FOOTNOTES:

[300] As a rule, all petitions to the Sultan had to pass through the Vizir’s hands; but in cases where the Vizir himself was involved a direct appeal was possible through the above formality: which secured to the petitioner access to the throne, but entailed, if his complaint proved false, loss of his head. See Rycaut’s Present State, p. 84; Life of Dudley North, p. 100.

[301] Chandos to Jenkins, April 17-27, 1682; cp. Sir John Buckworth’s “Narrative of the Distresses of our Turkey Merchants at C.P.,” Jan. 22, 1681-82, S.P. Turkey, 19.

[302] Chandos to Jenkins, Oct. 11, st. vet. 1682. The Turk catches the hare with a cart still is a common proverb among the inhabitants of the Near East. It conveys an appreciation of Turkish tactics: slow and blundering in appearance, yet forming parts of a strategic plan, based on the principle that the ultimate outcome of a struggle depends on which side can show the greatest endurance and shall have most reserves when it comes to the final tussle.

[303] Chandos to Jenkins, March 29, 1683.

[304] “Few have made more of the place than he hath. He has doubtless raised his estate considerably by it.”—Nathaniel Harley to Sir Edward Harley, Aleppo, Oct. 29, 1687, Hist. MSS. Com. Thirteenth Report, Part II. p. 242.

[305] Life of Dudley North, pp. 102-3.

[306] Nathaniel Harley to Sir Edward Harley, Aleppo, July 20, 1694, Hist. MSS. Com. Thirteenth Report, Part II. p. 245.

[307] Pagett to Vernon, Jan. 17, O.S. 1700-1, S.P. Turkey, 21.

[308] Evelyn’s Diary, Nov. 23, 1695.

[309] Dictionary of National Biography.

[310] It would be invidious to single out particular pearls, but one is too precious to be passed over. Dr. Covel wrote in his Diary: “Just at two o’clock Antonio called us to go to the Alloy.” Now, as the reader may remember, “Alloy” was the name for the ceremonial march-out of the Army. The editor, mistaking this Turkish word for the name of an English ship, and then drawing upon his imagination, evolves a pretty myth: “Dr. Covel and Sir John Finch, the ambassador, started together on the Alloy, and the new Grand Vizier, Kara Mustapha, came to see them off, and brought them large quantities of presents.” He goes on to describe the voyage of the phantom vessel as far as Venice (pp. 282 foll.). The only parallel instance of an editor’s mythopoeic faculty working upon a verbal misapprehension known to me is to be found in the Rigveda.

[311] See Appendix XVI.