S: U M A T R Ai 
353 
The ufiirper mo\iDted the throne, by the title of fultan ^adbty^ at an 
advanced period of life. He was orlginaily a fifherinan, and afterwards 
ferved in the wars againft Malacca, where he fhewcd fo much courage, 
prudence, and ikill in maritime afFairs, that the late king made him at 
length the chief commander of his forces, and gave him one of his nearcft 
kinfwomen to wife* The monarch's only child, a daughter, was mar- 
ried to the king of Johor,^" by whom Ihe had a fon. The infant was fent 
to Acheen to be educated under his grandfather, whofe heir he was de- 
iigned to be. Upon the death of the king, Aladin at firfl took the pro- 
tetftion of the child, but foon after difpatched him alfo, and then de- 
clared himfclf fovereign in the right of his vvife»| Having the royal 
force in his hands, he curbed the power of the reft of the nobles, who 
attempted to make refinance againft this ftcp, and put numbers of them 
« Thb name which the htxo af the Cnt fades rendered famous in the eaft, is comxnoa among 
the MaJays, who pronounce it, Ladien^ 
-f The king of Acheen fent on this occafion, to Johori a piece of ordnance, fuch as for great- 
ncfs, length, and workmanfliip could hardly be matched m all Chriflendom. It was afterward* 
taken by the Portuguefe, who Ihipt it for Europej but the vcffel was loft in her paf&ge. Linfchoten. 
X Commodore Beaulicu relates ihc circumftances of thh revolution in a very diffeirac manner. 
The nobles, be fays, upon the extinaion of the royal line, fttting; up each dieir refpeftlve pre- 
teofions to the crown, were proceeding to decide the matter by force, when they were prevailed 
m. by the chief pricil, to prevent bloodfiied, and at the fame time prcferve their claims, by raifmg 
to the throne an old nobleman of much wifdom and experience, and who was defcended from 
one of the firft families of the kingdom, but had not affcElcd any pretenfions to the dignity. 
That after many rcfufals to quit his retired life, he was at length forced tc acquiefcence, on the 
condition of their rcgardmg him as a father. But no fooner was he in poffcirion of the forereign 
power, than be fltewed a different face, and the firft ftep aficr his acceffionj was to invite all the 
nobles of the realm to an entertainment, where, as they were introduced one by one to an inner 
court of the palace, he had them murdered » Tliis ftory, allowing for the difference of fituation 
and manners, bears a Arong refemblance to the cleiiion of Sixtus the fifth to the Papacy. The 
Commodore had great opponunity of information, and was a fenfible man, but he appears £o 
this cafe to have been amufed %viiha plaufibU tale by the grandfon of this monarch, whom pro- 
bably he liad it from, John Davis, an intelligent Englifh navigator, whofe account I follow, 
was more likely to hear the truth j tnd he was at Acheen during Ahdin'a reJgn, whereas the 
Commodore did not arrive till twenty years after. Befides, a Dutch Admiral who was at 
Acheen about three ycai-s afjcr Davi^, confimis the report of Aladin's having been originally a, 
liflicnuan. But both the Commodore and Davis place ths event of his acceffion about five yeart 
miter than the Spani& hidoilaa, 
