SIR,
What you have heard, is very true, in every particular; for it is most certain, that all my Collegues are returned Home, and poor I am left behind, alone. And, whereas you put several Questions to me, as, what Fate, or what malevolent Star, kept me back from accompanying them in their Return? And why I did not shake Hands with that barbarous Country, to enjoy the wish’d for Comforts of my own? And withal, you demand, what memorable Matters I have seen or heard of since I wrote last? Promising to give Credit to whatever drops from my Pen, as if it were as true as Gospel. And moreover, you desire to know the course of my Studies, and how I relieve my self, both in my Solitudes and Sufferings? And whether I go abroad, or always stay at home? All these Demands put together, will engage me to write rather Commentaries or Diaries, than a single Letter, especially, since you are very earnest to know, how Bajazet’s Matters stand, concerning which, you say, there are various Reports with you. You claim a Promise from me, and unless I perform it, you tell me you will commence an Action against me, and have already drawn your Breviat. To pursue your Metaphor, let me persuade you to stay a while, Leniter qui sæviunt, sapiunt magis, says the old Proverb, no Haste to kill true Men: But if you are so much given to Law, take Use and Principal too, rather than I will answer your Suit, for I am averse from Lawing. And besides, the distance of Place is so great between us, that if I should put in an Exception to your Plea, yet your Writ would hardly abate. But, however it be, I will rather satisfy your Desires, than contend with you in the least. When my Collegues (whose Names I gave you in my last Letters) perceived, that our three Years Abode in this Place had produced little Good hitherto, either to the making of a firm Peace, or the continuing the Truce; and that small Hopes of either did appear for the future, they laboured with Might and Main to be dismissed by this Court; and when, with much ado, Solyman’s Consent was obtained therein, (for ’tis no easy matter to get a Dismission from hence) the only Question was, whether we should all go, or only those of us that came first, and so had been longest there? For cunning Solyman, that he might not seem over desirous of Peace, by retaining one of us, remitted the Matter wholly to our own Choice. In these Circumstances, my Companions thought it very adviseable, and for our Master’s Service, that one of us should stay behind; and I my self was of the same Mind: But we resolved to dissemble our Sentiments, and conceal them from the Turks, so that, as often as we had any Discourse with them on that Subject, I always pretended an utter Unwillingness to stay behind. ’Tis true, I told them I came thither to reside as Ambassador in Ordinary; but it was on Supposition, that Peace would be made between both Empires. That not being yet done, I did not see how I could well stay, but to the Damage, and against the Will of my Master, and therefore it was best that we should all return together. Thus I reasoned before them, that so I might stay on better Terms, rather by their Entreaty than by my own voluntary Offer. I knew well enough, that, if we all went away, it would not only open a wide Door for a War, but it would even quite shut out all Hopes of Peace; which latter was not despaired of, if I staid behind: For, whilst Dispatches were sent to and from both Princes, it would spin out a great deal of Time, in which Interval something or other might fall out of advantage to our Cause; so that it was better to do any thing, than to precipitate our selves into a fierce and cruel War; and yet I was not ignorant, how prejudicial my Stay would be to my self, for thereby my Care and Labour would be doubled, in regard one was to do the Work of two or three: Besides, many Inconveniencies might occasionally arise, especially, if the Issue of my Transactions did terminate in a War: And yet, I must tell you, he that undertakes the Office of a public Ambassador, must post-pone all such private Difficulties, and make light of them, in comparison of the public Good of his Prince and Country. And I had a fair Opportunity to manage this Affair by the Complaisance of Rustan, who was very desirous of my Stay; for that subtle Vizier easily foresaw, what a shrewd Step towards a War it would be, if we should all be gone and leave the Negotiation for a Peace unfinished. The old Fox was averse from War, upon this Account principally; he foresaw that, if Solyman made an Expedition into Hungary, it was impossible to prevent the Discords of his Children; for if Selimus were willing to be quiet, yet Bajazet would attempt Innovation, especially since he was favoured by himself, his Wife, and Mother-in-law; and such Commotions, he knew, would be fatal to him: And therefore, when we were once at his House, he made a long Harangue to my Colleagues, advising them what to say to their Master at their Return, in order to a Peace. As for me, he advised me by all means to stay behind, and not to desert a Business so well begun, till it came to the desired Issue; and there’s no doubt, said he, but the Emperor, your Master, who always shewed himself inclining to Peace, will approve well-enough of your Stay. However, I continued deaf to his Request, as far as with Safety I could, and insisted on my Return; which egg’d him on the more, to persuade me to stay: What, says he, will you cut off all Hopes of Peace for ever? Our Emperor longs for nothing more than to send an Army into Hungary, and he had long since done it, if I had not made use of some female Instruments (meaning his Wife and Mother-in-law) to dissuade him; yea, as it were to pluck him back by the Sleeve; and therefore, if you be wife, don’t rouze a sleeping Lyon to destroy you. Upon this I began to yield a little, and was less peremptory in my Refusal to stay; only I told them, my greatest Remora was, I was afraid of their unjust Reproaches; that, if Matters succeeded not as they would have them, the whole Blame would be cast upon me (though it was not in my Power to help it) and therefore they would make me feel the Fruits of their Indignation. But Rustan bid me be of good Cheer, whatever the Event were; if unsuccessful, it should not be imputed to me; if I would but stay, he promised to take me under his Protection, and next he would treat me (to use his own Words) as if I were his natural Brother. I told him, I would consider of it; and so we parted for that Time.
