1829.] Carmelite Convetit at Brussels. 661 



officer, who had the temerity to declare his love, and make an offer of his 

 hand, which she indignantly rejected, had seized her, with the eunuch 

 and her son, put them on board a vessel which instantly sailed for the 

 island of Rhodes, but that they were captured during the voyage, and 

 she now remained a prisoner in Malta ; still, however, cherishing the 

 hopes of a speedy liberation.' — The artful villain then added, that, be- 

 ing detained by contrary winds a few weeks in the island, he heard 

 with horror that the unfortunate lady Avas taken suddenly ill, her son 

 was also attacked in a similar manner, and before his departure he at- 

 tended their remains to the grave, not without entertaining strong sus- 

 picions, that they had met with a violent death, and that poison had been 

 administered to them. The sultan, Avho was of a weak disposition, gave 

 credit to this improbable tale, shed tears at our untimely fate, and, be- 

 lieving the sultana innocent of the crime imputed to her, instantly opened 

 the gates of her prison, and restored her to her former rank and station. 

 This perfidious woman, who had thus attained her utmost wishes through 

 the devotedness of the commander, promised to raise him, on the earliest 

 opportunity, to the highest rank in the empire under that of the sultan. 



" The grand master and his council were surprised at not receiving an 

 answer to their despatch to the sultan. Various other communications 

 were made to Ibrahim, but the artful sultana, who had now obtained full 

 sway over the feeble mind of the sovereign, easily contrived to intercept 

 these despatches, and, in 1648, assisted by her favourite, she caused the 

 sultan to be assassinated by the Janissaries. Her son, Mohammed IV., 

 was raised to the throne, and the commander elevated to the rank of 

 grand vizier. This man was the celebrated Cuperli, v/ho took Candia 

 Irom the Venetians — a siege at which more blood was spilt, and more 

 brave actions performed, than at that of Troy : it lasted thirty years, and 

 upwards of 260,000 Turks, Venetians and their allies, perished in the 

 dreadful contest.* 



" I was scarcely five years of age when my father was sti'angled. The 

 intelligence soon reached the Knights of Jerusalem ; and, as the sultana 

 and her favourite had no further motive to conceal the truth, they threw 

 off" the mask, and Cuperli wrote with his own hand to the grand master, 

 acquainting him with the deceptive conduct that had been practised 

 towards him. A resolution was entered into by the council of Valetta 

 to withdrav/ my attendants, and I was confided to the care of a Domini- 

 can friar, who took me shortly afterwards to the convent of his order in 

 Rome : here I received classical and theological instructions. At the 

 age of one-and-twenty, feeling no disposition to take the vow, and spend 

 my life among the Dominican fathers, I left one day without bidding 

 them farewell, and set off", on foot, for what place I knew not. The 

 vicissitudes I encountered during several years it would be tedious to 

 relate ; suffice it to mention, that on my departure from the convent, 

 accidentally entering the cathedral of Saint Peter, Avhen the ambassador 

 of Alexis iMichaelowitz was presented, for the first time, to the sovereign 



fjontiff", and affording some useful information to a boyard, named Me- 

 oslauski, I was taken into the service of the latter as a tutor to one of 

 his younger children. At tlie death of this nobleman I travelled through 

 almost every country in Europe, in various capacities, and was employed 



* History records, that he wa-s the person who laid siege to Vienna, but Sobieski com- 

 pelled him to raise it with immense loss. Mohammed also became a victim to tlic Janis- 

 (^aricK : tlie unfortunate monarch was confined in a dimgeon, fed only on bread and water, 

 and treated with unheard-of cruelty. lie was succeeded by Soliman the Second. 



