The last years of the wretched old man were imbittered by the conduct of the sons, for whose advancement he had suffered those foul murders to be committed. His son Bajazet was a rebel to his father’s authority; and Selim, who succeeded him, was the most weak and wicked of the Mohammedan line. His noble mosque, and the tombs that contain the ashes of himself and his wife Roxalana, are shown by the Turks to strangers as the most splendid monuments left by their sultans.
Selim II. succeeded to the throne in 1566, and was entirely devoted to the gratification of his appetites. His father was temperate in wine, and forbade its use under the severest penalties. It is said he attributed the failure of the attack on Malta to the violation of the law of Mohammed in this respect, and he caused caldrons of boiling oil to be kept in the streets, ready to be poured down the throat of any person, Turk, Jew, or Christian, who was found intoxicated. Selim, as if in contempt and mockery of his father, indulged in wine to such excess, that he despatched an expedition to Cyprus, and annexed that island to the empire, for no other reason but because it produced good wine. The loss of the sanguinary battle of Lepanto, in his reign, was another blow following the defeat at Malta, which shook the mighty fabric of the Turkish empire. Selim died after a reign of eight years and five months, a rigid observer of all the Prophet’s laws, except sobriety.
The people of the West had now begun to recover from the terror which the first eruption of these terrible barbarians into Europe had excited, and to consider the many commercial advantages to be derived from an intercourse with them. The French and Venetians, in the reign of Selim, had already established this intercourse; and the English were supplied with Oriental produce by the latter, who sent Argosies, or ships of Ragusa, in the gulf of Venice, to England, freighted with the wealth of the East. One of these rich vessels was wrecked on the Goodwin sands, and the Venetians were afraid to send another. But the English having tasted of Asiatic luxuries, could not dispense with them; and the enterprising Elizabeth, in whose reign the accident happened, sent Raleigh and Drake to explore the West, while Harebone was despatched to open a communication with the East. She wrote a Latin letter, addressed, Augustissimo invictissmoq. principi Sultan Murad Can; in which she seems not only to prize highly the incipient reformation in England, but also to recommend herself to the Turk by a principle common to Islamism, “an unconquerable opposition to idolatry.” Her letter was well received, and Sir E. Barton was appointed her first resident ambassador. He accompanied Amurath in his Hungarian wars, and died on his return to Constantinople. He was buried in the island of Chalki, and his monument still exists in a Greek convent there. Hence originated an English residence at Constantinople, and the establishment of the Levant Company, a body of merchants who, for 240 years, have caused the name of England to be respected in the East, among the most honoured nations of Europe.
Amurath III. was distinguished by the extraordinary number of his children. He had attached himself to a fair Venetian, sold to him as a slave, and raised her to the dignity of Sultana; but she had no children, and the Janissaries began to express their discontent. They accused her of sorcery, and caused her attendants to be put to the torture, to discover what philtres she had used to entangle the sultan’s affection. None were discovered, except a good and amiable disposition. Amurath, however, soon attached himself to so many others, that he filled the seraglio with 200 of his progeny. He died in the year 1595, at the age of 50, leaving 48 children alive.
The first care of his successor, Mahomet III. was the usual resort of Turkish policy. He strangled twenty-four of his brothers−nor was he satisfied with this carnage. He escaped an insurrection of the janissaries, and, suspecting that his favourite Sultana and her son were concerned in it, he caused them to be sewed up in sacks, and drowned in the sea of Marmora. He died in 1603, after a reign of 8 years.
Achmet I. also commenced his reign with a measure of Turkish precaution. He had a brother, and, to render him incapable of reigning, he caused his eyes to be put out. This horrid process is performed in various ways−either by scooping out the eyes; by compressing the forehead till the balls are forced out of their sockets; by rendering the lens opaque with boiling vinegar; or, finally, by heating a metal bason red-hot, the intense glow of which, held to the eye, soon destroys the sensibility of the optic nerve. This latter is said to be the least painful, and has been practised by the more humane. Not satisfied, however, with the operation, and still apprehensive of the janissaries, he caused his blind brother to be strangled. He was, notwithstanding, celebrated for his taste and magnificence; and the mosque, of his erection, and called by his name, is a lasting memorial of these qualities. He died at the early age of twenty-nine, in the year 1617. His reign is remarkable for the first introduction of tobacco into Constantinople, by the Dutch, who then began to trade there, and brought with them this plant from America. It was at first strongly opposed by the mufti as a violation of the koran; but the grand vizir, who became fond of it, ordered it to be served out in rations to the janissaries, and they soon silenced all opposition.
Amurath IV. ascended the throne in 1524. He took Babylon, and caused 30,000 of its inhabitants to be massacred in cold blood, under his own eyes. In addition to the usual cruelty, and disregard of human life, which distinguished other sultans, he adopted a practice peculiarly his own. It was his custom to issue from the palace at night with drawn scimitar in his hand, and not return till he had committed some murder. Another of his favourite amusements was to place himself in a window with a bow and arrows, and pin to the opposite wall any casual passenger. Historians represent him as so fond of shedding human blood, that it seemed to be the aliment on which he lived. His caprice was equal to his cruelty; he found, or made, cause for displeasure in every thing, as a pretext to justify him. He sent thirty poor pilgrims to the galleys, because he did not like their dress. It was his delight to render those unhappy, whom he hesitated to deprive of life. Whenever an ill-assorted marriage was likely to cause this, he adopted it. He broke suitable arrangements, and compelled young girls to marry decrepit old men, and youths of eighteen to unite themselves with women of eighty. He indulged freely in the use of wine, but disliked tobacco, and was so determined that no one else should enjoy it, that he instantly stabbed with his yategan the man on whom he detected the smell of it. One instance only of mercy is recorded in the course of his life. A certain Tiraki was an inveterate smoker, and, to indulge it, he dug a hole in the ground. Here the sultan stumbled upon him, and proceeded at once to despatch him; but the smoker bade him observe, that his edict was issued for the surface of the earth, and was not meant to extend below it. For the first time, he spared the life of an offender. He died in 1640. Unfortunately for his subjects, he reigned fourteen years.
Mahomet IV. was placed on the throne at the age of nine years, but the talent of his vizir compensated for his own want of experience. His reign was distinguished by several remarkable events. The great island of Crete, or Candia, had hitherto resisted Turkish rule. It was determined to reduce it, and, after an obstinate resistance of twenty-four years, it was at length taken by treachery. The Turks lost 200,000 men; and such were the ravages committed, that this fine island remained a desert. A second siege of Vienna followed. Tekeli, the noted Hungarian rebel, had raised the standard of revolt against his sovereign: to aid his plans, the renegade Christian called in the assistance of the greatest enemy of his faith; and Mahomet advanced with an immense army, now certain of realizing the plans of Soliman the Magnificent, and declaring himself Sultan of all Christendom. But his projects were arrested in the moment of their accomplishment, and from a quarter least expected. John Sobiesky advanced from his deserts with his gallant Poles, and signally defeated the Turks in two engagements. They were driven from their strong hold in Pest, the capital of Hungary, of which they had held obstinate possession for 157 years, and retired behind the Danube. Since that time, instead of being the assailants, pushing on their advances into Europe, they merely struggle to keep their