very necessary for his Master, he saw that the Neighbourhood of the Persian, might by secret intelligences with him bring him great wealth. This imagination flatters him, and his avarice follows him: he abandons his fidelity to the offers which the Persian King made him, and practiseth in secret with his Ministers, and favoureth what he can, the Enemy of his Sovereign Prince. Achmat is advertised, and loving him still with passion, dissembles his crime and resolves to gain him to himself, to disengage him from the Persian, and to content his ambition with any thing he could desire in his Empire. To this end he sends for him to Constantinople, and at his arrival gave him the place of Grand Vizir, which Serdar had newly left, and with it the best and richest of this Bassa's spoils. Moreover he promised to give him the Sultana his Daughter in Marriage. All these things are signs of the great bounty of Achmat, thus to honour a Traitor, who deserved rather a shameful death, than the first dignity of the Turkish Empire; they will in like sort be a testimony of the ingratitude of the favourite, who will abuse them. For an example that too indulgent a Prince to a notable Traitor, doth furnish him with means to do worse. Nassuf being now Grand Vizir & with assurance to be Son in law to his Master, goes to horseback, and in quality of General of an Army, leads the forces of Turkey against the Persian, enters with them into his Country, makes a general spoil, and forceth Ka Abbas, who is King at this Day, to demand a peace, and in the mean time grants him a truce for six Months. He parts from Persia, leading with him the Ambassador of Ka Abbas, he comes to Constantinople, enters in pomp, he is received not only as the vanquisher of Persia, but as the restorer of the Ottoman estate. The custom of Turkey binds the Bassa's when they return from their governments, and the Generals of Armies from the War, to make a present unto the Sultan. Nassuf at his coming exceeds the magnificence of all the Presents that ever entered into the Serrail, since the Turks estate was settled, for besides a thousand rarities which he brought from Persia, to the Sultan his Master; he presented him with a Million of Gold coined, and within few days after married his Daughter. This is the ascent and height of his fortune: Behold the descent. Achmat saw that Nassuf exceeded the ordinary of all the other Viziers which had served him, that his treasure did equal his, if not exceed it: 
Auri vim atque op●s principibus insensas essè, said Sosibius Governor to Britannicus in Tacit lib. 11. Annal.  He conceived a jealousy (abundance of riches is many times criminal and offensive to Princes) and grows into distrust of his actions. The Bassa's having some vent thereof by some of the Agalarie, eunuchs of the Chamber, labour to inform him of the carriage of Nassuf. The Bassa of Babylon knew more than any Man, they cause him to come to Constantinople, and obtained secret audience for him: This Man did plainly discover unto the Sultan, that the Bassa Nassuf betrayed him, for the which he drew great Pensions from the Persian, to whom he wrote the secrets of his most important affairs. Achmat well informed of the disloyalties of his Favourite, resolves not to leave them unpunished, and presently concludes his death: He gives the charge to the Bostangibassi, which is the great Gardener: Nassuf is advertized by the Sultana, which was most favoured, being his Pensioner, that Achmat was much discontented with him: This amazeth him, he feigns himself sick, and keeps his bed; the Bostangibassi comes to his Lodging, and demands to speak with him in the Sultan's name, he excused himself upon the discommodity of a violent purgation which troubled him: The Bostangibassi presses it, and tells him that he would not return until he had spoken with him; that the Sultan had commanded him to see him, in what estate he was, & to learn from himself the news of his health. Then Nassuf commanded they should suffer him to come: There the Bostangibassi compliments with him concerning his indispostion, and assured him that he should be soon cured: he might boldly speak it, seeing he carried the remedy in his pocket. After such like discourses of courtesy, he drew out of his pocket a commandment from the Sultan written to Nassuf, to send him the Seals of his Empire. Nassuf obeyeth, causeth them to be brought unto his bed, wraps them in his Handkerchief, seals them with his own Seal, and giving them to the Bostangibassi kisses them, and entreats him to assure his Master, that he had kept them faithfully, and had never sealed any thing which was against his service: Then he thought that the discontentment whereof the Sultana advertized him, would have no other sequel but to deprive him of his charge, which they call in this Court to be made Mansul, and that by the help of his friends and the force of money, he might be restored in a short time. His misreckoning was not far off; the Bostangibassi, being now in possession of the Seals of the Empire, drew forth another Commandment to Nassuf from the same Sultan, to send him his head: Then Nassuf cried out, call Heaven and Earth to witness of his innocence; he desired to speak with the Sultan, and entreats the Bostangibassi to conduct him; he excuses himself, that he had no other charge but to see him strangled by ten or twelve Capigis which attended him: Upon this refusal he contested long; but seeing to defer his end, was but to prolong his distemperature and grief, he resolves to die, only he demands of the great Gardener to suffer him to go and wash himself in a Chamber near by, to depart this World in the estate of purity, according to the Turks belief, which hold the washing of the body for the purification of the souls: This grace also was denied him. Then he abandons his life to the Capigis who were about his bed: they put a cord about his neck, and not able to strangle him so speedily as they desired by reason of his extraordinary fatness, one of them drew a Knife out of his pocket, 
