24 A Relation of the Chap.lf. 



dcfoent, and where you are as it were upon an Eminency, you delcend into a very no- 

 ble Place, which the Grand Seignor caufes to be always kept neat and even, where 

 the Great Perfons of the Court come to do the Exercifes of the Chit, or the Dart,which 

 is perform'd, molt commonly, upon Fridays, immediately after their coming out of 

 the Mofiqucy. There are about two hundred paces from the Portal to that place, and 

 in the, Court there may ordinarily be, upon thofe days above fifteen hundred Perfons 

 yet To as that not any perfon whatfoever is permitted to go any further, unlets he be 

 call'd by the Order ot" the Girit-Bcy> who is the chief' Overfeer, and Director of that 

 Exerdfe. They who enter into the Lilts, do many times amount to the number of a 

 ihi Gr^d thoufand Perfons. If the Grand Seignor himfelf, who is prefent at thofe Exerciies the 

 S(i i nnYS llbtr *' end whereof proves many times Tragical to thofe, by whom they are perform'd/ has 

 found any particular divertifement therein, efpecially when there are Limbs lolt or bro- 

 ken, he orders everyone to receive a Purfc, which, as I told you, amount to rive hun- 

 dred Crowns. The diitribution of thofe Prefents is greater or leffer, according to his 

 being in a good or bad humour, and fometimes there are diftributcd at his departure 

 thence, to the number of ten Purfes. ' The Treafurer, who is always attending on 

 / him, and has ordinarily brought along with him fifteen or twenty thoufand Ryals m 

 Gold and Silver, Hands ready, upon a beck, *o obey his Orders. 



But this is worth ourobfervation,That when the Prince is ready to be/tow his Libe- 

 ralities, on thofe who had bchav'd themfelves valiantly in that cxercife, the Gran- 

 'dces of hisCourt,who had appear'd therein as well as others,purpofdy ihift themfelves 

 out of the way, and leave him to make his Prelents to other lefs conliderable Perfons, 

 as being fuch as ftand more in need of them than they do. Ihis is their cunom ordina- 

 rily, whether it proceed from Generality, or from a counterfeit and perfonated Mo- 

 dcity, it matters not. And after the Grand Seignor is withdrawn, it is lawful for 

 thofe who are left in the forcfaid Court, and are skil'd in the handling of the Dart, to 

 fpend the remainder of the day in that Exercife. But thofe, how great foever their 

 performances may be, and what wounds foever they may receive, are not to expect any 

 Prefents i There's no Prince to be a fpedtator of their Gallantry, nor Treafurer, to 

 diftribute his Liberalities. They only lay fome wagers amongft themfelves, and he 

 who gives the faireit blow, wins, and the faireit blow is in the head* or face. There 

 is ever and anon an Eye itruck out, or a Cheek carried off, and that Solemnity proves 

 very fatal in the end to fbme of them. 



And this is an account of all that is obfervable in the fiid rlrft Court, Let us now 

 make our entrance into the fecond, and obferve what is motf remarkable in all its Ap- 

 partments. 



CHAP. 



