dissolution; that, in fact, it could not possibly
last in its integrity much longer. Heylyn is
himself of this opinion, for which he states the
reasons at large. These are, mainly, that " the
body is growne too monstrous for the head
—the Sultans, never since the death of Solyman,
accompanying their armies in person,
but rioting and wasting their bodies and
treasures at home: " that the Janizaries (a sort of
Prætorian guard and imperial police, one of
the main strengths of the country, though
often more the masters than the servants of
the Sultans) had become enfeebled by
licentiousness; that rebellions were of frequent
occurrence; that the sons of the monarchs
were always bred up in effeminacy; that
the Ottoman power had recently met with
great reverses abroad; and that, " by the
avarice and corruption in the Court now
raigning, all peace and warre, all councels and
informations, all wrongs and favours, are
made saleable." An ominous catalogue truly;
and yet Turkey has lasted for two centuries
and a quarter since that period! But Heylyn
sees still further reasons for passing sentence
ot doom against the Porte, and even for
mapping out the exact way in which its fate
is to be brought about. Let us see how near
he has hit the mark. A few years previously,
Mustaphe, brother of Achmet I., was placed
on the throne by the Janizaries; shortly
afterwards deposed by the same power;
again placed there, and again deposed; his
nephew, Amurath IV. being chosen in his
stead. The new prince was a mere youth;
and Heylyn argues that Mustaphe, having
learnt a lesson from his previous changes of
fortune, and finding his life in continual
danger, " will secure himselfe from the like
after-claps which may happen unto him when
this young boy shall be a little older, by the
taking of him away, if it bee (as no question
but it is) possible. And so," oracularly
concludes our prophet, " wee have the end of the
Ottoman race." It is not quite clear to us
why the whole race is to fail because one
member murders another; but Heylyn is so
confident of the result, that he proceeds to
assign the empire to the sundry claimants
whom he conceives will arise. The Crim
Tartars are to base their claim upon the fact
of their supplying a large part of the Turkish
army, and they are to be succoured by the
Great Cham. The Bassas will seek to divide
the territories among themselves, after the
manner of Alexander's captains upon the
death of their chief. The Janizaries, being
the best soldiers of the Empire, and having
already Constantinople in their grasp, will
put in their claim, and will have the best chance
of all; " unlesse," adds Peter, " the princes
of Christendom, laying aside private malice,
joine all in armes to strip this proud peacock
of her feathers, and (upon so blessed an advantage)
to breake in pieces, with a rodde of iron,
this insolent and burdensome monarchy.—A
thing rather to bee desired than expected."

See how Time disdains to follow the
forecastings of men! Mustaphe, instead of
murdering Amurath, was himself murdered
by Amurath. The Crim Tartars, instead of
being the masters of Turkey, are the slaves
of Russia. The Pashas are still nothing more
than Pashas, having, indeed, much less power
than before. The Janizaries have not destroyed
the Sultans, but were themselves destroyed
in the horrible but perhaps necessary
massacre of eighteen hundred arid twenty-five.
And the chief powers of Europe, rather
than unite for the partition of Turkey, have
formed themselves into a league for its defence.
The prophets of our own day may, perhaps,
find a lesson in these disappointed
vaticinations.

In treating of Arabia, Heylyn, as we may
expect, speaks for the most part of Mahomet
and his religion. Hard and bitter words are
the only expressions he can find for them;
calling the latter " an irreligious religion," " a
heathenish superstition," a mass of absurdities,
superstitions, and fopperies, and Mahomet
himself a man tempted by the devil. He has
a keen eye and a sharp tongue for all
the many faults of that faith; but he will
not, if he can help it, recognise its
principles, or consider it with a reference to
the sanguinary and debasing idolatry which
it displaced. But he is obliged to acknowledge
the charity of the Mahometans, and
the noble fact that " you shall hardly find
any beggare among them; " and the opportunity
of giving a side blow at the Pope, lured
him into this great admission in their favour
—" I have heard many say, that it is better
for a man that would injoy liberty of
conscience to live in the countries professing
Mahometanisme than Papistrie; for in the
one hee shall never bee free from the bloody
Inquisition; in the other hee is never molested
if hee meddle not with the Law, their women,
or their slaves." We are all well acquainted,
in imagination, with the chant of the
Muezzin from the minarets, summoning the
people to prayer in the grey early dawn, in the
burning blue of the noon-day, and under the
dying light and new-born stars of evening—
that remote disembodied, spiritual voice
somewhere between heaven and earth, which
enchanted a recent French traveller; but,
perhaps, it was never alluded to with so little
reverence as by Peter. He says that at
the proper times " the cryers keepe a-bauling
in the steeples for the people to come to
church." After this, we will fly away into
Tartary.

Here, in this district called Cathay (that
golden land of old Italian romance and poetry)
we come across the cities of Cambalu, where
there are fifty thousand astrologers, and
of Xaindu— the "Xanadu" of Coleridge's
magnificent dream-poem. In this latter is
"the palace of the Emperour, of a four-square
figure, every side extending eight miles in
length. Within this quadrant is another,