pope HSCEI T Nicholas M. Williams Memorial Eth ba ological Collection Bos ton College Lib rary TEL aS 8 rr COT L ECE LIBRARY - STON COLLE S BOT RSTn! GILL, MAS THE ADVENTURES Ho Heuell, oF Waig5aD Ao lub oft ui cys Sis® Gaudentio dt Lucca. BE FN G ‘The Subftance of his Examination before the Fa- thers of the Inquisition at Bologna in Ltaly : Giving an Account.of an UNKNOWN COUNTRY in the midft of the Deferts of Arrica, The Origine and Antiquity of the People, their Religion, Cuftoms, Polity, and Laws, COPIED FROM The original Manufcript in St. AZark’s Library at Venice. WITH Critical NOTES of the learned Signor Rugpz, fometime Keeper of the faid Library. — To which is prefixed, A Letrer of the Secretary of the Inquisition, fhewing the Reafons of Signor GaupENTtIo’s being appre- hended, and the Manner of it. LE SECOND EDITION. | faithfully Tranflated from the Tcalian. LONDON, Printed for W, Inwys én Pater-noffer Row, and R. Mansy and H. S. Cox on Ludgate- Hill, And fold by M. Cooper in Pater-nofter Row, MDCCXLVIITI, a % Z hei ha ie A Lae SUM RL HS ohh ey BY [ Aon. AG Ma BSA, Sa \ ee uit Y, UP WFR i 9 Wie = )}) Nr: 8 Vy Vee Naw: DD SLL 7, > 3S \ 4 prs Is BS ae N a Non ( a THE DO. Ff tS ER 41-S very natural to think the reader f= would willingly be apprifed of two things relating to thefe memoirs: Firft, how this curious manufcript came to light, con- fidering the dark and deep fecrecy with which all things are tranfated in the In- quifition. Secondly, how it came into the tranflator’s hands, ‘To fatisfy fuch a com- mendable curiofity, he is to be informed, “That the manufcript was fent by the fecretary of the Inguifition at Bologna to the learned signor Rhedi, keeper of the library of St. ae a 2 Mark iv PREFACE, Mark at.Venice, his intimate friend sand Correfpondent, with the whole accounthow the author, was taken.up, and fecured im the Inguifition, .as the letter. (of the fecretary:te the fame. Signor Rhedi\ will fhew: which letter, as it contains a great many curious’ par- ticulars in the examination of the criminal (for he was taken up as fuch, though no-: thing very material was proved againft him; for, which reafon, he received a more favous® rable treatment than isgenerally believed.to be cuftomary in that dreadful tribunal) fo it dif covers.no indirect practices. of the Ingusftian, but,..on the:contrary,..fhews-they: proceed: witha greatideal of circumfpection within their walls, though all things are involved.in impenetrable darknefs to, thofe without.) Be fide, the fucceflion of new popes, and) ges nerally {peaking,.the| change of other offi- cers attending it; might make) theny be lef © upon their guard, .as) the fecretaryfeems ta hint .in his sletter: Neither’ is! there any! thing that might, do him: any harm, ‘in'cafe he were difcovered ;:efpecially writing to 4 friend ef his own-communion, anda prict) ee PREF ADOS; v as Signor Rhedi was; whichis likewife feen by theletter.: | »Asito the fecond Quere, The manufcript came into the publither’s hands, by the means ofthe fame Signor Rhedi, who is an ho- nour to ‘his church, profeffion, and coune tty, and one of the moft learned and polite men in the world. » He is not fo bigotted to his religion or profeffion, as to-fhun the com= pany of the Heretical] Tramontani, a title the! Italians generally give us ; but lé@ves and €ficems a learned ran, though of a different perfuafion. | One reafon for. this may be, that he’ breathes a freer ‘air at Venice, than” they do in the other parts of Italy. ‘The Inquifition has nothing to doin the Ven. tian territories.” Though they ate Romane Catholicks, the ftate admits of no tribunal independent. of itfelf, Befides; as they are a trading people, their’ commerce obliges them :to-bercivil to perfons of afl perfuafi- ons,:efpecially ftrangers, But! of all others they..feem:tovhave the ‘greateft refpect for the Englifb-5., whether it: be on account of their, power, at fea; or: their’ franknep in {pending their money, fo many of the Eng- ee %; PREFACE hfe nobility and gentry travelling that way ; or from the candour and fincerity of our nature, fo oppofite tothe Italians, and there- fore the more valued by them: be that as. it will, the publither, who had feveral times made the tour of Italy, was not only intimately acquainted, but had contracted a particular friendfhip with Signor Rhedi, as well on account of their mutual inclinations for learning and, antiquity, as for {everal, reci- procal obligations paffing between. them. The laft time he was at Venice, which was in company of a perfon of the frft rank, who liked the place as well as he did, -he ftaied, there .upwards..of fifteen. months ; during which time he had the opportunity of enjoying, the converfation of his learned friend, with as much liberty, as if he had been of the fame perfuafion, But the pre- fent of a gold repeating watch, with fome other of our Exgli/h curiofities, fo won his heart, that one day being together in the great library, he unlocks a little grate where he kept his rarities, and turning to me with a fmile, Signor Ingle/e, fays he, hold- ing a manufcript in his hand, here is fuch a curi- PREFACE. Vii a curiofity, as, 1 am fure, you never faw, and perhaps never heard of: ’tis the life of a perfon who is now in the Inguifition at Bo- logna, taken from his own confeffion be- fore the Inquifitors ; with the account of a country in the heart of the vaft deferts of Africa, whofe inhabitants have lived un- ‘Known to all the world upwards of 3000 years, and inacceflible to all the world, but by the way he wascarried thither. The In- quifitors are fo far perfuaded of the truth of it, that they have promifed him his liberty, i if he will undertake to condué& fome mif- ' fionaries the fame way, to preach the go- {pel to a numerous people, who by his ac- count have the greateft knowledge of natu- ral religion and polity of any heathen na- tion yet known, even beyond the Chine/?, For my own part, I could fcarce have be- lieved. it, had not the fecretary of the fame - Anquifition, who, you may be fure, by his poft, is not a man to be impofed upon, af- fured me of the truth of it: nay, that he himfelf was prefent at his feizure and exami- nation, and fent me a copy of his life, eae? which — Pa ee Viil PREFACE. whieh he was ordered to'give'in by thei In- quifitors ; with the whole account of ‘the occafion and manner” of ‘his feizure, °°Tt feems he had lived fome time ‘in Bologna in quality of a phyfician, under the nate of Signor Gaudentio di Lucca, which he fays is his true name, and confirms it by the place of his birth, thé names of his pa- rents, time of his captivity, &c. He had dropped fome words of feveral ftrange fe- crets he was mafter of, with mutterings of an unknown nation, religion, and cuftors, quite new to the Italian ears; for which reafon the Inquifition thought fit to’ feize him, atid, by ways and means made ufe of in that tribunal, obliged him to give an’ ac- count of his whole life, which is the mott furprizing I ever read. Here is the fecreta~ ry’s letter, giving a fuccin& account of the whole affair. I have added, continued he; fome critical remarks in proper ‘places, to fhew that this account is not fo’ incredible as it may appear at fitft fight, and that it agrees “with fome hints left us in the remains of ancient hiftory. Befides, the man {tands to the PREFACE, ix the truth of it with a ftedfaftnefs: that is furprizing. Ele is a perfon of a very hand- fome prefence, well read, geod fenfe, and, as it. appears to the Inquifitors (who are nice judges) of feemingly good morals. He pro- feffes. himfelf a zealous Roman-Catholick, and that he always was fo; for which rea- fon, the Inquifitors are more civil to him than ordinary. He gives fuch a rational and cir- eumftantial account of his adventures, that I. am_ of the fecretary’s opinion, as to the truth. of it, But, added he, I won’t fore- ftal, the. fatisfa€tion you will find in the peru- fal.::fo delivered. the manufcript and the fe- cretary’s. letter .into, the publifher’s hands, who running his eyes over it for fome time, was fo ftruck with the novelty of the thing, that.he afked: Signor Rhedi, whether he might not take a copy of it. He was an. {wered, he:could not permit the manufcript to. be. taken .out,of the library ; nor could he,. with fafety to himfelf, allow a ftranger, and.of .a different religion too, the liberty of ftaying fo long in the library by himfelf, as the tranfertbing would take up. The. pub- : | lither per le cE a a A Shao el ing 4 PREFACE lither faid he might put what guards upon ‘him he pleafed, provided he might but tran- {cribe it. No, fays he, that’s inconvenient too; but I will order one of my under-libra- rians, I can confide in, to write you out an exact copy, with the fecretary’s letter, and my own remarks, if you think them worth your notice ; which he did moft faithfully ; ‘generoufly commanding the tranferiber, at the fame time, not to take any thing of me for his pains. Thus this curious manufcript came to hand, to the infinite. fatisfaction of the publither, and he hopes it will prove no lefs to the readers, in the perufal of it. The character of Signor Gaudentio cannot be called in queftion ; nor is the publifher a perfon fo little verfed in the nature and ways of the Italiaus, as to beimpofed upon. The tranflation from the J¢alian is as exact as poflible. This is the previous account the publither thought proper to give of this af- fair. N. B. Great part of the matters treated of in thefe Memoirs, being tranfacted in a Roa man Catbolick country, and among Roman Catholicks, PREFACE. X1 