We were forced to wait eleven days in Adrianople. At length he arrived, on the first day of Lent. The mufti, who is with them what the pope is to us, went out to meet him, accompanied by the principal persons of the town, who formed a long procession. He was already near the town when they met him, but had halted to take some refreshment, and had sent forward part of his attendants. He did not make his entry until night-fall.
During my stay at Adrianople I had the opportunity of making acquaintance with several persons who had resided at his court, and consequently knew him well, and who told me many particulars about him. In the first place, as I have seen him frequently, I shall say that he is a little, short, thick man, with the physiognomy of a Tartar. He has a broad and brown face, high cheek bones, a round beard, a great and crooked nose, with little eyes; but they say he is kind, good, generous, and willingly gives away lands and money. His revenues are two millions and a half of ducats, including twenty-five thousand received as tribute-money[498]. Besides, when he raises an army, it not only costs him nothing, but he gains by it; for the troops that are brought him from Turkey in Europe, pay at Gallipoli, the comarch, which is three aspers for each man, and five for each horse. It is the same at the passage of the Danube. Whenever his soldiers go on an expedition, and make a capture of slaves, he has the right of choosing one out of every five. He is, nevertheless, thought not to love war, and this seems to me well founded. He has, in fact, hitherto met with such trifling resistance from Christendom that, were he to employ all his power and wealth on this object, it would be easy for him to conquer great part of it[499]. His favourite pleasures are hunting and hawking; and he has, as they say, upwards of a thousand hounds, and two thousand trained hawks of different sorts, of which I have seen very many. He loves liquor and those who drink hard; as for himself, he can easily quaff off from ten to twelve gondils of wine, which amount to six or seven quarts[500]. When he has drunk much, he becomes generous, and distributes his great gifts; his attendants, therefore, are very happy when they hear him call for wine. Last year, a Moor took it into his head to preach to him on this subject, admonishing him that wine was forbidden by the prophet, and that those who drank it were not good Saracens. The only answer the prince gave was to order him to prison: he then banished him his territories, with orders never again to set his foot on them. He unites to his love for women a taste for boys, and has three hundred of the former and about thirty of the latter, which he prefers, and when they are grown up he recompenses them with rich presents and lordships. One of them he married to a sister of his, with an annual income of 25,000 ducats. Some persons estimate his treasure at half a million of ducats, others at a million. This is exclusive of his plate, his slaves, the jewels for his women, which last article is estimated alone at a million of gold. I am convinced that if he would for one year abstain from thus giving away blindly, and hold his hand, he would lay by a million of ducats without wronging any one.
Every now and then he makes great and remarkable examples of justice, which procures him perfect obedience at home and abroad. He likewise knows how to keep his country in an excellent state of defence, without oppressing his Turkish subjects by taxes or other modes of extortion. His household is composed of five thousand persons, as well horse as foot; but in war-time he does not augment their pay, so that he does not expend more than in time of peace, contrary to what happens in other nations. His principal officers are three bashaws, or visir bashaws. The visir is a counsellor; the bashaw a sort of chief, or lieutenant. These three have the charge of all that concerns himself or his household, and no one can speak with him but through them. When he is in Greece, the lieutenant of Greece has the superintendence of the army; and when in Turkey, the lieutenant of Turkey. He has given away great possessions, but he may resume them at pleasure. Besides, those to whom they have been given are bound to serve him in war, with a certain number of troops, at their own expense.
It is thus that Greece annually supplies him with thirty thousand men, whom he may lead whither he pleases; and Turkey ten thousand, for whom he only finds provisions. Should he want a more considerable army, Greece alone, as they tell me, can then furnish him with one hundred and twenty thousand more; but he is obliged to pay for these. The pay is five aspers for the infantry, and eight for the cavalry. I have, however, heard, that of these hundred and twenty thousand there was but half, that is to say, the cavalry, that were properly equipped, and well armed with tarquais and sword; the rest were composed of men on foot miserably accoutered; some having swords without bows, others without swords, bows, or any arms whatever, many having only staves. It is the same with the infantry supplied by Turkey, one-half armed with staves. This Turkish infantry is nevertheless more esteemed than the Greek, and considered as better soldiers.