Tacitus in the forth Book of his Annals, speaks as much of Suilius in these words, Quem vidit sequeatatas prapotentem venalem & Claudij Pri●cipus amicity as a propere, nunquam bene 〈◊〉.  and cut his throat. Achmat would see him dead, to be the better assured; and then appointed his burial among the common people without any honour. Such was the fortune of Bassa Nassuf and such his fall: His good wit had raised him to these great Dignities of his Empire, and his pride cast him down, having long enjoyed the favour of his Master, and made no good use of it: His riches equal to his fortune were extraordinary; the Officers of the treasure, which were employed to take an Inventory of his goods, found in his Cosers in Sultanin●, (which is a Coin of Gold) five hundred thousand pounds sterling, in Silver coined three hundred and eight thousand pounds sterling, the quantity of three bushels of precious Stones not yet wrought, a bushel of Diamonds not set, and two bushels of goodly round Pearls. His Armoury was furnished with above a thousand rich Swords, whereof the least had the Hilt and pommel of silver, and amidst this number there was one all set with Diamonds, valued at twenty thousand pounds sterling money: The Chambers of his Lodging and his Wardrobe, were richly hanged with Tapestry of Persia and Cairo: Many rich stuffs of silk and gold excellently wrought, did augment the quantity of his precious Movables: In his Stables were found above a thousand great Horses of price, four hundred and forty Mares of Arabia and Egypt, as beautiful as any Painter could represent, with this there were many thousand Camels and Moiles for his Baggage when he traveled: In his base Courts they numbered a hundred thousand Oxen, Kine and Sheep: the number of his slaves exceeded four thousand. With this great wealth he might have done great good, if he had had a friend to give him good counsel (but great prosperities have not any) who might have contained him by wise advice, within the limits of his duty. Thus the favours and pomps of the Court pass away. Those of Turkey, culpable of the least crimes, yea those which are innocent are of no longer continuance. For if the Court in what place soever, be a Sea full of waves, that of the Ottoman is always beaten with storms, and tossed with Tempests: The winds of the Sultana's passions, which are most cherished by the Prince, the covetous desires of the Enuches which serve him, and are his familiars, banish the calm, and are the cause of such like shipwracks, if they do not pacify the greediness of the one, in glutting them with presents, and the avarice of the other by great pensions. And although they take this course most commonly, yet notwithstanding they are oftentimes alarmed, suffer troublesome apprehensions, and live always in fear and disquietness. To teach men, which admire and adore the lustre of such fortunes that their perfectest joys are fruitful in sorrows: And when they think to make their Paradise in this World, than they carry their Hell with them.   

CHAP. XIX. Of the Grand Signior Arms and Seals.  
THe Turks who esteem virtue by its price have no Arms, nor Surnames: The Laws established and severely observed among them, which have made them so powerful upon earth, would thus banish out of Turkey (although somewhat preposterously) this subject of vanity in Families, and force men rather to support their glory upon their own merit, than in the virtue of their Ancestors which is not theirs: For this cause in their Monarchy, the son of a great Bassa, is less esteemed than he of a Waterman, if he hath less virtue: All the advantage he can challenge, to be borne of virtuous Parents, is to term himself their son. As for example, Mustapha the son of Siruan shall be called Siruanogli, that is to say, the son of Siruan: The rest of his glory must be supplied by himself, and not borrowed from his Father. Their Emperors have no Arms, and the Family of the Othomans never bear any. They defaced in the siege of the Gracian Empire, those of the most Illustrious Family of the Paliologus, who were the Sovereign monarchs, who carried gloriously the Titles of their triumphant prosperities, by four Letters separated distinctly, which the greeks call Vita, and not Fusils, as some have dreamt, these Letters signified in the same Language, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that is to say, King of Kings, reigning over them that reign. It is true the Turkish Princes, have some kind of Mark or Ensign, rather of their Empire than of their Family: for when as they represent it, they paint the Globe of the World, with a Crescent or half Moon on the top; and in their Armies, their Ensigns have no other device but the same Crescent: their Towers and Steeples carry it, yea the Pilgrims which go to Mequa, carry it on the top of their slaves: the which shows that this Crescent is rather a mark of their Religion, then of the Imperial Race. We have observed in our History of their Religion, the Miracle which Mahomet their Prophet brags he had done, when as he repaired the Moon which was torn, and all in pieces, after he had drawn it from Heaven and put it into his sleeve: The Turks which count their Months by Moons, show the verity hereof, when as they prostrate themselves in the beginning thereof, before the Moon, and lifting up their eyes to his brightness, they pray unto God that he will grant them the grace to begin happily, to continue in like manner, and to end with good success the course of this Star.  
