Chap. XVIII. Grand Seignor s Seraglio. 89 



fhe was defperatdy fallen in love, having made f ruitlefs attempts, by other ways, to 

 fatisfie her infamous inclinations. The Father, not fufpedting any thing of her wic- 

 ked intentions, and being withal poor, grants her his Daughter, the Marriage is ih- 

 lemniz'd in the prefence of the Cadi, and the impotture having been dilcover'd the ve- 

 ry Wedding-night,the old woman was condemn'dthe next day to be thrown into the 

 Sea, there to quench the Gomorrhean Inflammations of her lewd deiires. This Story 

 is to this day related in Con\lantinofe, and I have had it from feveral good hands. 



Thefe infatiable falacioufnefs amongft the Women, are the effe&s and conferences Polygamy pf. 

 of the fame inclinations in the Men-, and the Tttrkt are fo much the more execrable {^'"7,'°. 

 and abominable as to this particular, the more they are permitted a plurality of Wives. "'"• ^^ 

 But, whether it happens through a juft punilhment from Heaven, or proceed from their 

 Sorceries, which are common and allow'd in T*«%, and ordinarily practised by the 

 Women, in oppolition one to another, to appropriate the affections of their Husbands, 

 it has always been obferv'd, That the Turks who keep many Women, are not fo well 

 itor'd with Children, as they, who obferve Conjugal Chaltity, and confine themfelves 

 to one. I queftion not but thofe Authors, who have written of the Mahumetan Re- 

 ligion, have given a fuftkient account of that plurality of Wives, and of the Cere- 

 monies of Matrimony, amongft the 1ur\s. 



As to the manlier, how the Grand Seignor demeans himfelf in the profecution of Tie Stereo of 

 his Amours, it is a Secret, whkh I (hall not enquire into •, I have not much endeavour'd ^'. Grand 

 to make any difcoveries of it, and it is a hard matter to give any account thereof, ^"°[ * 

 without fome haiard of travelling Hijiory into Romance. They are Intrigues, which 

 do not admit of any Confident, by whom they may be difclos'd, and all that is com- 

 monly related thereof, is haply at a great diftance from the true ftate of things : not to 

 prefs this, That we ought to have a refpecl for all Princes, and to forbear divulging 

 what informations we may poffibly have rcceiv'd, of their fecret Amours. 



CHAP. XVIIL 



The Entrance into Conjiantinofe of the Sultanefs , Mother to 

 the Grand Seignor, whom they honour with the Title of 

 la Validk> on the Second of July, 1 66%. 



The Principal Heads. 



The order of the SMarcb. 7be Wealth of the Grand Seignor' s Fa- 

 vourite. The Sultaneffe's Coaches. The prohibitions to look 



on her. 



o 



N the Second of July, in the Year of our Lord, One Thoufand, fix Hun- 

 dred, Sixty and Eight, the Sultanefs, Mother to the Grand Seignor Re- 

 gent, at her return from Adrianople, made her Entrance into Conjlanti- 

 nople, where I then was, of which Entrance take the eufuing Dcfcriprion, 



About Six in the Morning, (bme numbers of Janizaries, notobferving any order, fte Ordtr of fy 

 took their way towards the Seraglio, fometimes ten, or more, fometimes twenty, in March. 

 little detachments, which lafted for (bme time. 



After them came two hundred men on Horfe-back, belonging to the Houfe of the 

 Cohglou^ that is to fay, the Grand Seignor's Favourite, with thort Guns retting on 

 the Bowe of their Saddles, and all very meanly clad, as alfo the Officers of his Kit* 

 chin,who coming in the Rear of the others,were, in like manner, poorly habited, and 



ill 



