Ghap. I. 
to the Levant.' 
“vans embroidering an Handkerchief, yet they muft go 
fine and have their Slaves, though their Hulbands be 
ever fo poor. This Idlenefs makes them vicious, and 
feek only Ways of having their PJeafure, of which the 
Hufbands are fo jealous, that they will not fuffer them 
to fhew themfelves to Men ; and if they do, they are 
fure to receive the Baftinado on their Buttocks. Upon 
thefe Accounts no Women are fuffered to go to 
the Mofques, Markets, or appear in their Hufbands 
Shops. 
The Wives have not the Privilege of Divorcing their 
Hufband, as their Hufbands have of Divorcing them, 
unlefs they deny their Wives the Things which they are 
obliged to furnifh them withal, as Bread, Pilou, Cof- 
fee, and the Ufe of the Bed once in eight Days, and 
Money to go to the Bagnio twice a Week •, for, if they 
fail in thefe Things, they may go the Cadi and demand 
a Divorce, which if the Cadi, upon going to the 
Houfe, finds true, he grants her Suit, as alfo if flie 
complains, that he hath offered to ufe her contrary 
to the Courfe of Nature, which fhe expreffes by 
Turning up the Soal of her Slipper, without Saying a 
Word. 
1 5. When any one is fick, the Imans go and pray 
with him, and if he dies, all the Neighbours know it 
by the Howling of the Women, who cry out as if they 
were in Defpair. The Friends and Neighbours go im- 
mediately to condole with them, weeping and mourn- 
ing in a doleful Tone ; but yet, as if they were finging, 
they rehearfe the Praifes of the Dead, <viz. The Wife 
will fay of her dead Husband, He loved me fo well, he 
gave me Plenty of every Phing I flood in Need of, &c. 
and all prefent join with her, repeating her Words, and 
imitating her Geftures. This lafts feveral Days, as 
often as any new Vifits are made ; nay, fometimes 
thefe Cries are renewed at the Year’s End. After thefe 
Lamentations comes the Burial, for which the Relations 
wafh the Body, and fhave off all the Hair, and then 
they burn Incenfe about it to fcare away evil Spirits and 
Devils ; and then praying God to be merciful to him, 
they wrap him up in a Sheet, and put him into a Cof- 
fin and Bier, like ours, but with his Face downward, 
and covered with a Pall, which is red ; if the Perfon 
dead be a Soldier, green ; if a Scheriff, i. e. one of 
Mahomet*^ Relations, black, with a Turban ; which is 
red, if he be a Janizary \ red and white if a Spabi 
green if a Scheriff and white if any other Man. 
As he is carried to the Burying-place, which is with 
his Head foremoft, the Priefts go before, faying cer- 
tain Prayers, and often calling upon the Name of God : 
After the Corps, which is carried by four Bearers on 
two Sticks, follow the Relations and Friends, the Wo- 
men come laft hov/ling like mad Folks : Being come to 
the Burying-place, they take the Body out of the Cof- 
fin, and bury it in the Earth, and leaving the Women 
to mourn, depart. When the Grave is filled up, the 
poorer Sort eredt a Stone over the Head of the Decea- 
fed, for the Angel that examines them to fit on ; but 
the richer Sort have Tombs of Marble, and at both 
.Ends a Turbant of Stone like that of the Deceafed. 
Their Burying-places are always without their Towns, 
that the Air may not be infefted by the corrupt 'Va- 
pours of the Graves, and this was the Cuftom of the 
Ancients. The ^urks Burying-places are commonly by 
the Highway-fides, that Travellers may pray for them, 
and always diflindt from the Chriftians. After the 
dead Body is interred, the Relations and Friends, for 
feveral Days, come and pray upon the Grave, that God 
would deliver the Soul of the Deceafed from the Tor- 
ture of the Black Angels, exhorting him not to be 
afraid. The Women alfo do the fame with fo much 
Paflion, that one would think them abfolutely diflraft- 
ed. Many on Fridays bring Vi6tuals and Drink to the 
Graves, and leave it there for Travellers, that they may 
pray for the dead Perfon, for whofe Sake it is given 
them. 