The Imperial Seal of the Grand Signior of Turkey, hath no other figure, but certain Arabian Characters, which express their name, that of their Father, and note the pride of the felicity whereof they brag. Achmat the Emperor, who died in the year 1617., had caused these words to be graven in the Seal, wherewith his Patents were sealed: Achmet ibni Mehemet Cham Sadet: that is to say; Achmet son to Mehemet, Emperor always victorious. The other Ottoman monarchs, have in a manner the same device, the names only changed: It is true that the Arabic Letters are so interlaced one with another (in a manner like the Ciphers, wherewith they express their names in France) as few men in his Estate, can expound them: only the Vizir, or he which scales hath the perfect knowledge. This manner of graving their Seals only with Letters, hath been imitated only from their Prophet: For the Turkish Monarchy, and all that depends thereof, hold it a glory to have for their principal support, the Religion which he professeth, and to have no other interest but his: Mahomet the Author of the Alcoran, caused words only to be graven in his Seal, and words without truth; which were these, Mahomet the Messenger of God. This Seal was made seven hundred and five or six years before that Ottoman the first Prince of that Family, which reigns at this day in the East, had settled the Turkish Monarchy: and since, we do not read that any Turkish Emperor hath had any other Arms for their Seals than the Characters and Arabic words: Thus these men by words not cast into the wind, as many other Princes do, but graven, have by the esteem which they have made of the virtue of men which have served them, subdued the Emperor of Constantinople, ravished that of Trebifonde, seized upon Egypt, Palestina, Damas', Pamphylia, Cilicia, Caramania, and all Anatolia, vanquished Rhodes and Cyprus, triumphed over Graecia, Albania, Illyria, and the Triballieus, and likewise doth by his Arms possess the best parts of Moldania, Transilnania, and Hungary, and without doubt, their Conquests had extended farther into the Provinces of Christendom, if Heaven had not given them bounds, and stayed their courses, by the troubles of the Ottoman House, and the death of its Princes.   

CHAP. XX. Of the Death, Mourning, Funeral, and Burying, of the Grand SEIGNEVAS, Emperors of Turkey.  
THe Kings which receive tribute from so many Nations pay it unto death, and the condition of their perishing life, makes them to suffer this equality with other men, to return unto dust the common beginning of all even living: the which should incite them the 〈◊〉 to forget the glory of their Name, and to repair by their goodly and royal actions, the shortness of their days, 〈…〉 they may past from the disquietness of an 〈◊〉 Religion, 〈◊〉 eternal rest of a heavenly command, and change their Crowns which are not durable, to the Diadem of an Empire which hath no end. The Turkish Sultan's spend their days far from those wise thoughts in the 〈◊〉 of their 〈◊〉, in the midst of pleasures, with their Sultan's; the 〈◊〉 of 〈…〉, doth blemish their glory, and 〈◊〉 their 〈…〉 the humours of their Bodies, and shortens their 〈◊〉. For delights kill more men than the sword. When they can sick, 〈◊〉 ni Bassa, who is the chief of the Physicians, assembles the rest within the Serrail, and shuts himself up with them, where they labour for the cure of their Master, with that care which we have formerly mentioned. Remedies are but for helps, they draw them not from the Bed, whereas their life and pride must have an end: They die, and leaving their Sceptres and Crowns, with all that which the World adores, they carry nothing with them but the good they have done living, yet unprofitable to their soul's health, seeing they have not Truth for their Guide. The Prince which is to succeed puts on Mourning, and attires himself in black for a short time, he covers his head with a little Turban, and doth testify by his exterior show, the grief he hath for the loss of his Predecessor, although that in his soul, he feels the most sensible joy that ever he had. Thus Selym the Third showed himself before the Body of Selyman the Second, his Father, who died in Hungary at the siege of Sighet: All the Bassa's wear little Turbans in sign of Mourning: And if the Emperor dies in the War as Solyman did, all the Ensigns and the Standard Royal, are turned downward towards the ground, until the now Sultan takes his Royal Robes, and puts on a great white Turbane, the which is done soon after: Then they cry as we have formerly related; That the soul of the Invincible Emperor Sultan N. enjoys the immortal glory and eternal peace: That the Empire of Sultan N may prosper withal felicity. But they inter them all in Constantinople, since they settled the Seat of their Empire in that place: Before, their Tombs were erected at Prussia in Asia, the place of their first Domination: their 〈…〉 in this manner.  