Catholicks, the reader muft not wonder, if they fpeak of their religion, as if it were the only true one in the world, It will not be improper to admonith the reader, not to difcredit immediately fome of the relations contained in thefe Memoirs ; but to fufpend his judgment, till he has. read Signor Rbedi’s remarks; particularly, when he comes to the origine and antiquity of the people the author fpeaks of. The learned will find in them fuch a vaft knowledge in hiftory, and the moft intricate remains of antiquity, as will render them very well worth their notice. ‘The fame Signor Rde- di told the publifher, he had enquired into what happened at Venice ; particularly what the author mentions of Monfieur Godart, one of the moft improbable parts of his ad- ventures, and found the whole to be juft as he relates it. The publifher is fatished the reader will be extremely forry, as well as himféelf, for the lofs of, fome fheets belonging to the mid- dle part of this hiftory. How they came to be loft, he cannot tell; but he fuppofes, by the xii PREFACE, the incivility of the cuftom-houfe officers af Mar feilles ; for they tumbled over his effects .. at a very tude rate, and while he had’an eye « on other matters, they either took fome of the loofe theets;, or, they dropped:out in they tumbling ; he was very much troubled, when he came to mifs them in the courfe of the tranflation. SEES LN OIN EDI AN ah PERS D0} Wolo WO, cae ie a an nae Seales Oe INTRODUCTION: An Account of the Caufes and Manner of — the Seizure of Signor GaupENTIo pr Lucca, and the firft Part of his Exa- mination ; In a Letter from the Secretary of the Inqvist+ TION to Signor RHEDI, aS 2k, , r T NE prefent turn of + affairs which fills the heads of other people with intrigues of ftate; gives me an opportunity of returning my beft thanks, for the rich prefent you were pleafed to fend to a per- fon who was yours before by ‘the ftri@eft ties of gratitude—The cabinet, with the other curiofities, came fafe to hand, and fhew, that whoever is fo happy, as to ob- lige Signor Rhedi, fows a feed which re- _* The Itahian titles of Mlufrifimo, 9c. are left out, as not ufed in our language. . t He either means the death of fome pope, or fome ex- traordinary crifis in the Romi/b ceconomy. . turns » INTRODUCTION. turns a hundredfeld.—T he. poverty. of .our * profeflion, hinders me from being capable of making a fuitable return, for your.mag- nificent prefent; but nothing ought to take from me the.defire of exprefling my. ac- knowledgments. In teftimony of it, and to thew that poverty itfelf may be grateful, I fend you by the bearer, the account of a man, whofe life has filled our Inquifitors with wonder and aftonifhment.. He has been in the Inquifition at this place about two, years: we have employed all our en- ines to find out the truth of what he is, and can find nothing material againft him, un- lef it be. the unheard-of account he gives of himéelf,, Our firft Inquifitor has obliged him to write his own life, with all the particu- lars, as fucciiictly as pofflible, adding threats wiathal; that, if.we find him in a falfe ftory, it fhall be worfe him. He tells us. ftrange frories of one of the moft beautiful countries the world, ini the very heart, of the vaft deferts, of Africa, inacceflible to all, the world but by one,way, .which,feems as, ex- ‘dinasy as, the country. it.leads to... As area pexfon.of univerfal. knowledge. in ‘and an admirer.of curiofities of Me kee natuse,’.1 fend, you a,copy.jcf. the he fecretary was a Dominican.dvier.;.,the Dominicans being tnafters of the Jngui/ition, mange INTRODUCTION. 3 manufcript to have your opinion of it; and to give you as Clear a notion of the man as I can, you muft know, that about three years before he was taken up by the Inquipition, he took a neat houfe at Bologna in quality of: a phyfician, pafling through fome flight examination for form fake, “and paying: his fees as is cuftomary with ftrangers, i name, as he'fays, 1s Gawdentio di Luce origt inally of Lucca *, but® born in Man. fa +; he is a tall, hata foie, clean-built man, as you fhall fee ina thoit arid: of a very po- lite addrefs, and fomething fo very engag- ing in his afpedt, as befpeaks your favour at firft fight. He feems to be near fifty , he is a man of good fenfe and fine difcourfe, though his accent is not pure Jtalian, from his living, as he fays, fo long in foreign countries, He {peaks almoft all the oriental languages, and has a very competent fhare of other parts of learning, as well as that of his profeilion. We fent to Régufs and Lucca to enquire about him, but could not get the leaft information of his being known in thofe places, ‘The reafon' of wilicds he has given in his life, as you will fee's only at Ragufa, fome’ people ‘remembered thee had been a merchant “of that name, about five and *'A fitde republick in’ Féaly. + A republick in Dasmaria, and tributa ry to the Turds. twe caty 4 INTRODUCTION. twenty or thirty years ago, who was either loft, or taken by pirates, and never heard of more, The Inqguifition, as you know, Sir, has eyes every where, efpecially on. ftrangers ; we kept an eye upon him from his firit f{et- tling at Bologna: but as we proceed with jaftice as well as caution, we could not dif- cover any fufficient reafon to take him up, His life was as regular as that of others of his profeffion, which he did not follow very clofely, but only for form fake, being chiefly confulted at his own houfe, on account of fome extraordinary fecrets he pretend- ed tobe mafter of, without making any vi- fits but to ladies, with whom he grew in pro- digious requeft, They faid he had a {weet- nefs and eafe in converfation, that was al- moft bewitching. This unaccountable fond- nefs of the ladies gave us the firft fufpicion, left he fhould inftill fome il notions into that fex, fo credulous where they are fond, and fo incredulous where they diflike, He profeffed himfelfa Roman Catbolick; feem- ed to have a competent knowledge, and even veneration, confidering he was a phy- fician,. for our holy myfteries: So we had nothing againft him on that account. We could not find that he wanted for mo- ney, though he lived rather, genteely than magnificently: We found on feveral.ocea- fions, that money, the idol of other people, was INTRODUCTION. ¢ was the leaft of his care; and that he had fome fecret {prings we could not fathom, His houfe was but decently, though com- pleatly, furnifhed for one of his rank ; he kept two fervants in livery and a valet de chambre; who, being of this town, knew no more of him than we did. There was an elderly lady we thought had been his wife, but it prov’d fhe was not; a foreigner, for whom he feemed to have a great refpect, and her maid a foreigner alfo; and an elderly maid-fervant of the town. We have them all fecured in the Inquifition, though he does not know it. The lady has the remains of a wonderful fine face, and an air of quality ; fhe fpeaks a broken Jta/ian, fo that we can get very little out of her, but what agrees wath his account. Iam confident you will rather be pleafed with thefe particulars than think them tedious. There is fomething fo extraordinary in the man, I ought not to o- mit the leaft circumftance ; we had feveral confultations about him in our Inguifizon, as well as our Lezger intelligences, but could | difcover nothing of moment. We examined what intercourfe he had in other parts, by ordering the poft-mafter to fend us all his letters, which we could eafily open, and feal up again with the egreateft nicety. But we found he’ had only two correfpondents, one poffeffed of a moderate income of about four thoufand crowns in the bank of Genoa ; the a ~ b other 6 INTRODUCTION other a’ lady of your city “of “Venice, whom’ we difcovered to be a’ celebrated curtezan, who fubfcribes herfelf Favela. We find by her laft letter, that he had given her very good advice, and perfuaded her to become a penitent ; you'll oblige us if you will enquire what fhe is. Amorous intrigues not falling under our cognizance, we let him alone for fome time, “having a perfon under our examination on fufpicion of be- ing a ‘few in mafquerade, and a {py from the Grand Signor, who kept us employ- ed for fome time. Befides, the good advice he gave the curtezan, and he being paft his prime, made us lefs fufpicious of the ladies ; we fuppofed they had recourfe to him on ac- count of fome female infirmities. "Fhough the young ladies were moft fond of him, his behaviour to them was more an endearing fweetnefs and courtefy, than love, with very little figns, ‘at leaft he had the addrefs to con- ' ceal them, of more kindnefs for one than another. “In fine, perfons of the beft rank, of both ‘fexes, besan to have a a prodigi ous liking for his company ; | he ftole ogee them infenfibly. “As he increafed in’ this good OpTOE: he opened himielf wit! ng Af freedom ; he made no thew’ at all-at firit, ‘more thana fine a ice anda polite ade drefs: but after further 4Gral intance, they difcovered he was ences, and fhewed a after of “moft “{ci- Ipefior gen ins mM any thing y} a a INTRODUCTION. 