Here I was entertained, not after a Courtly, but after a Military manner; for instead of Beds, they spread abroad course shaggy Rugs of Tapestry upon hard Boards; there were no Bed-ticks nor Sheets: Here my Family had the first taste of Turkish Delights (forsooth;) as for my self, I fared better, for my Bed was carried along with me wheresoever I went.
The Day after my Arrival, the Sanziac of the Place (for so the Turks call a Governor, because a Sanziac (i. e.) a gilded brass Ball, is carried before him on the top of a Spear, as a Cornet to a Troop of Horse) was very earnest to speak with me; and tho’ I had no Letter, nor any other Command to deliver to him, yet such was his importunity, that go I must. And when I came, I found he had no Business with me, but only to see and salute me, and to ask me something of my Errand; and thus, exhorting me to promote a Peace, he wish’d me a happy Journey. In my Passage, I admir’d to hear the croaking of Frogs in such a cold Season of the Year as the Month of December; the cause was, the Waters stagnant in those Places are made warm by sulphureous Exhalations.
Leaving Gran, I went towards Buda; but to be sure, I took my Breakfast before-hand, which was likely to be my Dinner also; for there was no Place to bait at before I came to Buda. The Sanziac, or Governor of the Place, with all his Family, together with the Horse which he Commanded, came out of the Town with me, to bring me on my Way: I could by no means persuade him to omit this Office of Respect. The Horse, as soon as they came out of the Gates, began to shew me some sport, curvetting and discharging one against another; they threw their Bonnets on the Ground, and Galloping their Horses with full speed, by them, they took them up by the Points of their Spears; and many such Ludicrous Pranks did they perform. Amongst the rest of them, there was a Tartar, who had thick Bushy Hair hanging down over his Shoulders; they told me, that he always went bare Headed, and would never have any other Fence for his Head, either against the Violence of the Weather, or the Hazard of a Battle, but his own Hair. The Sanziac, after he had accompanied me as far as he pleased, returned Home, but not before we had taken our Leaves of one another, and he had left some Guides for my Journey, in my Retinue.
When I drew near to Buda, a few Turkish Chiaux’s met me on the Way, (they are in the Nature of Pursuivants, or Serjeants at Arms, to carry about the Commands of the Grand Seignior, or his Bashaw’s, and are Officers of great Esteem in that Nation) by them, I was brought to lodge in the House of a Citizen, who was an Hungarian, where my Baggage, Coach and Horses, was better provided for, than myself; for the Turks take special Care that Horses, with their Equipage, be well accommodated; as for the Men, if they have but an House over their Heads to shelter them from the Weather, they think they may shift well enough for themselves. The Bashaw of Buda sent one to visit me, and bid me welcome, his Name was Tuigon, (which in Turkish, signifies a Stork) by him he excused himself to me, that he could not admit me into his Presence for some Days, because of a grievous Disease he laboured under; but as soon as ever he recovered a little Strength, he said, he would wait upon me. This Delay was the Occasion, that the aforementioned Absence of Palinai was less prejudicial to me, than otherwise it would have been, (to say no more) for he used great Diligence to Post after, lest he might come too late, and accordingly he overtook me a little while after.
I was detained at Buda a long Time, by reason of the Sickness of the Bashaw; ’twas thought his Disease was Grief, which he had conceived for the Loss of a great Sum of Money, which was stolen from the Place in which he had hid it, for he was commonly reported to be a Penurious and Sordid-spirited Man. When he heard, that I had brought the Heer William Quacquelben with me, a great Philosopher, and an excellent Physician too, he earnestly intreated me, that he might give him a Visit to administer some Physick to him, in order to his Cure. I easily granted his Request, but soon after, was almost ready to repent of my Facility: For the Bashaw grew worse and worse, and, ’twas thought, he would not have recovered; so that I was afraid, if he had died, the Turks would say, my Physician had kill’d him, and by that means, the good Man might have run a great Hazard, and I myself also might have born Part of the Infamy, as being accessary thereunto; but it pleased God to free me from this Anxiety, by restoring the Bashaw to his Health.
’Twas at Buda I got the first Sight of the Janizaries, so the Turks call the Prætorian Foot; their Number, when it is fullest, is twelve Thousand, and their Prince disperses them all over his Dominions, either to Garrison his Forts against an Enemy, or to be a Safeguard to Christians and Jews, against the injurious Rage of the Multitude; for there is no well Inhabited Village, Town, or City, wherein there are not some or other of these Janizarias, to protect Christians, Jews, and other helpless Persons, from the Fury of the Rabble. The Castle of Buda is always Garrison’d by them; their Habit is a long Garment down to their Ankles, upon their Heads they wear the Sleeve of a Coat, or Cloak (for from thence, as they say, the Pattern was drawn) their Head is put into part of it, and part of it hangs down behind, flapping upon their Shoulders; in the Front, or Fore-part of it, there ariseth a Silver-Cone, somewhat long, gilt over with Gold, and wrought with Jewels, but they were of an ordinary Sort. These Janizaries usually came to me by Couples; when they were admitted into my Dining-Room, they bowed down their Heads and made Obeisance, and presently they ran hastily to me, and touched either my Garment, or my Hand, as if they would have kissed it; and then forced upon me a Bundle, or Nosegay of Hyacinths or Narcissus’s, and presently they retired backward, with equal Speed, to the Door, that so they might not turn their Backs upon me, (for that is accounted undecent, by the Rules of their Order) when they came to the Door, there they stood, with a great deal of Modesty and Silence, with their Hands upon their Breasts, and fixing their Eyes upon the Ground, so that they seemed more like our Monks, than their Soldiers. But when I had given them some Cash (which was the only Thing they aimed at) they bowed their Heads again, and giving me Thanks with a loud Voice, they wished me all happiness, and departed. The Truth is, unless I had been told before, they were Janizaries, I should have thought them to have been a kind of Turkish Monks, or Fellows of some College or other amongst them. Yet these are the Janizaries that carry such a Terror with them wheresoever they come.
