Chap.XVL Grand Seignors Seraglio. 8i 



and the perfon who prefcnts the Petition be extremely opprefs'd and injur'd, he holds 

 a lighted Torch over his head, which is ordinarily practised in Turkey, upon the like 

 occaiions, and by that myfterious comportment, intimates to the Prince, That if he 

 docs not do him juilicc, his Soul (hall burn in the other World, as that Torch does in 

 this. 



Upon the Empcrour's going out of the Seraglio, the principal Sultanejjes, his Mo- 

 ther,his deareft Confort,or his Siders,are in a Room over the great Gate of that Palace, 

 with Bags lull of Afters, which they fling among the people, that they may pray, 

 That God would gracioully hearken to the Devotions, which the Grand Seignor is go- 

 ing to perform. H;s March is after the fame Order, and with an obfervance of the 

 Pomp, as that of the ancient Greeks Emperours, and I queftion not, but that thole 

 Authors, who have written* of the Ottoman Empire in general, or particularly of the 

 City of Conjiantinople, have made fufficient defcriptions ot that Ceremony, and there- 

 fore I (hall think my (elf difpens'd from the obligation of giving anew one of it. I 

 (hall only fay this of it, That it is very Magnificent, and that there is not any Monarch 

 in the World- who # makes fo great an expofal of Gold and precious Stones together, 

 wherewith the Hamefles and Trappings of mod of the Hories, as well of the Grand 

 Sdgnor, as thofe of the Baflas are all cover'd. 



At their return from the Mofquey, the Moufti, on Horfe-back, and at the head of a Ths vickti 

 wretched Crew of GreekjCbrifiianf, of the meaneft fort of people ( for there are very ^f^afidlw 

 few Armenians among them) expect the Grand Seignor, at the Gates of the Seraglio, get Money , ' 

 and telling his Highnefs, That thofe people were Mis-believers, who had embrae'd the 

 good Law, [ntreat him to relieve them, and to make fome proviiion for their liveli- 

 hood. Upon this exhortation, the Sultan orders twenty or thirty Purfes to be diftri- 

 buted amongd 'them j nay fometimes his Charity is fo great, as to amount to twen- 

 ty thouiand Crowns, which are receiv'd by the Moufti, and the diitribution thereof 

 is made, as he pleafes. But the greater part of it he converts tohisownufe, and 

 holds an infamous correspondence with mod of that wretched Crew, who though 

 they often prefent themfelves for that Benevolence, he pretends not to have any know- 

 ledge of at all. By this Impodure, which is fo palpable, and fuits well enough with 

 the followers of Mahomet, does that High Pried of the Mahumctan Law, put yearly 

 into his Purfe, a confiderable Sum of Money, which is no fmall augmentation to his 

 Revenue. But the cafe is the fame with him as with the Bafts s : that is, he is not 

 exempted from refunding, and we (hall, by and by produce a very late Example ot 

 it. 6 ^. 



And this may fcrve for a general account of the ordinary lives of the Ottoman Mo- 

 narchy while they are within the Seraglio. In their Armies, they have other Em* 

 ployments, especially they, who have Military Souls, as there have been fome among 

 them, of whom Hiltories have given us a very noble Character. 



I come now to the prefent date of the Ottoman Family, and to the particular incli- The frtfat 

 nations of the Grand Seignor, who now Reigns. Mahomet, the Fourth of that Name, gjjj^ 1 * 1 

 the Son of Ibrahim, and a Circaflian Lady, was born in the Year 1643. and he is, by ¥milh 

 that account, got into the Thirty fourth year of his Age, and the Twenty fourth of his 

 Reign, He has two Brothers, Bajazet, and Orcban, but they are by another Mother, 

 who is full living, and is perpetually dudying how to preferve them. He has alfo a 

 third Brother, named Solyman, who is the fecond of the Sons ot Ibrahim, according to 

 the order of their Nativities. But the Mother of the lad mentioned Son is dead ; and 

 thence it comes, that the Souldiery, who conceive greater hopes of that Prince, than of 

 either Bajazet, or Orcban, his Brethren, pity him the more, and have the greater af- 

 fection for him, upon that very fcore of his having loft the fupport, which he might 

 have expected from a Mother. 



Ever fmce the time ofBajazet the Second, who fird introdue'd that inhumane and 

 cruel Cuftome, of fecuring the Throne of the Sultan-Regent, by the death of his Bre- 

 thren few of thofe unfortunate Princes have efcap'd the Barbarifme of their Elder- 

 Brother and thev, amongft them, who have been treated with fomewhat lefs 01 mhu- 

 ' ' manity, 