16. In fine, though in Chriftendom the Turks are 
accounted barbarous, yet, in Truth, they are good Peo- 
ple, and love honeft Men, whether Turks, Jews, or 
Chriflians. They do not think it lawful to cheat or rob 
a Chriflian more than a Turk, but carefully obferve that 
excellent Command, To do to others only what we are 
willing others fhould do to us. They are, indeed, guilty 
of great Extortion from the Franks, but it is through 
the Inftigation of the Jews and Christians, who envy 
one another, and feek each others Ruin. Ufury is 
efteem’d a very great Sin by the Turks, and is very litf 
tle pradlifed. They are very devout and charitable, 
very zealous for their Religion, which they feek to pro- 
pagate all over the World ; and whenever they love a 
Chriflian, they exhort him to turn Turk. 
They are ever loyal to their Prince, whom they high- 
ly reverence, and blindly obey, and are never known 
to betray him, but willingly die for him, whenever he 
commands it : They never quarrel or fight among 
themfelves, and know not what Duels are, which may 
be faid to proceed from AfahomePs wife Policy, who 
forbad them Wine, and Gaming for Money ; and the 
good Turks fo religioufly obferve thefe Laws, that they 
will not drink a Drop of Wine, and always play 
for Diverfion. They are very temperate, and never 
commit any Excefs in Quantity or Quality of Viduals ; 
fo that it may be truly faid of them. They eat to live, 
and do not live to eat. Yet are they not without their 
Vices, for they are fo proud, that they think themfelves 
above all other Nations, and that the World was made 
for them. They difpife the Jews and Chriflians fo 
much, that they call them Dogs ; and the Rabble think 
they do a good A6t. Some of them are fo fuperfli- 
tious, that if at their firft going out in a Morning, they 
meet a Chridian or Jew, they return home again, fay- 
ing, God preferve us from the 'Devil. 
The Turks love not hard Study, and think it enough 
to learn to read and write. They often ftudy the Al- 
coran, which comprehends all their Law, both Canon 
and Civil, and fome apply themfelves to Aftrology and 
other Sciences. They are very amorous, but their Love 
is brutifh, for they are the greateft Sodomites, and 
boaft of this infamous Vice. They are very covetous, 
fo that Money will do any Thing among them, both at 
Court and in the Country. They are very friendly and 
civil, if they can gain by it ; but common People are 
purchafed at a cheaper Rate, for let them have but 
Drink enough, and they will do any Thing for you. 
17. The Turks are fubje( 5 l to one Prince, called by 
them. The Sultan, and by other Nations, The Grand 
Signior, or Emperor of the Turks. He comes to the 
Empire by Inheritance, and is always of the Ottoman 
Family, for which the Turks have fo great a Ve- 
neration, that they will not fubmit to any other. 
When the Grand Signior dies, his Son fucceeds him, 
or, if he have none, his Brother, who fixes upon a 
Day when he will go by Water to the Mofque of Efoup, 
where being feated upon a T ribunal of Marble, raifed 
upon Marble Pillars, the Mufti fays fome Prayers, girds 
him with a Sword, and then he makes his Entry^lnfo 
Conflantinople with a Cavalcade to the Seraglio, and this 
Ceremony ferves inftead of a Coronation. The Em-, 
peror is no fooner fettled on the Throne, but he takes 
care to fecure to himfelf the Pofieffion of if, by firft 
fhutting up all his Brothers fo clofe, that none can tell 
where they are, and, if he has Children, putting them 
to Death by ftrangling them, making a 'Scruple of 
Confcience to fhed the Royal Blood. The chief Rea- 
fon of this Fratricide is to fecure the Militia to himfelf; 
for fo long as he has a Brother alive, they are ever 
threatening him with a Revolt, unlefs he will augment 
their Pay as they pleafe. When the Grand Signior is 
fettled on his Throne, he frequently minds nothing but 
his Pleafures, being attended with a great many Buf- 
foons, viz. Mutes and others, who ftudy continually to 
invent fome new Pranks to divert him, and his Bafha^s 
fend him Multitudes of the finett Women to gratify 
his Lull. His Power is abfolutely and entirely defpo- 
tick, and his Will is the only Law by which he rules. 
He is not curb’d by any written Law or Cuftom, fo 
that the Oppreffed have not fo much as a Right to com- 
plain. He may take away any Man’s Eftate, prefer 
the meaneft Perfon to the higheft Dignities, and fend 
for the Heads of whom he has a Mind, without Trial 
or 