Other persons, whose testimony I regard as authentic, have since told me, that the troops Turkey is obliged to furnish, when the prince wants to form an army, amount to thirty thousand men, and those from Greece to twenty, without including two or three thousand slaves of his own, whom he arms well. Among these slaves are many Christians; and there are likewise numbers of them among the troops from Greece, Albanians, Bulgarians, and from other countries. In the last army from Greece, there were three thousand Servian horse, which the despot of the province had sent under the command of one of his sons. It was with great regret that these people came to serve him, but they dared not refuse.
The bashaws arrived at Adrianople three days after their lord, bringing with them part of his people and his baggage. This baggage consists of about a hundred camels, and two hundred and fifty mules and sumpter horses, as the nation does not use wagons.
Sir Benedict was impatient to have an audience, and made inquiries of the bashaws if he could see the prince: their answer was a negative. The reason of this refusal was, that they had been drinking with him, and were all intoxicated. They, however, sent on the morrow to the ambassador to let him know they were visible, when he instantly waited on each with his presents; for such is the custom of the country, that no one can speak to them without bringing something; even the slaves who guard their gates are not exempted from it. I accompanied him on this visit. On the following day, in the afternoon, he was informed that he might come to the palace. He instantly mounted his horse to go thither with his attendants, and I joined the company; but we were all on foot, he alone being on horseback.
In front of the court we found a great number of men and horses. The gate was guarded by about thirty slaves, under the command of a chief, armed with staves. Should any person offer to enter without permission, they bid him retire: if he persist, they drive him away with their staves. What we call the court of the king, the Turks call "Porte du Seigneur."[501] Every time the prince receives a message or an embassy, which happens almost daily, "il fait porte." "Faire porte," is for him the same as when our kings of France hold royal state and open court, although there is much difference between the two ceremonies, as I shall presently show.
When the ambassador had entered, they made him sit down near the gate, with many other persons who were waiting for the prince to quit his apartment and hold his court. The three bashaws first entered, with the governor of Greece and others of the great lords. His chamber looked into a very large court; the governor went thither to wait for him. At length he appeared. His dress was, as usual, a crimson satin robe, over which he had, by way of mantle, another of green figured satin, lined with sable. His young boys accompanied him, but no further than to the entrance of the apartment, when they returned. There was nobody with him but a small dwarf, and two young persons who acted the part of fools[502]. He walked across an angle of the court to a gallery, where a seat had been prepared for him. It was a kind of couch covered with velvet, and four or five steps to mount to it. He seated himself on it, like to our tailors when they are going to work, and the three bashaws took their places a little way from him. The other officers, who on these days make part of the attendants, likewise entered the gallery, and posted themselves along the walls as far from him as they could. Without, but fronting him, were twenty Wallachian gentlemen seated, who had been detained by him as hostages for the good conduct of their countrymen. Within this apartment were placed about a hundred dishes of tin, each containing a piece of mutton and rice. When all were placed, a lord from Bosnia was introduced, who pretended that the crown of that country belonged to him, and came in consequence to do homage for it to the Turk, and ask succour from him against the present king. He was conducted to a seat near the bashaws; and, when his attendants had made their appearance, the ambassador from Milan was sent for. He advanced, followed by his presents, which were set down near the tin dishes. Persons appointed to receive them raised them above their heads, as high as they could, that the prince and his court might see them. While this was passing, sir Benedict walked slowly toward the gallery. A person of distinction came to introduce him.
On entering, he made a reverence without taking off the bonnet from his head, and when near the steps of the couch he made another very low one. The prince then rose, descended two steps to come nearer to the ambassador, and took him by the hand. The ambassador wished to kiss his hand, but he refused it; and by means of a Jew interpreter, who understood the Turkish and Italian languages, asked how his good brother and neighbour the duke of Milan was in health. The ambassador having replied to this question, he was conducted to a seat near the Bosnian, but walking backwards, with his face towards the prince, according to the custom of the country. The prince waited to reseat himself, until the ambassador had sat down; then the different officers on duty who were in the apartment sat down on the floor; and the person who had introduced the ambassador went to seek for us his attendants, and placed us near the Bosnians.