SIR,
As I promised you, at parting, to give you a full Account of my Journey to Constantinople, so, I shall now make good my Word; and I hope, with Advantage too. For, I shall also acquaint you with my Adventures in my Travel to Amasia, as well as That to Constantinople, the former being less used, and consequently far less known, than the latter. My Design herein, is, to allow you a Part of the Solace, of what happened pleasurable to me; for so the ancient Friendship betwixt us obliges me, to appropriate no Joy to myself, without communicating the same to you; but, as for what happened incommodious to me, (as, in so long and tedious a Journey, some Things must needs do) those I take to my self; neither would I have you concerned in them at all; for, the Danger being now past, the more grievous they were to suffer, the more pleasant will they be, even to myself, to remember and commit to Writing.
Upon the Receipt of his Letter, Ferdinand was at a stand; he did not fully believe, nor yet altogether disbelieve him; he was inclined to suspect, that the Memory of his former Sufferings, and the Fear of future ones, did deter him from that Employment, rather than the Danger of his Disease; and yet, on the other side, he did not think it creditable for himself to employ a Man that had so well deserved of him and of the Commonwealth, in any Service against his Will. But the Death of Malvezius, which followed a few Months after, did sufficiently convince him, that his Disease was not pretended, to decline the Employment, but was really a Mortal one.
Upon this, I was substituted in the Place of Malvezius: But, being unexperienced (as I said before) in the Affairs and Manners of the Turks, King Ferdinand thought it adviseable for me to bestow a Visit upon Malvezius in his Sickness, that so, by his Directions and Advice, I might be better cautioned and armed against any Impositions of the captious Turks. Two Days I staid with him, which was as much as the straitness of my Time would permit; and I husbanded them so well, as to be informed by him, what I was to act, and what to avoid, in my daily Convention with the Turks.
Whereupon, I posted back to Vienna, and began, with great Application and Diligence, to prepare Necessaries for my Journey. But such was the Flush of Business, and so little the Time allowed to dispatch it, that, when the Day fixt for my Departure came, though the King did earnestly press me forward, and I had been extremely Busy all the Day in equipping myself, and in causing Bag and Baggage to be pack’d up, even from the fourth Watch; yet it was the first Watch of the following Night, before I could be quite ready; but then the Gates of Vienna, which at that time of Night us’d always to be shut, were opened on purpose for me. The Emperor went abroad a Hunting that Day, but he told his Followers, That he did not doubt but that I would be upon my Way, before he returned from his Sport in the Evening, and it fell out accordingly; yet so, that I was but just gone before he came Home.
At eleven o’Clock at Night, we came to Ficiminum, a Town in Hungary, four Miles from Vienna; there we Supp’d, for our haste was so great that we came Supperless out of Town; from thence we travelled towards Comora. The Emperor, among the rest of his Commands, had enjoin’d me to take along with me to Buda, one Paul Palinai from Comora, a Man well acquainted with the Rapins and Depredations of the Turks, and so was best able to assist me in my Expostulations with the Bashaw of Buda, and in my Demands for satisfaction of Injuries received. But he, not in the least suspecting that my departure would have been so punctual at the Day appointed, had not yet stirred from his own House, and there was no Body could tell when he would come; which uncertainty troubled me very much. I acquainted King Ferdinand therewith by Letter, and all the next Day stayed at Comora expecting his coming.
But the third Day, I passed over the River Vaga, and prosecuted my Journey towards Gran, the first Garrison of the Turks I came to in Hungary. Col. John Pax, Governor of Comora had sent sixteen Horse with me (of those that the Hungarians call Hussars) to be my Guard; and he had given them a Charge not to leave me, till they came in sight of the Turkish Convoy; for the Governor of Gran had signified to me, that his Soldiers should meet me half way. We travelled about three Hours through a vast Plain, when, behold! there appeared afar off four Turkish Horse; and yet, notwithstanding, my Hungarian Guard accompanied me still, till I desired them to retire; for I was afraid that if they should come up to the Turks, some troublesome Bickering would have intervened betwixt them.
As soon as the Turks saw me to draw near, they rode up to me, and saluted me by my Coach side: thus we passed on a while together, discoursing interchangeably one with another, (for I had a little Youth for my Interpreter.) I expected no other Convoy, but when we descended into a low Valley, I saw my self on a sudden, surrounded with a Party of about a hundred and fifty Horse. It was a very pleasant Spectacle to a Man, unaccustomed to see such Sights, for their Bucklers and Spears were curiously Painted, their Sword-handles bedeck’d with Jewels, their Plumes of Feathers party-coloured, and the Coverings of their Heads were twisted with round Windings as white as Snow; their Apparel was Purple-coloured, or at least a dark Blue; they rode upon stately Praunsers, adorn’d with most beautiful Trappings. Their Commanders came up to me, and after friendly Salutation they bid me Welcome; and asked me, How I had fared on my Journey? I answer’d them as I thought fit; and thus they led me to Gran, for so the Castle is called, situate on an Hill, whose Foot is washed by the Danow, with a Town adjoining, built in a Plain. I retired into the Town, the Arch-bishop whereof is Primate of Hungary, and for Dignity, Authority and Opulency, is inferior to no Nobleman of that Kingdom.