go8 Vhjfical and Mifcellaneous 



Their preteu. Thcfe Pcoplc likcwife are equally foolifh and extravagant in 

 Kw4^%/their Jaffar-eah, as they call (the Pretenfions they make to) 

 fitureEve^ts. ^^^ Knowledgc of future Events and Contingencies. It is not 

 hitherto indeed agreed among them by what extraordinary 

 Means they come at thefe Revelations, though the Difcove- 

 ries they would be believed to make, are in fuch general Terms, 

 fo falfe for the moft Part, and at the belt dubious, and never 

 particularly circumftantiated, that it fcarce deferves the Gra- 

 vity or Attention to enquire after their Original. However 

 I never knew any Perfon, who alTerted them to be from Di- 

 vine Infpiration, though there are a Number of Enthuliafts in 

 this Religion, who pretend to be full of the Deity upon other 

 Occafions. Some attribute them to Maga-reah, for fo they 

 call Witchcraft and Inchantment ; others to Aftrology or the 

 Do6lrine of the Stars; whilft their Thalebs pretend to have 

 the Prophecies oiy4fy the Son in Law of their Prophet, where- 

 in they give out, that he hath left them a general and chrono- 

 logical Account of the moft remarkable Occurrences, which 

 have happened in the World lince his Tmie, or which are to 

 fall out in future Ages. 

 AFrophny Whcu I was at Tunis, in the Spring of 1717, there were 

 Tfti^tZi feveral Prophecies handed about, partly as was alledged from 

 "f T""'^. ^j^-g Book, partly from their Jaffar-eab, that Hajfan Ben y4ly, 

 the Bey at that Time, was to be immediately depofed by his 

 Nephew Aly Bafljaw. The Myftery of it was, that Hajffan 

 Ben y^ly, otherwife a good and wife Prince, had a mighty 

 Inchnation to fleece and opprefs the richeft of his Subjedls; 

 and, by a Piece of ill-timed Policy, as it might have proved, 

 had, lince the Beginning of his Reign, negledled the Turks, 

 and placed his chief Confidence in Moors and Renegadoes, upon 

 w^hom he beftowed the greateft Honours and Preferments. On 

 the other Hand, Aly Bajhaw, while he a6led under him, as 

 u4ga of the Janizaries, behaved himfelf with fuch Courtefy, 

 Generofity and Juftice, that he gained the AfFedions of that 

 '^ Body, and the good Will of the whole Kingdom. Now as ^i^ 



Bafiaw, upon fome Mifunderftanding with his Uncle, was at 

 this Time fled to the Mountains of Ufelett, where he had the 

 Courage to proclaim himfelf Bey, publifhing at the fame Time, 

 the great Injuftice and Oppreflion that Haffan Ben ^ly had 

 always exercifed over his Subjects, together with the unjuft 



Contempt 