The next Day we were called into the Divan, (so they called their Council-Chamber) and then the same Part was acted over again; only Rustan carried it a little more covertly, and reservedly, because of the Presence of other Bashaws. There, at last, I yeilded to stay behind, only leaving a Memorial with them of this Import, that I staid behind unknown to my Master, and therefore I would leave all my Concessions to his Arbitrement, to cancel or confirm: As for myself, I would be responsible for nothing, nor oblige myself by any Promise, whatever issue God were pleased to give of my Negotiation. This Memorial was of great Service to me afterwards, in difficult Circumstances, so that the Bashaws could not, for shame, treat me so severely in their Resentments, as otherwise they would have done.
Thus, Sir, you have an Account of my Stay behind my Fellows, with the Reason of it. They left Constantinople about the latter end of August, 1557. The Winter following, the Grand Seignior went to Adrianople, as his Custom was, both to strike a greater Terror into Hungary, upon the Report of his nearer approach thither, and also for the Conveniencies of his Hunting, (for there the Winters are colder than at Constantinople,) both which he thought conducive to his Health. The Country thereabout is full of Marshes and Stagnant Waters, by reason of the nearness of many Rivers; so that there are abundance of Water-Fowl, as wild-Ducks, Geese, Herons, Storks, Cranes, Bitterns, &c. To catch them, he makes use of Hawks, or a lesser sort of Eagles, which are so used to the Sport, that, though the Fowl fly up to the Clouds, they’ll fetch him down from thence; but, if they fly lower, then they truss them, and with a mighty Force strike them with their Bills to the Ground. I am told, that some of his Falcons are so disciplin’d and expert, that they will venture on a Crane, even in that part of the Body where the Wing joyns it; and by this means the Crane’s Bill can do them no hurt, and so they tumble to the Ground with their Prey: And yet sometimes the Hawk pays dear for his Boldness; for, if he do but miss his Gripe never so little, presently the Crane runs him through with his Bill, and down he tumbles dead to the Ground.
For this Reason, the Grand Seignior ordinarily every Year, a little before Winter, goes to Adrianople, and returns not again to Constantinople, till the Frogs begin to be troublesome to him by their croaking. Thither Rustan, a while after, sent for me by Letter; he appointed some Horse to guard me on the Way, and Sixteen Janizaries; whether as a Guard to me, or upon me, I leave to you to judge. We made long Journeys; for he advised us to make hast. On the Third Day my Janizaries, being on Foot, began to grumble; the Ways were dirty, as is usual at that Time of the Year, and they complained, that they were often forced to march more Miles in a Day, than they were used to do; and that, if their Emperor were there, they could hardly endure it.
Their Complaints troubled me not a little, because I was loth to disoblige this sort of People, and therefore I consulted with my Servants, how I might allay their Discontents, and make them willinger to Travel. One of mine told me, he had observed that they were much taken with a certain kind of Caudle, Gruel or Pottage, which my Cook used to make of Wine, Eggs, Sugar and Spices: Perhaps (says he) if they have some of that for their Break-fast, they will be plyable. This seemed but a mean Expedient, yet we resolved to try it, and the Success answered our Expectation; for, after this sweet Soop, it being also further heated with a Glass or two of Wine, away they trudged as merrily as could be, and told me, they would accompany me, on the same Terms, to Buda, if I pleased.
When I came to Adrianople, I was forced to hear the Railings, rather than the Complaints of Rustan, concerning the plundering Excursions of the Hungarians. And, by way of Answer, I was as ready to complain to him of the frequent Depredations and Mischiefs, which the Turks did in Christian Countries. No marvel, said I, if we retort like for like; for I had just then received an Express from Cæsar, my Master, informing me, what Breaches and Contraventions the Turks had made of that Truce, which at the Departure of my Collegues, was agreed upon: How they vexed the poor Peasants with continual Inrodes, robbing them of their Goods, and made themselves, their Wives and Children, Slaves.