7 _ thing they could, difcourfe of. We employ ed proper perfons to.infinuate themfelves in- to his. good liking, and confult him as.a friend, on; feveral. nice points; but; he had fuch a prefence of mind, yet appeared fo unconfirained in his difcourfe, that, they owned them{felves novices in comparifon to him. If they talked of politicks, he faid very judicioufly, it was not for men of his rank, to meddle with affairs of flate, or.ex- amine what perfons did in the cabinet, If of religion, he feemed to underftand it yery well for one of his profeffion ; fo that no- thingcame from him but whta wasconfonant to the catholick faith ; expreffing on all oc- cafions a great deference for the authority of the church. But ftill the more fagacious were perfuaded fomething more than ordi- naty lay hid under tHat {fpecious cover. At length,, talking one day with fome of our {pies about the cuftoms of foreign countries, he faid, he had met with a nation in one of the remoteft parts of the world, whe; though they were Heathens, had more & knowledge of the law of nature and common morality, than the moft civilized Chrifizans, "This was immediately carried to us, andexplained asa. reflection.on the Chri/lzan religion. Another time, as he had a great knowl edge in philofophy, he dropt es words as if he. had fome {kill in judiciary aftrology ; which you know, Sir, us a.capital pink withus. We were as good as refolyed to b 2 {eize 8 INTRODUCTION, feize him, when’ we were determined to it by the following accident. Two of" the not beautiful women in’ all» Bologna had fallen'in‘ love with him, either on account of the handfomenefs of his’ perfon, or, by a’whimficalnefs peculiar to fome women, becaufe *he was a’ ftranger, or ‘thinking he might keep their fecrets better under the cloak of being a phyfician ; or, in fine, drawn in by fome love potion or other,' we can’t tell ;) but the matter grew to fuch a’ height, that on his thewing more diftinguifhing fa- vour to’one of them,’ as it is natural for-our women to be violent in their jealoufy, as well as love)(the other to be revenged, faid he had bewitched! her ;° which fhe was fure of, for that} fince ‘the very firft time fhe’ faw him, fhe thought there was fomething more 4n him; than’ ever fhe faw in any’ man in her life.’ “Befides; the faid, fhe had often found ‘him’ drawing ‘circles and figures on ‘paper, ‘which’ to: her looked like conjura- tion, Her friends immediately informed our fathers of its fo we refolved to feize him, if it were but ‘to find out his fecrets, and fee what the man’ was, There ‘was anc- ther reafon induced'us to it,’ which’ the sworld will hardly believe, though it-is mat- ter of ‘fact: that ‘is; «we were afraid; the man would. be affaflinated by fome’ fecret means or other, for being fo great with our Jadies ; “fo, to fave his life, and not lofe the as ae 86% dl difco- - INTRODUCTION. 9 difcoveries we expect from him, it was de- termined he {hould, be feized, inamediately. Accordingly, I. was deputed, with three un- der-officers,..to do the bufinefs,, but. withiall the caution.and fecrefy ufual, in, fuch: cafes. It..was done about midnight, .when.we had. watched .one-.of the two. ladies he. fa- youred moft, into. his houfe. We went in a,clofe coach, and, myfelf and. ene. ofthe officers, {topping at the door, as foon as the fervant.opened it, {tepped in, ‘telling him what we We and charging him, at his pe- ril, not to make the leaft noife, "The fervants being Italians, and. knowing, the. confe- quence ofthe leaft refiftance, flood-as:mute as. fifhes.., We. immediately, went, into, the inner parlour, and, contrary to ourexpedta- tion,. found our gentleman, the young lady with her governante, and the, elderly, lady that belonged to; him, fitting: very decently at an elegant collatiansof A fruits and f{weet- meats, brought, as we fuppofed; by the fair lady. asa prefent,|,.At our firit) appearance, he; feemed, more furprized than terrified ; as we make no.ceremonies.in thofe, cafes, we told, him .our errand, and..commanded him to come.along with us without, ih leatt re- fiftance, -or,elfe it fhould. be worfe for him, Then,we turned.to the young lady, whofe friends,,.and., perfon, we knew, and told her wei wondered to find her in fuch company, at-fuch unfeafonable hours; but.on account b 3 of ro INTRODUCTION: of her friends, would not, meddle with her, but bid her for her own fake, as fhe tender- ed her life and honour, never to take the leaft notice of the affair. She trembling; and ready to faint away, after fome hefita- tion, was able to fay, that fhe was come to confult-about her health; that fhe brought her governante along with her to take off all futpicion, and as fhe was miftrefs of her- felf and fortune, it was not unufual for per- fons, of her rank to be out at that time, confidering the heat of the feafon. She had f{carce pronounced thefe words, when {fhe fell directly into afwoon. Her governante having things proper for fuch occafions, revi- ved and comforted her as well as fhe could. But when we were going to take the gen- tleman along with us, the elderly lady, to whom we fuppofe he had. told his misfor- tune, inftead of falling into fits, flew at us like a tigrefs, with a fury I never faw in any human creature in my life; tearing at us with her nails and teeth, as if fhe had been in the moft raging madnefs. We, not ac- cuftomed to refiftance, confidering our cha- racter and cloth, and fhe a woman, were almoft motionlefs, when the fervants at the noife came up. We commanded them, in the name,.of the Ingui/ition,. to feize her: the gentleman interpofed, in our favour, fay- ing INTRODUCTLON. ing fome words to her in an unknown lan- guage, which he aflured us, were to beg her to be pacified, as fhe tendred his life as well as her own ; then the violence of her paffion turned, another way, and threw her into the ftrongeft convulfions I ever faw. By this time the other two officers were come up, wondering at our delay, and to find re- fiftance againft the officers of the Inquifition. The gentleman, with a becoming fabmif- fion,. rather than fear, yielded himfelf a prifoner,, and begged us to pardon the fud- den tranfports of a perfon unacquainted with our cuftoms, whofe life in fome manner depended on his, That the was a Perfian lady of quality, brought into this country by great misfortunes, who had once faved his life, as he had been afterwards inftra- mental in faving hers. That the was dif- pofed to turn Chrifiian, with intention af- ter fome time to,end her days in a con- vent. “That for his own part, relying on his innocence, he readily fabmitted to our authority, and offered himfelf to be carried wherever he pleafed ; he uttered all this with an air of conftancy that was furpriz- ing, We immediately took him into ‘the coach, leaving two of the officers with the elderly lady, and commanding them and the gentleman’s fervyants not to ftir out of the room till further orders, As foon as b 4 we 12 INTRODUGTION, we arrived at the Inguifition, we lodged him in a handfome firong room; not fo much like a criminal, as like a perfon for whom we had fome re{pectt. . There -we left him to his own thoughts, and return- ed to his houfe to {eize the elderly lady. aind his papers, having. difmiffed the young lady and her governante before. I forgot to tell you, that Signor Gaudentio, by our permif- fion, had {poke to the elderly lady coming out of her fits in Italian (for we would not let him fpeak to her in the unknown lan guage, for fear of a combination) and with much pains made her underftand, that he begged her by all that was dear, to fubmit to whatever we fhould enjoin her; affurin herby that means all would be. well for her fafety and his own: Which lat. words feemed to give fome calm. to her tempeftu- ous {pirits. You may believe, Sir, we were much furprized at the novelty of. the thing, and the account he gave of. her quality, But as we often meet with falfe ftories in our employment, that did. not hinder. us from doing our duty. So I took her by the hand with a great deal of refpect, and put her into the coach between .myfelf and my companion ; not without, apprehenfi- ons of fome extravagant follies, . confider- ing the violence of her temper... But, fhe continued pretty fedate, only feemed to! be OVCTs ‘ INTRODUCTION. 3 ovewhelmed ‘with grief ; we brought he to the Ingiwifition, and lodged her ina, very handfome apartment fepa tate from..the cOnvefit, on account of her fex; with two waiting “women to attend her with. all refpeet, till we were better apprize ed of the truth of her quality. This obliged me. to take another ‘journey to Signor Gauden- #168 houfe, ‘to fecure ‘his papers, . with whatever cli might contribute to further our difcovery. I found all things in the fame order T leftthem ; buat pes: extremely fatioued, I fat down to the elegant colla- tion that was'left, ‘and after a fmall repatt, went'to bed in his houfe, to have the morn- ing’ before us' for fecuring his effects, _ I fealed up-all the papers I could find, to examine them’ at more leifure, took an in- ventory of “all the moveables, that they might be reftored to him in cate he were found innocent; and fent for a proper of- ficer to remain in the houfe, who was to be ‘refponfible for every thing ig. There were’ two little cabinets of curious work- manfhip; one of them, as it appeared, be- longed to him, the other to the ftrange lady; but being ‘full of intricate drawers or tills, we'todk them'béth along with us, .Thefe andthe papers? we delivered to the head Inquifitors, not being willing to proceed in either Of their examinations, till we had got 14 INTRODUGTAON. got all the light wecould, to: find, out; the the truth, for. that.was, all our aim ;.;then we could tell what .conrfe .to take, with them... We placed’ two ‘cunning lay-bro- thers, in the.nature of fervants, for, Signor Gaudentio, who were.to .infinuate them- felves into his favour by their. kind offices, compafiionating his misfortunes, and: advi- fing him, to difcoyer. the whole, truth, in the account-of his life, quality, profeflion, opinions, and, in fine, whatever articles he was.to. be interrogated on, to confefs inge- nuoafly. what he, knew :.that, that was the only. way.to find favour at :the hands of, furance of amendment. I vifited him my- felf feveral. times before his, examination, and.gave him the fame adyice and) affu- rance ; he promifed me faithfully, he would, and feemed fo feddy and confirmed in. his own. innocence, with fuch, an,agreeable, yet fincere.way in his difcourfe, as) really furprized me, and caufed me. already to. be prejudiced in his, favour ;,,adding. with a fmile, that the hiftory of his life would ad- minifter more. caufe of . wonder; than, indig- nation.