Chap.XVI. Grand Seignors Seraglio. 79 



of Women : But thofe may be reduc'd into a very fmall number, and the greateit part 

 of them being; more addicted to mind their quiet,and to lead a life void of diifurbance, 

 have transfer r d all their concerns, Civil and Military, to the management of the prin- 

 cipal Minuter of State, thinking it enough, to content themfelves with the account he 

 was pleas'd to give him thereof. 



It may be faid of the Seraglio, That it is a delicious, but withal a folitary place of fbt Seraglio, i 

 abode : but as to the obfervations I have made of things,it is delicious only to a fingle P la " ^{?««« 

 pcrfon, and folitary to all the reft. Of the many Thoufands, of the Male Sex, who JJ^JJ Q'L 

 are there as 'twere in Prifon, and have a dependence, one upon the other, none but commodious to 

 the Prince himfelf has the light of Women j tor the Negro-Eunuchs, whom their de- many. 

 formity of body and countenance has, in a manner, transform'd into Monfters, are not 

 to be admitted into the number of men. 



But though the Ottoman Monarchs, and generally all that may be comprehended % t Mahume- 

 under the denomination of Turciftnc, are involv'd in voluptuoufnefs, as not having tans xtdm 

 any tincture of ought relating to polite Literature, yet this is particularly recommend- dftrvm of iht 

 able in them, that their great purfiian.ee of pleafures does not ever make them neglect La7Vm 

 the Divine Worlhip, and that, fettingall things afide,they are careful to perform what 

 the Law requires of them, upon that account. They are exact and punctual, even to 

 fuperftition, in all their excrcifes of Piety, in their wayes of wafhing themfelves, in their 

 Pra\ers, in their Fails, in their Alms, and in their Pilgrimages i which are the Five 

 principal Articles of the Mahumetan Religion. 



It is a thing fufficiently well known to all people, that the turfy go to their Pray- ^ riguUta 

 crs, or Devotions, five times a day, that is, in the fpace of a natural Day, which timis tftbtir 

 amounts to four and twenty hours. For the performance of this work, there are no Devotion's* 

 certain hours appointed, and it is according to the Sun's being above their Horizon. 

 Upon which account, there is a greater interval between their feveral Offices, in the 

 Summer-time, than there is in the Winter, and they place the principal part of their 

 Devotion upon obfervations of that nature. The firlt Exercife is to be perform'd at 

 the break of day, before Sun-rifing i the fecond at Noon s the third, between that 

 time and Sun-fet •, the fourth, immediately after his fetting ; and the laft, about an 

 hour and a half after Night: in all which, unlefs licknefs intervene, they are very 

 punctual, fo that nothing of bufmefs, how important foever, (hall divert them. 



Nay, on the contrary, fome are fo zealous, and their fervour is fo remarkable, that Thtir firvour 

 being once rixt in their Prayers, they could not be put out of them, though 'twere to in *% s c J Dtr 

 force back an Enemy, who were cntring into the City, or that word (hould be mtm ' 

 brought them, that the houfe wherein they are, was on fire. They are moreover of a 

 perfwafion, that it is a great fin, for them to put their hand to any part of the body, 

 to (cratch themfelves, it there [hould be occafion i and they would have the external 

 part to be anfwcrable to the internal, and correfpondent to that abjection, which « 

 ought to be the ftate of the Soul, in the prefence of God, during their Exercifes of 

 Devotion. 



Nor does the Grand Seignor himfelf defire to be difpens'd from the obligation of rbt Grand 

 performing thefe acts of Devotion, any more than the mcaneft of his Subjects •, but, Seizor's oriii 

 on the contrary, he is very religious in that obfervance of their Law, and he always H ^f Mfl °^ 

 begins the day with the Offices appointed for that part of it. We need fay no more, 

 than that he rifes at the break of day, nay fometimes he is up before, and goes into 

 the Bath to wa(h himfelf, efpecially when he has lain with one of his Wives, or Con- 

 cubines. Having hniQVd his Prayers, he diverts himfelf in (hooting with the Bowe, 

 or, more commonly in looking after his Horfes,and riding fome of them : and fome- 

 times he feats himfelf in a Gallery^ where he cannot be feen by any, and contents 

 himfelf with the diverfion of feeing fome exercifes perfonn'd by his Pages. If any 

 one of them does fomething that he is much pleas'd withal, he fends him a Veft, or 

 fome other thing of value, as an encouragement for his doing better another time, 

 and to raife an emulation in his Companions. Upon Council-days,he comes through 

 the clofe Gallery, to the Window, which looks into the Divan Hall, to lee what they 



are 