Some Turks supp’d with me often at Buda, and were mightily taken with the delicious sweetness of my Wine: It is a Liquor that they have but little of in Turkey, and therefore, they more greedily desire it, and drink it more profusely, when once they come where it is. They continued Carousing till late at Night, but afterwards I grew weary of the Sport, and therefore rose from Table, and went to my Chamber; but as for Them, they went away sad, because they had not their full Swing at the Goblet, but were able to stand upon their Feet. As soon as I was gone, they sent a Youth after me, desiring me to let them have their Fill of Wine, and that I would lend them my Silver Cups to drink it in; for they were willing, by my Leave, to sit at it all Night in some Corner or other of the House. I granted their Request, and ordered so much Wine to be given them, as they desired, with Bowls to drink it in. Being thus accommodated, they tippled it out so long, till they were even Dead-drunk, and tumbling down, lay fast asleep upon the Ground. You must know, that it is a great Crime in Turkey to drink Wine, especially for those who are well stricken in Years; as for the Younger Sort, they think the Offence to be more Venial, and therefore more excusable in them. But seeing they expect no less Punishment, after Death, for drinking a little Wine, than if they drank ever so much, when once they have tasted of that Liquor, they go on to drink more and more; for having once incurr’d the Penalty of their Law, now, they think, they may Sin gratis, and account Drunkenness as a Matter of Gain. This Opinion, and others more absurd than This, do the Turks hold concerning Wine, of which, I will give you a remarkable Instance: I saw an Old Man at Constantinople, who, after he had taken a Cup of Wine in his Hand to Drink, us’d first to make a hideous Noise; I asked his Friends, Why he did so? They answered me, that, by this Outcry, he did, as it were, warn his Soul to retire into some secret Corner of his Body, or else, wholly to Emigrate, and pass out of it, that she might not be guilty of that Sin which he was about to commit, nor be defiled with the Wine that he was to guzzle down.
But to return to Buda.
’Twould be too tedious for me to give you a large Description of this Place, and it were a Task fitter for one that writes a Book, than a Letter; yet not to be wholly silent, Buda lies in a pleasant Place, and in a very fruitful Country, it is extended all along the Brow of an Hill, so that on one Side it borders on a rising Ground, abounding with choice Vineyards, and on the other Side, it is water’d by the River Danow, running by it, and beyond the Danow, there is the Town of Pest, and a large Campain adjoining, both which Prospects are in View of Buda, so that this Place seems naturally designed for the Metropolis of Hungary. It was antiently adorned with many stately Palaces, belonging to the Nobles of Hungary; but those goodly Piles are now either quite fallen to the Ground, or else have many Props to support them from tumbling down; they are Inhabited mostly by the Turkish Soldiers, whose daily Pay being but enough to support them, they have no over-plus to lay out in Tyling, or Repairing, such large Structures; and therefore they do not much regard, whether it Rains through the Roof, or whether the Walls be full of Clefts, provided they have a dry Place to set their Horses, and their own Beds in; the upper Part they think concerns them not, so that they make a great Part of the upper Stories to be Inhabited by Weazels and Mice.
Besides, ’tis a Piece of Religion in Turkey, not to covet magnificent Buildings; for (say they) ’tis a Sign of a Proud, Lofty, and aspiring Mind, to covet Sumptuous Houses, as if so frail a Creature as Man, did promise a kind of Immortality, and an everlasting Habitation to himself in this Life; when alas! we are but Pilgrims here, and therefore, ought to use our Dwellings, as Travellers do their Inns, wherein if they are secured from Thieves, Cold, Heat, and Rain, they seek not for any other Conveniences. So that all over Turkey you will hardly find a stately House, tho’ the Owner of it be never so Great, or Rich a Man; the Commonalty of them live in Huts and Cottages; the Nobles are for handsome Orchards, Gardens and Baths; but as for their Houses, tho’ the numerousness of their Families require large Ones, yet they have no handsome Gate-houses, or Porches belonging to them; nor Court-yards, nor any thing else Magnificent, or worthy of any Admiration. Herein they resemble the Hungarians, for except Buda, and (perhaps) Presburgh, there is scarce any City in Hungary, that you can call well Built. This Custom I suppose, they derived from their Ancestors, for they being a People given to Camp-discipline and therein trained, did not care a rush for Building great Houses, but looked upon their Towns only as temporary Habitations, which they were about to leave.