— Not to,be too particular, the chief of the. Inquifition,,.with myself, along. with them, fet,to the.{crutiny of hispapers,:, We examined them with all, the care. ymagina- ble iy INTRODUCTION. 1; ble, but could find nothing to ground any material accufation, except ‘fome imperfect memoirs of the cuftoms of a country and eople unheard of to us, and I believe’ to all the’ world befide, with fome odd cha- racters, or words, which had no affinity with any language or characters we ever faw. We difcovered he had a great know- ledge in natural pbilofophy, with fome te- marks that were very curious. There was a rough draught of a map of a country, with towns, ‘rivers, lakes, @@c. but no cli- mate marked down, In fhort, all his pa- pers contained nothing but fome fmall fketches of philofophy and phyfick, with fome ‘pieces: of poetry of an uncommon tafte. Neither could we find any footfteps of ‘judiciary aftrology, or calculations of nativities, of ‘which we had the greatett fufpicion ; only a‘ pair of globes, a fet of mathematical inftruments, charts of navi- gation, forms of unknown trees and plants, and fuch like things, as all gentlemen who delight in travelling are curious to have. There were indeed {ome lines, circles, feg- ments of circles, which we fuppofed: the informing lady meant ; but looked like an attempt to find’out the longitude, rather than” any magical fchemes.—His books were of the fame nature; nothing of he- refy that we could fee, but fuch as belong- 24 16 IN-TRODUGT HON, ed to. a man, of learning.,.'There..were,{e- vetal common. books of ;devotion, fuch;.as ‘are approved. by our church, and ;feemed pretty well ufed.; by which we judged him to ‘be really a Catholick, and a-perfon, of no bad morals. But as, nothing looks fo like an honeft man as a knave, this did not take away all our fufpicion, .When we came to open the cabinets,) in the firft of them, which belonged to him, we found in one of the drawers about four hundred and fifty Roman crowns, with other {mall money, and fome foreign coin along with it, as Zurkifb fequins, and, fome we, knew nothing of, The’fum not being very ex- traordinary, we could conclude nothing from thence... In another drawer we found feveral. precious ftones, fome fet; fome un- fet, of avery great, value, fo far from be- ing counterfeit, thatwe never faw any fo brilliant.. Befides, feveral pieces of, native gold, of fuch fineneds, .as nothing with us can come up to it. In a third, we found a {mall heap of, medals moft-of gold, but of an unknown.ftamp and antiquity. There were outlandifh ftones. of odd f- gures enough, which to others might, look like talifmans, but we took them for fome out-of-the-way, curiofities. In, a) private drawer in the center. of the, cabinet,.,there awas fomething wrapt up in.a.pieceof green filk INTRODUCTION. 1 filk of wonderful finenefs, all embroidered with hearts and hands joined ‘together, wrought in ‘gold with prodigious art, and intermixed” with different flowers, un- known in cur part of the world; in the midft of it was an agure {tone, as large as the palm of one’s hand, fet round with rubies of very great value, on which was moft artfully painted in miniature, a.wo- man at length, holding a little boy in her left hand, the moft beautiful creature that ever eyes beheld; clad likewife in oreen filk {pangled with golden funs: ‘Their cor- plexion was fomething darker than that of our Italian ladies: but the features, efpecially the’ woman’s, fo uncommonly beautiful as if fhe had been of another fpecies. Underneath was engraved with a diamond in a ‘modern hand, Queffo folo. You may be fure, Sir, this raifed our ideas of the man ; at firftt we thought he had the fecret of the philofapher’s ftone': But in all his inventory we could find no im. plements of that art)’’"Then we thought he mult have been’ fome” famous pirate ; or one who'-had robbed the cabinet of fome great prince, ‘and was conie to live at Bologna in that private manner, under the difguife of a phyfician, But having been three years in’ the town, if it had been any Luropean prince, the world would have 13 INTRODUCTION. have had an..account of it before now,s.So, we, concluded that either. what he, faid, of that unknown country was true, or that he had robbed fome of the Eajern, princes, and. got off clear with his: prize. . But the siGure of the woman made us incline.to think, hehad married fome,outlandith queen, and on her death had retired with his ef-. feGs... The reft of the drawers were full of. natural .curiofities of foreign plants, roots, bones of animals, birds, infects, €2¢. from whence very likely he took his phyfical fecrets. The. other cabinet, which belonged to . the. elderly lady, was svery rich, but nothing equal to the firtt ;, there were a great, many {mall jewels, and fome very, fine. pearls, with bracelets, pendants, and. other. curious ornaments belonging to women; and.a little pi€ure of a very hand- fome man about thirty, nothing like, our gentleman, ina warlike drefs, with a\Lur- hifh fcymitar by his fide, who by his mica feemed.to, be, a man of :note... But we could find nothing that could give us any knowledge what they) were ; fo that we. were at.'a_lofs. with, all ,our, fagacity what. to think: ofthe .matter,,.or,to find..any, juft caufe to, keep them, in the \Jnquifition, : for though wejdon’t difcover, our motives) t0,0- ther. people, we; never proceed ,againft any. one.but. em very firong. fulpicions. On. which INTRODUCTION. ro which ‘account we were refolvcd to make . his confinement as ‘eafy as’ poffible, ‘till we could ‘fee’ further “into (thé affair’ We had thoughts of examining the woman firft, to get what we could from her’ for to intérro2 gate him upon ; but the not underftanding Italian enough, we fent to' Venice with our accuftomed privacy, for fome of your peo- ple, that trade to the Levant, to be our in= terpreters, In the mean time we refolved to try what we could get out of him by hisown confeffion; fo we fent for him’ bee fore us. «He- came into the room withvac modeft ‘unconcernednefs, that rather argu- ed' wonder 'than fear: we had thé 'cabia! net and’ jewels “all before us) > thewed: them to him all together, with the invens tory of his goods, affuring him they ‘fhould © be forth-coming, ‘in’ cafe we were apprized’ of his innocence; but withal advifine him, as well as commanding him to’ confefS the truth; and thén’ nota hair of “his head fhould be touched. ° But if ever we caught him ina falfe ftory, all fhould be confifcaw ted, and he never fee’ fin of moon more) He affured us with great refpect, he would own the truth to every thing we fhould in# terrogate him about, in an ‘accent’ thie would have -perfraded ‘any ‘oné-of his fine cérity, humbly défiring to know what ; which fevere difcipline fo difpleafed Don ‘fobn of Au- firia, Generalifimo of the” whole fleet, that, after the battle, the V enetians, to ap- peafe Don ‘fobu, and not to be deprived of > Tis likewife true, that there’ was fuch a quarrel between Don F ohn of Auffria, the generaliffimo, and Venerio admiral of the Venetian gallies ; which had like to have put the whole Chriftian Fleet at variance together, before the battle, and ruined the hopes of all Chrifiendom. "The occafion, was, as he relates. it ; Dox Fobn, as generalifimo, viewing the whole fleet before the fight, and finding the Venetian gallies too thinly mann’d, ordered four thoufand Spaniards to be put on board the faid gailies. But one Mutio Tortona, a Spanifh cap- tain, proving mutinous, after a great many injurious words, came to blows with the captain of the Venesign galley where he was upon which the whole fleet fell to it. Venerio, hear. ing the uproar, fent his own captain to fee what was the mat- ter 3 but the proud Spaniards treated him no better than they did the reft ; fo that Venerio himfelf was forced to come to appeafe them ; but feeing the Spanif captain perfift in his mu- tinous temper, and the affront he had put upon his captain, who was reported to be his fon, ordered Tortona and his enfign to be hung at the yard arm. At this all the Spaniards in the fleet were up in arms, and threatened to cut the Venetians to to pieces ; but, by the interpofition of the other generals, the matter was made up till after the fight ; when Venerio, who had. behaved with incomparable valour, and, according to Don Fobn’s own confeffion, was the chief occafion of the victory, to appeafe the haughty Spaniard, had his commifiion taken from him, and wasrecalled by the fenate, 2 the , _ The Adventures of -the faccours.of the Spaniards againft the Turks, were forced to facrifice Venerio’s ho- nourto the refentment of the Spaniards, and put, him out. ef commiffion « After this difgrace, Venerio retired, andmy great grandfather, . whofe fortune depended on his having been bred up to the fea, turned merchant,» or rather privateer againft the Moors; and, with the knights of