The Emperor's Body is carried in a Cousin covered with Linen very rich, or of Velvet: His Turban is set before it, with a Plume of He● Feathers: The Talismans', San●, Alpha●uis, Der●, and the like rabble of the Alcoran, carry in their hands T●pers lighted, to show that their Prophet is the Ape of Christianity; go before singing in their Language such Verses, A●a rahmmani arh● Alla, illa Alla, Alla 〈◊〉 Alla, that is to say, Merciful God bane pity on him, there is no God but God, God is God. They also say these words: jabilac villata Mehemet ressultaha tungari by'r berem berac; which signifieth, God is God, and there is no other God, Mahomet is his Counsellor, and his true Prophet. Before the Corpse doth march the Mutaferaga, who carries the Emperor's Turban upon a Lance, with the tail of a Horse tied near unto it: The janissaries, the Solachi, and the rest of the Imperial Guard follow the Hearse: After these the Officers of the Sultan's house march in order under the conduct of Casuegirhassi, or Master of the Household: The Malundarb bedith mandura, carrieth the deceased Grand Seigueurs Arms, and the Royal Standard dragging upon the ground: The Bassa's and all the great Men of the Port, yielding their last duty unto their Master, assist at their Funeral pleasantly attired in mourning: They have a piece of Grey-cloth hangs before and behind from the head to the foot, like unto the Fro●k which the Brethren of the Hospital, of the Charity, in the Suburbs of Saint german at Paris do wear: some of them for that they will not seem too sorrowful; tie only a long piece of Linen cloth, to the end of their Turbans, which h●ng down unto their heels. In this great Mourning the most 〈◊〉 in the 〈◊〉 Cou●t, hold their Ranks in this Funeral Pomp, whereas the Men make but a part of the Convoy, 〈◊〉 supply the rest, with less grief and more scars: For all the Sultan's great Horses are at his Interment; they carry their Saddles turned upward, and better covered than the Bassa's in their Grey Froches, they have black Velvet hanging unto the ground: They weep and sigh without 〈◊〉: They put Assagoth or Tobacco into their 〈…〉, and into their eyes to draw forth 〈…〉 is the 〈◊〉 pomp of the Turkish Sultan's, who being 〈…〉 men to weep f● their loss, constrain 〈◊〉 to 〈…〉: In this 〈◊〉 they conduct the body (the hard first after the Turkish manner) to the Tomb where they will enclose 〈◊〉 is usually 〈◊〉 to the Mosqu●e, which the deceased Sultan hath cause built, in a Chapel apart: the Sepulchre is covered with black Velvet. If the Prince died in the War, they lay his Scmiter upon it; if not, his Turban is advanced, and set against the wall near unto the Tomb, with rich Plumes of Herons feathers for an Ornament; two Candlesticks which carry great Tapers gilded, are at the foot of the Sepulchre: Some Turkish Priests which are instituted to that end, repeat continually the Azoares of the Alcoran in their turns, and one after another says the Turks Chapelet; whereof we have spoken in the History of their Religion, and pray continually for the soul of the deceased. On Friday's these Imperial Tombs, are adorned with new coverings, and strewed with flowers: They which come on such days pray for the dead, or pour forth theirteares, and take a Nosegay when they return. Sometimes they do also set much meat, to give Alms unto the poor, and they call to these Funeral Feasts, not only poor Beggars, but also Beasts, as Dogs, Cats, and Bi●s, the which are honourably received, and feasted with as much liberty and safety as the Men, who seeing the paws of Cats in pottage with their hands, dare not chase them away: But chose they owe them respect and succour, as those whom misery hath made their equals, and therefore capable to receive the effects of the Turkish Charity: For the Mahomet's hold opinion, that to give Alms unto Beasts is a work no less meritorious before God, than to give unto Men: for that, say they, these poor animals possess nothing in this World, where they are destitute of all temporal goods, necessary for the maintenance of life. Thus they shut him up in six foot of ground whom all the World could not contain, and whose unrestrained ambition aspired to more Empire than the Earth contains: And after that he had been a terror to Men, and the cruel scourge of many Nations, he is made the subject of Worms, and their ordinary food. In this manner passeth, and ends the glory of the World.    
FINIS.