A few Months ago, there came hither a Merchant from Dantzick, who had the sole vending of Amber. He wondred to what Use the Turks could put so great a Quantity of it, as they bought; or, whither they sent it: At last he was told, that they sent it into Persia, where that kind of Juice, or Bitumen, is highly esteemed; for they adorn Parlors, Studies, and Temples with it. He bestowed upon me, a wooden Vessel full of that Liquor, they call Juppenbier. It was most excellent Stuff: But I laughed heartily at my Guests, both Greeks and Italians, who, not being accustomed to this Liquor, could not tell what to call it. At length, because I told them ’twas good to preserve Health, they thought it was some medicinal Drug, and called it a Syrup; but they sipp’d and syrupp’d it about so long, that, at one Dinner, they emptied my Barrel.
This Liberty my Chiauxes (who now and then are changed) do sometimes give me. They are not only willing I should go abroad, but often invite me so to do: But I, as I told you before, always refuse them, that so they may not think they can do me either good or hurt; and the Pretence I make use of is this, that I have tarried so long at Home, that now I am grown to the Walls of the House, so that if I go forth, it would fall. I will not, therefore, stir abroad, say I, till I go for good and all into my own Country.
As for my Family, I am glad that they go abroad sometimes, for thereby they learn to bear the long Absence from their own Country, the better.
But yet when they make use of this Liberty, the drunken Turks often meet and quarrel with them in the Streets, especially, if no Janizaries be with them; and, though there be, yet sometimes Blows happen on both sides: And, therefore, it is troublesome to me, to excuse my Domesticks, when they are clamour’d against; yet, I confess, the surliness and vigilance of my Chiauxes, in keeping fast my Doors, do in a great Measure ease me of that troublesome Office. Let me give you a late Instance of this kind.
There came lately to me a Messenger from my Master, the Emperor, one Philip Baldus, an Italian. He was 66 Years old; and, riding faster than his Age could bear, he fell into a Fever. My Physician prescribed him a Clyster, and the same being brought by the Apothecary, my Chiaux would not let him in, nor suffer the Medicine to be brought to the sick Man. Inhumanely enough, you’ll say; especially, as that Chiaux had carried it courteously to me for a long time; but now he was so inraged on a sudden, that ’twas intolerable, for he threatned to cudgel every body that came to me. After he had thus affronted me, I thought of a way to let him know, how little I valued all his bug-bear Threats; which was thus. I set one of my Servants to stand within my Gate, and to bar it; charging him, to open to none, but at my Command. The Chiaux comes in the Morning to unlock the Gate, as his Custom was; but his Key availed not, for ’twas bolted. On the in-side he spied my Man, through the Chinks, and calls out to him to open it. Not I, says he; hereupon the Chiaux began to be angry, to curse and call Names. Prate while you will, says my Servant, neither thy self nor any of thine shall come in here: For why should I open to thee, more than thou to us? Thou keepest us shut in, and we’ll keep thee shut out; do thou shut the Door without, and to be sure I’ll shut it within. What, says he, did your Master command you so to do? Yes, said I: However, says the Chiaux, let me come in and put my Horse in the Stable: No Stabling for your Horse here, said he. Let me then have some Hay and Provender out for him: Not a bit, says he; go and buy it in the Neighbourhood, there’s enough to be sold. I used frequently to make the Chiaux sit down at Meat with me, or else send him something from my Table; But now the Case was altered; he stood, fasting as he was, at my Door, his Horse being tied to a Plane-Tree, over against it.
The Bashaws, and other Grandees, as they passed by that Place in their return from Court, and knew, by its Trappings, that it was the Chiaux’s Horse, eating his Hay under the Plane-Tree, they demanded the Reason, why he was not shut up in a Stable, as heretofore? He readily told them all the Matter; that as he shut us up, so he and his Horse were shut out, so that the one could not get Food, or the other Provender. When the rest of the Bashaws heard this Story, they laugh’d heartily, and from that Time held it fruitless to think of terrifying me with such frivolous Vexations as the shutting my Doors.
But a while after that Chiaux was removed, and then we had more Liberty. Rustan himself was satisfied how vain his Menaces were by this Story, I shall now relate.
There came a certain aged Sancto, of great Esteem among them for his Piety, to pay his Court to him; and, among other Discourses, he asked Rustan why, since the Sultan’s Children were at Discord one with another, which was likely to occasion great Troubles in their Empire, he did not make Peace with the German Emperor, that Solyman might be secure from Danger on that side? I desire nothing more, says Rustan; but how can I bring it about? His Demands I cannot yield to, and my Demands he will not accept, nor can I compel him so to do. I have tried all Ways to bring him to my Terms; I have kept him in the nature of a Prisoner these many Years, I have dealt coarsely enough with him; and yet, alas! he is but hardened the more thereby. When I would shut him up as a close Prisoner in his own House, then he bars his Door on the Inside, that no body can come at him; thus all my Labour is in vain. If another Man had been so hardly dealt with, to avoid the Durance, he would have turned to our Religion; as for him, he cares not a Rush.
This was Rustan’s Discourse, as some present thereat informed me.