Malta, not only did great. fervice againft them, but made. a. confiderable fortune in. the world. re ) But, to return. fo myfelf: my father, having a plentiful fortune, took particular care of the education. of his, children ;..he had only: two.fons, of whom 1 was. the youngeft, anda daughter, who died. young. <-It was Fufcarini, who was made general of the Venetians in Venerio’s ftead. . Every one who is the leaft acquainted with hiftory, knows that the-battle of Lepanto was the greateft fea-fight thatever was fought between the Chrifiians and Turks ; and the vitto- ry on the Chriffians fide the moft fignal. The Spanifo’ gallies were. commanded by Don Fohn of Aufirza, generaliffimo : The Pope's gallies, by the famous Colonna: the Genoefe by old Dorio, who had gained fo, much renown againft the Turks and French, under Charles V. the Venetians by the great Ve- nevio, one of the bravelt foldiers of his time. Healy the Turk, great bafla of the fea, was flain, and almoft all the Turki commanding officers kill’d or taken. Among the prifoners, were Haly’s two fons,’ nephews to the grand Signor. Of the common foldiers of the Turks, were flain two and thirty thou- {and : a hundred and forty-one of the enemies gallies were taken, forty funk or burnt; of galliots and other {mail veflels were taken about fixty. | Vide the Turki/h hiltory, and other. accounts of this famous battle, and the whole affair as is there selated. ‘The battle was fought on the 7th of Odfober, 1571. Finding Szenor Gaudentio di Lucca. Finding I hada great inclination to learning, he promoted it, by providing me with. the ‘peft matters, till I was fit to goto the uni- verfity. The knowledge of languages be- “ing ‘of great ufe as well as‘ornament to young gentlemen, he himfelf, by way of recreation, taught me that mixed language called Lingua. Franca, {o neceflary in Lajft- erm countries, It is made up of Italzan, Turkifh, Perfan, and Arabian, or rather a jatgon of all languages together. \ He fearce ever {poke to us but in that language; faying We might learn Latin from our mafters, and our mother-tongue from our play fel- lows. The fame reafon induced: him to ~ fendme to the famous univerfity of Paris, to learn French at the fame time with my “other: ftudies, I lived in the college »des Quatre Nations, and maintained my thefes of univerfal philofophy under the celebrated monfieur Du Hamel, who was.one of the firft in the univerfity, who decried Ari/fo- tle's philofophy, and leaned towards the “opinions of »Defcartes. [ Secretary. Here the inquifitors muttered alittle, fearing he was inclined to the Copernican fyftem, which has been con- demned at. Rome. But, fince it regard- ed philofophical matters be they paf- fed it over.] J was: entring into my nineteenth year, , and, had fome ‘thoughts. of taking to the B 3 church, 6 The Adventures. of church, when my brother .wrote. me. the melancholy account of my father’and mo- ther’s death, and the unfortunate occafion of it; which in fhort was, that having loft his richeft fhip, with all his effets, by pi-+ rates, and his chief factor at Smyrna being gone off, his other -correfpondents came upon him thick ; and not being in a con- dition to anfwer their calls, it threw him and my mother into a deep melancholy, which fhortened their days, both dying in three weeks of one another, My brother told me he was/not able to maintain me longer at the univerfity, as before ; but acquainted me, he had made a fhift to fit out a {mall vefiel, wherein he had put his all; and in- vited me to join the {mall portion that fell to. my fhare along with him, with which, he faid, we could make a pretty good bot- tom; and fo retrieve the fhattered. fortune of our family. Not to be too prolix, I followed his advice: he fold his houfe and gardens to pay his father’s creditors, and put what was left, together with my little ftock, into that unfortunate bottom. We fet fail from Ragufa the third of March, Anno Dom. 1688, very inaufpicioufly for my dear brother, as will appear bythe fe- quel. We. touched at Smyrna, to fee if we could hear any thing of my father’s factor : and were. told, thar he was turned Turk, and gone off, very magnificently drefled up afi in EPL ARES AP EES LES EL PSL SCL GSP LG TOLLE EL RD LAO Signor Gaudentio di Lucca. 7 in borrowed feathers, to fettle at Con/ffanti- aople ; however, we pick’d up fomething of fome honeft Chriffian merchants, with whom he had lodged a part of his effets, This encouraged us to proceed to Cyprus and Alexandria; but, as we were purfuing our voyage one morning, in a prodigious fog, as if the fea was fatal to our family, we | {pied on a fudden two Algerine rovers bear- ing down upon us, one on each fide.’ We had fcarce time to clear our little veffel; when they fired upon us, and called to us to ftrike, or we were dead men.’ My brother and I, confidering that our all was at flake, and that we had better die honourably than be made flaves by thofe unbelieving mifcré- ants, called up our men, who were but twenty-three in all, of whom five were young gentlemen who had engaged to try their for- fune along with us. We were armed only with {words, and piftols under our girdles, After a fhort confultation, it was agreed to fight it out to the laft man ; and we turned back to back to make head againft both fides, my brother in the middle of one rank, and myfelf in the other. The enemy boarded us in great numbers, looking on us as madmen to’ pretend to make any refiftance’; but they were foon made 'to.leap back, ‘at leaft all that were ‘able ; for being clofe up with them, and they crowded together, we fired our pi- ftols fo luckily, that {carce' one miffed doing B 4 execu Bs The. Adventures) of execution, Seeing them..in this confufion, we made a.puth at them. on each fide;, ftill keeping our ranks, and drove the remainder headlong off the deck., -This we did:twice before. any of our.men dropt.. We were grappled fo clofe, they had no ufe of their cannon.or..mufkets, and f{carce thought. of firing their piftols at us, expecting we fhould yield immediately, or to have borne usdown with their weight. . Iam more particular in defcribing this petty fight, fince there are but few examples, where a handful of men made fuch along refiftance. The. arch-pi- tate,. who was) a ftout, well-built, young man, taged like a lion, calling his men:a thoufand cowards, fo loud. that :his, voice -was heard above all the cries.of the foldiers, Theedge of their fury was a little abated.af- ter the dropping of fo. many men ;. and.they began to fire at fome-diftance;. which did us more harm than their moft furious attacks. My brother, fecing his men begin to drop in their turn, ordered me to face the one fhip, while he with his. rank leaped in-amongft the enemies in the other, He did it. with fuch a noble intrepidity, that he madeagap among.the thickeft of them immediately. But their. numbers. clofing together, their very weight drove him back in {pite of all he could do, and he loft feveral of his men before he could recover his poft. The ene- my would neither board us, nor leave us ; but Signor Gaudentio di Lucca. 9 but firing at us continually, ftill killed fome of our men. There were now only eleven of us left ; and no hopes of victory, or of quarter after fuch obftinate refiftance. They durft not come to a clofe engagement with us for all this; when my brother, to die as honourably as he could, once more leaped into the pirate’s fhip, and feeing their cap- tain inthe midft of them, made at him with all his might, calling on the few he had left to fecond him. He foon cut his way through; but juftas he was coming up to him, a cow- ardly Turk clapt a piftol juft below his two fhoulder blades, and, I believe, fhot him quite through the heart, for he dropped down dead on-the fpot. The Turk that thot him was run through the body by one of our men, and he himfelf with the others that were left, being quite over-powered, were all cut in pieces: I had yet four men left on my fide againft the lefler fhip, and had till then kept off the enemy from boarding ; but the pirates giving a great fhout at my brother’s fall, the captain of the fhip I was. engaged with, who was the arch-pirate’s bro- ther, cried out to his crew, that it was a fhame to ftand all day firing at five men; and leaping on my deck, made at me like a man of honour, with his piftol fteddily poi- fed in his hand: I met him with equal refo- lution. Hecame boldly up within fword’s length, and fired his piftol directly at my face ; 10 The Adventures of face; he aimed his fhot fo well, that one of the balls went through my hair, and the other grazed the fide of my neck. But before he could fecond his fhot, I gave him fach a ftroke with my broad fword, be- tween the temple and the left ear, that ‘it cut through part of his fkull, his cheek-bone, and going crofs his mouth, almoft fevered the lower part of ‘his face from the upper. Thad juft the fatisfaction to fee him fall, when a mufket-ball went through the braw- ny part of my right arm, and, at the fame time, a Turk hit me juft in the nape of the neck with the butt end of his mufket, that I fell down flat on my face, on the body of my flain enemy. My companions, all but one, who died of his wounds foon after, fell honourably by my fide. The Turks poured in from both fhips like wolves upon their prey. After their barbarous fhouts and yelling for the victory, they fell to ftripping the dead bodies, and threw them into the fea without any further ceremony. All our crew, befide myfelf, were flain, or gafping, with threefcore and fifteen of the enemy. Thereafon why we fought fo defperately was, that we knew very well, having killed fo’ many at the firft attacks, we were to’expect” no quarter ; fo we were refolved to fell our’ lives as dear as we could. When they came to ftrip me like the reft, I was juft come to myfelf, being only ftunned by the ftroke of the Ee Signor Gaudentio di Lucca. 11 the mufket. They found by my cloaths, that I was one of the moft confiderable per- fons of the crew. I was got upon my knees, endeavouring to rife, and reaching for my fword to defend myfelf to the laft gafp ; I found Icould not hold it in my hand, by reafon of the wound in my arm, though if Icould, it had been needlef§; for three of them fell down upon me, and preffed me to the deck, while others brought chords and tied my hands, to carry me to the cap- tain. He was dreffing a flight wound he had in his leg with a piftol fhot; and four ‘women in Perfian habits were ftanding by ; three of whom feemed to be attendants to the fourth, who wasa perfonof the largett fize, about five or fix andtwenty, a moft exquifite beauty, except that the had an Amazonian kind of fiercenefs in her looks, When I was brought thus bound to the captain, they af- fured him I was the man‘that had flain hig brother, and done the moft harm of any. Upon which, ftarting up in the greateft fury a barbarian was capable of, and calling for a new fcymitar he had in his cabin, he faid, ** Let me cleave, if I-can, the head of ‘this’ “ Chrifiian dog, as he did my poor brother’s: ’ ‘“’and-then)do: you chop him into ‘a ‘thous ** fand. pieces.” With that he drew the feymitar, ‘and was going to ftrike, when, to the aftonifhment of the very Barbarians, the ftrange-lady cried out,’ ** O fave the | | 6 brag X12 The Adventures of << brave . young man!” and immediately falling down, on her knees by me, catched me in her arms, -and clafping me clofe to her bofom,, covered my body with hers, and cried out, “ Strike, cruel man, but {trike © through me, for otherwife a hair of his <¢ head fhall not be hurt.” The Barbarians that ftood round us were ftruck dumb with amazement; and the pirate himfelf lifting up his eyes towards heaven, faid, witha groan enough to break his heart, “ How, cruel «woman! fhall this ftranger in a moment <¢ obtain more than I can with all my fighs << and tears! Is this your paramour that robs «° me of what I have fought for with the «« danger of life? No, this.Cdrifian dog «¢ fhall be no longer my curfed rival ;” and lifting up his hand, was again going to ftrike, when, covering me more clofely with her delicate body, fhe cried out again, “ Hold <¢ Hamet! this is norival ; 1 never faw his «¢ face before, nor ever will again, if you <«¢ will but {pare his life: grant me this, and << you fhall obtain more from me, than all «‘ your fervices could ever do,” Here he began to paufe a little. For my part, I was as much in amaze as he was. After a little paufe, «« Cruel woman, faid he, what is the <¢ meaning of this.?’’ ‘¢ Says fhe, ‘There is ‘«< fomething in this young man (for I was but ‘«« turned. of nineteen) that he muft, not die. « But, if you will engage and {wear by the «© moft Lae ip a ate ea aan SIS Sg al A NE ES CS Signor Gaudentio di Lucca, 13 * moft holy Alcoran, that you will do him no harm, I] not only promife to be your wife, but, to take off all umbrage of jealoufy, 1 give you leave to fell him to “ fome honourable perfon for a flave ; and « will never fee him more.” Nor would fhe part from me, till he had fworn in that folemn manner, never to do me any hurt direGtly or indirectly ; and, for greater fecu- rity, fhe ordered one of her own fervants to attend me conftantly. So I was unbound, ‘and the lady, without fo much as looking at-me, or ftaying to receive my thanks, re- _tired with her ‘women into the cabin. The ~ pirate, who had fomething very noble in his “looks for a Turk, confirmed again to me in in the, hearing of her officer, that I fhould “receive no harm ; and then ordered me to be carried under deck to the other end of _ the fhip; commanding his men to fteer back for Alexandria, in order, as I fuppo- fed,.to difpofe of me the’ firft opportunity, that he might be rid, as he thought, of fo formidable a rival 4 [Secretary. Here the fuperior of the in- quifition receiving a meffage on fome @ This isan odd adventurerenough ; but the ciscumfances are pretty well connected together. ‘There happen very ftrange accidents among thofe lawlefs Eaffern people, and the wild Arabs, who obierve no rules but what the Lions and Tigers, could they fpeal, would make for their own prefervation. I fear there are {ome who profefs themfelyes Chriffiaxs would do the fame. other 14 The Adventures of other bufinefs, we told him we would confider further of the account he had given us, which, we faid, might be true, though the adventure was extraordinary ; and that we would hear the remaining narrative of his life another time. He aflured us with the moft natural air, that the whole, let it feem never fo ex- traordinary, was real fat. Whether it were true or falfe, it did not much con- cern the holy office, only fo far as we might catch him tripping in his ftory: however, fome of the inquifitors afk’d him the following queftions. ft Inquifitor. Why did you not yield at firit, confidering the prodigious inequa- lity of your ftrength and numbers, when you might have been ranfomed after- wards; and not, like madmen, expofe yourfelves to be cut in pieces, as they all really were, except yourfelf ? Gaudentio, I told your Reverences, we had put our all in that bottom ; which | once loft, we had nothing to ranfom our- felves with, but in all likelihood muft have remained in miferable flavery ‘all our life. We were moft of us rath young men, of more courage than: prudence ; we did not doubt but we could keep them off from boarding us, as we did ; and thought, by their warm reception, 3 ~ they Szgnor Gaudentio di-Lucca. rg. they would have been forced to theer off; befides, fighting againit Turksand infidels, though for our lives and: fortunes, we judged meritorious at the fame time, and that it might be looked upon’ as laying ‘down our lives for our» holy religion,: 2d Inquifitor, You faid that the ftrange dady cried out, «“ There is fomething in ‘that young man, that tells me, “Ae oS muft not die: 1 hope you do not pre- tend to -the {cience of phyfiognomy ; which is one of the branches of divina- ‘tion; or that an infidel or Heathen wo- man could have the {pirit of prophecy ? Gaudentio. I cannot tell what was her mo-. ; tive for faying fo » I only relate matter Of fact... As for phyfiognomy, I do not _ think there can be any certainty in’ it. Not but thata perfon of penetration, who ' has obferved.the humours and paffions of _ men, and confidering the little care the » generality of the world take to conceal them; I fay, fach a perfon, may give a great guels, a poftericri, how they are juclined ; though reafon and virtue may indeed overcome the mot violent, But J entirely fubmit my opinion to your bet- ter judgements. Ged ; Secretary, Icannot fay, we were diffatit- fied with thefe anfwers : we faw he was a very noble prefence; and mut have been extremely handfome in his youth: there- fore 16 The Adventures of fore no wonder a Barbarian woman fhould fall in love with him, and make ufe of that turn to fave his life. How- ever, for the prefent, we remanded him back to his apartment. Some days after he was called again to profecute his ftory.] While I was under deck in confinement with the pirates, feveral of them were tole- rably civil to me ; knowing the afcendant the lady had over their captain, and being witneffes, how fhe had faved my life. But yet fhe would not confent to marry him, till fhe was affured I was fafe out of his hands. ‘The arch-pirate never came to fee me himfelf, not being willing to truft his paffion ; or elfe to watch all favourable op- portunities of waiting on his miftrefs. One day, being indifpofed for want of air, I beg- ged to be carried upon deck to breathea little; when I came up, I faw the lady, with her women, ftanding at the other end of the fhip on the fame account. I made her a very refpectful bow at a diftance ; but as foon as ever fhe caft her eye on me, fhe went down into the cabin, I fuppofe, to keep her pro- mife with the captain, and not to adminifter any caufe of jealoufy. Idefired to be car- ried down again, not to hinder my bene- faétrefs from taking her diverfion. Icannot fay I found in myfelf the leaft inclination or emotion of love, only a fenfe of grati- 3 tude ee ee ee é Rt ne ee eR Signor Gaudentio: di Lucca, 4 tude for fo greata benefit ; not-without fome admiration of the oddnefs of the adventure. When I was below, I afked the mot fenfi- ble and civilized of the pirates, who. their captain was, and who was my fair deliverer, How long, and by what means the came to be among them; becaufe the feerhed to ‘be a Perfon of much higher rank, . he toldme his Captain’s name was Hamet, {onto the Dey of Algiers; who had-forfakei his fa- ther’s houfe on account of his you ng mother- in-law’s falling in love with him, For which reafon his father had contrived to have him aflaflinated, believing him to bein the fault. But his younger brother by the fame mother, difcovered the defign, So gathering together a band of ftout young men like- themfelves, they feized two of their father’s Beft fhips, and. refolved to follow the pro=- feflion they were now of, till they heard of their father’s death. That as for. the lady who had faved his life, the was the late wife of a petty prince of the Curdi «, tributary to the king of Perfia, whofe hufband had been lately killed by treachery, or in an am= bufcade.of the wild Arads, That, as far as * The Curdi, ot People of Curdifion, area warlike nation, paying a {mall tribute to the Perfians, and fometimes to the Turks, their very women are martial, and handle the fword and pike. ‘The country runs from the Alidv/i. a mountainous people, made tributary to the Zurfs by Selim I. Father of Soliman the Magnificent, and reaches as far as Ay ttnia. ‘ me C he ~ SEN RSRLR ESITTO 18 The Adventures o vf he had been informed, the prince her huf- band had been fent by the king his mafter to Alexandria’; who, apprehending an in- furre€tion among his fubjectss, had ordered him to treat for fome troops of Arabian horfe, That he went. there with a very handfome equipage, and took. his beautiful wife along with him. Our captain, conti- nued he, happened to be there at the fame time to fell his prizes, and had not only fold feveral things of great value, to the Curdi/h lord and lady, but had contracted a particu- lar friendfhip with him, though, as we found fince, it was more on account of his fair wife than any thing elfe. Nothing in the world could be more obfequious than our captain. He attended them, and offered his fervice on all occafions : you fee, he is a very © Alexandria is a ea~port, at the further end of the Mediter- ranean, belonging to the Zurks, but much frequented by 4ra- hian merchants, both by land and fea. One point of Gurdi- flan is not far from this port. 1" This infurreétion he fpeaks of, might be the feeds, or the firft plotting of the grand rebellion.of Merowvits, which began about the date of this account, and caufed fuch a terrible revo- tation inthePerfian empire; which no one who underitands any thing can be ignorant of. ¢ ‘The Arabian horfes are the beft in the world, though not very large. The horfemen are very dextrous in the Eaftern way of fighting. On which account, one cannot wonder if the King of Perfia, and his rebellious fabjeats, made it their . intereft to procure as many auxiliaries, as they could, It is very likely the little parties would always be on watch, to fur- prize one another when they could find an opportunity. And this petty Curdian prince being zealous for the fervice of his king, might be taken off by the rebels that way- ec NCE RIPE EIT tL RRR RRNA ESS handfome Silk > (a Rachid tn aE Raa 1 Dea ees 8, asic aaends ea iim aria - eer ee Frey neg ian > A= beiay Szenor Gaudentio di Lucca. 1 9 handfome man, and daring by his profef- fion. We could not imagine of a long while, why he made fuch a {tay at thattown, contrary to his cuftom ; living at a very high rate, as men of our calling generally do, At length the Curdifh lord having executed his commiffion, was upon the return, when we perceived our captain to grow extremely penfive and melancholy, but could not tell what was the caufe of it. He called his bro- ther, who loft his life by your hand, and me to him, and told us in private, he had ob- ferved fome of the Arabian {trangers mutter- ing together, as if they were hatching fome plot or other, whether againft himfelf, or the Curd, he could not tell ; but bid us be fure to attend him well armed wherever he went. ‘I'he event proved he had teafon for his fufpicions ; for one evening, as the Curd and his wife were taking the air, with our captain, who was always of the party, pafling through a little grove about a league out-of town, fix Arabian horfemen, ex- ceeding well mounted, came full gallop up tous; and without faying a word, two of them fired their’ piftols dire€tly at the Cur- difp lord, who was the foremoit, but by good fortune miffed us all, The Curd, as all that nation are naturally brave, drew his {cymi- tar, and rufhing in among them, cut off the foremoft man’s head, as clean as if it had been a poppy ; but.advancing too far C2 unarmed 20 The Adventures of nparmed as he was, one of them turned fhort, and fhot him in the flank, ‘that ‘he dro opped down dead immediately. Our cap- feeing him fail, rufhed in like lig htning, s bre ther and mytlelf falling on them at ne fame time : But the aflaflins, . if they wanted nothing but the death of the Curd, or faw by our countenance hee “fanin would coft them dear, | their horfes, and fied fo 1 jennets, that they were out oF fight in an inftant. We conduéted the poor lifconfo- late lady and her bed hufband back to the town, where thofe people made no more of ORE sccuftomed to fuch things) than if it had been a ote pale accident. When her orief was a little abated, our captain told the Ae that it was not fafe for her to re- turn home the fame way re came; that in all proba ability, thofe whe kil ed her hufband were in confederacy with the “di {affected par- ty, and would way-lay her, either for his papers, or her ee That he had two fhips ae -manpned at her fervice, and would conduit her fafe by fea to fome part of the Perfian empire, from whence fhe m ight get into her own country, She confented at laft, having feen how gallantly my matter had behaved in her defence. So fhe came aboa ard with her attendants and effects, in order to be tranfporte d into her own country. Our captain, you may be fure, was in no hafte to a welcome nisin eer ARSE P since ER qj ne rately in love with her: ee hat ip ie of carrying her to any of the Perfian domini- ons, he direéted his courte for 4/gzers, hear- ing his father was dead ; but meeting with you, it has made him aleer his meafures for the prefent. He has tried all ways to gain her love, but the would not give him the leaft encouragement, till this, late accident, by which the faved your life. —— When he had ended his relation, I refieéted on it a good while, and confidering the nature of thofe pirates, I thought I faw.a piece of treachery in the affair, much more black than what he defcribed, and could not for- bear compaffionating the poor lady, both for-her difafter, and the company fhe was fallen into. However, I kept my thoughts to myfelf.. Not long after we arrived at Alexandria, where the pirate fold all our effects, that is,; the merchandize he had taken aboard our fhip, except fome particu- lar things that belonged to my brother and myfelf, as books, papers, maps and. fea- charts, pictures, and the hke. He deter- mined to carry me to Grand Catro’, the firft opportunity, to fell me, or even give me away to a ftrange merchant he had an i Grand Cairo is the place of refidence of the great Bafla of Egypt, higher up the country, on the river Nile. 2 acquaintance 22 The Adventures of acquaintance with, where I fhould never be heard of more. Nothing remarkable happened during our May at Alexandria ; ; they told me the. cap- tain had been in an ex go along with him, but that he would be pleated to accept whatever he-faw of mine there before him’: Adding, that I efteerned it the greateft happinefs, to be able to make fome {mall recompence for the obligations T owed him. Ido accept of it, fays hey and take you folemnly into my care: go'along with thefé young men, and enjoy your ‘li- berty in effect, which I have hitherto only siven you in words. Here fome of his'elder companions coming in, as if ‘they’ were? to confult about bufinefs'; the young men “and myfelf went to walk the town for our ‘diver- fion. Your Reveretices may be “fure, I obferved all the actions of thefe new’ peo- ple, with the greateft attention my age was capable of. ‘They feemed not only to have a horror of the barbarous manners and ‘vices of the Turks, but even a contempt of all the pleafures and diverfions of the country. Their whole bufinefs was'to inforny'them- felves of what they thought might be: an improvement in their own country, parti- cularly-in arts and trades, and whatever cu- fiofities were brought from foreign> parts ; i fetting Szenor, Gaudentio di Lucca. 35 fetting down. their obfervations of . every thing.of moment. They had mafters of the country at fet hours to teach them the Tur- kifhand Perfian languages, in which I en- deavoured to perfect myself along with them. Though they feemed to be the. moft moral men.in the world, I could obferve no figns of religion in them, till a certain occafion that happened to usin our voyage, of which I fhall{peak to, your Reverences in its: proper place... This was the only point they were fhy.in; they,gave me the reafons for it af- terwards; but their behaviour was the moft candidand-fincere in other.matters that can be: imagined. We lived thus in the, most perfect union all the time we ftaid at Grand Cairo; and lenjoyed the fame liberty that I could have had in J¢a/y : All I remarked in them, was an, uneafineis they exprefied to be fo, long, out of, their own country.; but they comforted themfelves with the thought it would, not-be long, I cannot omit. one obfervation I made of thefe young men’s conduct while we ftaid in Egypt. -They were all about my own age, {trong and vi- gorous, and the handfomeft race of people, perhaps, the world ever produced: we were in the moft voluptuous and lewd town in the whole Eaffern empire ; the young wo- men feemed ready to devour us as we went along the ftreets. Yet I never could percive in the young man the leaft propenfity of lewd- Da ues, 6 The Adventures of nefs, Limputed it at firft to the apprehen- fion of my. being in their company, anda ftranger; but I. foon found. they acted. by principle,..As young men are apt to. encou- rage, or rather corrupt one another, I own I could not, forbear expreffing my wonder at it. They feemed furprized at. the thought; but the reafons they gave were as much out of our common way of. thinking, as their behaviour... They told me, for the firft vea- fon, that all the women they faw were either married ; or particular men’s daughters ;. or common. As to married women, they faid, it was fuch.a heinous piece of injuftice.to violate. the marriage-bed,, that every, man living would look upon it as the greateft in- jury done to himfelf: how could they there- fore in reafon do it to another >? If. they .were daughters. of . particular men, bred. up.with fo much care and folicitude of their, parents, -what a terrible affiction muftit be to them, cr to ourfelyes, to fee our daughters.or fifters violated and corrupted, after all, our, care.to the contrary ; and thistoo, perhaps, by thofe we had cherifhed in our own bofoms?:, If common ftrumpets, whatrational man,could look on them otherwife than brute beafts, to proftitute. themfelves, to, every {tranger, for hire? Befides,. their abandoned lewdnels ge- neraily defeats the great defign of nature to propagate the fpecies ;.or by. their impure embraces, fuch diforders may be contracted, as Signor Gaudentio di Lucca. 37 as to make us hereafter, at beft, but fathers of a weak and fickly offspring. ‘And if we fhould have children by them, what would become. of our fathers grand-children ?# But _ what ’man'who had the leaft fenfe of ‘the dignity of his own birth, would’ flain his race, and give birth to fuch a wretched breed, and then leave them expofed to, want and infamy ? This they faid chiefly ‘with’ refé- " rence to the vaft ideas they had of their own nation, valuing themfelves above ‘all other . people ; though the confideration’ holds good with all men, I own, I was’ mute at _ thefe ‘reafons, and could not fay but’ they were very juft, though the warmth of my. youth had hindered me from refle@ting on them before. Thefe reflections appeared ‘fo extraordinary in young men, and even Hea- thems, that I fhall never forget them.— _ Some time after, I found by their diligence in fettling their affairs, and the chearfulnef of their countenances, that they expected to leave Egypt very foon ;. they feemed to wait for nothing but orders from their gover- nor. In the mean time there happened an accident to me, fcarce fit indeed for your Re- verences to hear; nor fhould I ever have thought of relating it, had you not laid your commands on me to give an exact account of my whole life. Befides, that it is inter- woven with fome of the chief occurrences of my life in the latter part of it. © Our ge. | D 3 vernor, 38 The Adventures of vernor, whom they called Popbar,” which “in their language fignifies Father of his peo- ple, and by which name I hall always call him hereafter, looking at his Ephemeris, which he did very frequently, found by com- putation, that he had ftill fome time left to {tay in the country, and refolved to go down once more to Alexandria, to fee if he could meet with any more European curiofities, biought by the merchant fhips that are per- petvally coming at that feafon into the port. He took only two of the young men and me along with him, to fhew me, as he’ faid, that I was entirely at my liberty, fince I might eafily find fome fhip or other to carry ‘me into my own country ; and I, on the other hand, to convince him of the fincerity of my intentions, generally kept in his com- pany. The affair I am going to fpeak of, foon gave him full proof of my fince- rity. While we were walking in the publick © ; places to view the feveral goods and curiofi- ties. that were brought from different parts 9 b] (ae ‘ ara Sie of the world, it happened that the baffa of @ Grand Cairo, with allhis family, was come to Alexandria on the fame account; as wellas to buy fome young female flaves. His. wife and, daughter were then ..both | with him: the wife was one of the Grand fy Sicnior’s fifters, feemingly about thirty, and a wonderful fne woman. ‘The daughter wag Signor Gaudentio di Lucca. » 39 was about fixteen, of fuch exquifite beauty, and. lovely TE as were fufticient to charm,,the greateft prince in the world *. When, perceived them he, the Pophar, who naturally abhorred the Turks, kept off, as if he were treating privately with fome mer- chants... But J, being young and inconfide- rate, ftood gazing, though at a refpectful ditance, at the bafla’s beautiful daughter, from no other motive but mere. curiofity. She had. her eyes fixed on my companions and me at the fame time, and, as I fuppo- fed,.on. the fame-account,.. Her drefs was fo. magnificent, and her perfon fo charming, .that.I. thought her the moft beautiful crea- ture [ had.ever feen in my life. If Icould have forefeen the troubles which that fhort interview was to coit both the Pophar and mydelf, I fhould have chofen rather to have looked on the moft hideous monfter. IT ob- ferved that the young lady, with a particu- lar fortof emotion, whilpered fomething to anelderly woman that attended her, aid that this laft did the fame to a page, who im- mediately went to two natives of the place, whom the Pophar ufed to hire to carry his things: this was to enquire of them who we * N.B. The bafla of Grand Cairo is one of the greateft officers in the Turkifp empire, and the moft indep ondenit of any fubjec& in Turky 3 it's cuftomary. for the fultans to give their daughters in marriage to fuch perfons ; but they are often dif- liked by their hufbands, on account of their imperiqus be- haviour. D 4 wer3. 40 The Adventures of were, They, as appeared by the ‘event, told them, that I was a young flave lately bought by the Pophar. After a while, the bala with his train wentaway, and I, for my part, thought no more of the matter. The next day, as the Pophar and we were walk- ing in one of the publick gardens ; a little elderly man, like an eunuch, with a moft beautiful youth along with him, having doveed us toa private part of the walks, cdmeé up tous, and addrefling themfelves to the Pophar, afked him what he would take for his “young flave, pointing at me, be- caufe the bafla defired to buy him. The Pophar feémed to be more furprized at this P unexpected queftion, than I ever obferved him at any thing before, which confirmed’ me mote and more-in the opinion of the kindnefs he had for me. But foon coming to himfelf, as he: was a man’ of great pre- fence of mind; he faid very calmly, that I was no flave ; nor a perfon to be fold: for any price, finte I was as free as he was. ‘Taking this for a pretext to enhance ‘the price, they: produced fome oriental»pearls with other jewels of immenfe value; -and bid him name what he would have; and it fhould be paid immediately : adding, that T was to be'the companion of: the’ baffa’s fon, where I might make my fortune for ever, if I would'go along with them, The Popbar per fitted in his fir anfwer, and faid | he Signor Gaudentio di Lucca. 41. he hadsno-power over me: they alledged,.I had-been: bought, as a flave, but) a little, be+ fore; in the Grand Signior’s dominions, and they would have me. Here IL. interpofed, and ‘anfwered -britk! ly, that thongh I had been taken. prifoner by the chance of war, Iwas no flave, nor would 1 part with my liberty but at the. price of my. life, The baffa’s fon, for fo he now declared himfelé to be, inftead of being angry at my refolute anfwer, replied with a moft agreeable {mile, that I {hould be as free as he was; making atthe fame time the moft. folemn proteftati- ons by his holy A/coran, that our lives and deaths fhould be infeparable.. Though there: was fomething in his words the moft per- fuafive | ever felt; yet.confidering the ob- ligations I had to the Popbar, I was refolved not to go; but anfwered witha moft refpeG- fullbow, that though I was free by nature, I had indifpenfable obligaticns not to go with him, and hoped he would take it for a determinate anfwer. I pronounced this with -fuch a refolute air, as made him fee there was no hopes. Whether his defire was more enflamed by my denial, or whether they took us for perfons of greater note than we appeared to be, I-cannot tell; but I obferved: he put on avery la nguithing air, with tears ftealing down his cheeks, which moved me to a degree I cannot exprefs, I was {carce capable of fpeaking, but. caft | * down 42 The Adventures of down my: ‘eyes, and’: {tood »as/oimmove- able as a ftatue)» "This feemed to revive his hopes s:and recovering himfelf a littley with ai trembling: votce: he replied ; Suppofe’ it be the bafla’s sare atire you fay yefterday, that defires to have you for her attendant, what will you fay then? I ftarted at this, and cafting my eyes on hin moré atten- tively, I faw him {wimming in tears, witha tenderne({s enough to pierce the hardeft heart. I looked at the Pophar, who I faw was trembling. for me; and feared, it. was the daughter herfelf that afked me the queftion. IT was foon put out of doubt, for fhe, find- ing fhe had gone too far to go back, difco- vered herfelf, and faid, I Fai go along with her, or one of us eal die. *,— I hope your k Bove adventures are not the defign of thefe memoirs, as will sappear by the reft of his life : otherwife, this account of the baffa’s daughter, had like to have made me lay down my pen, without troubling myfelf to write any farther :remark. But, when } confidered; the man is no fool, let.him be what he will, nor could defign to embellith his hiftory by, this ex- Sean aiten} ry adventure, ie like the former, and jak upon the back of it, Tam inclined to believe he wrote the: matter of fac jul asit-happened.. More.u unagcountablejaccidents than this have happened. to fome men. The amorous temper of the Turki ladies, ebecieby at Grand Cairo, where the women