to the Secretary of the Bailo of Venice, or of Florence? Ebraham presently makes haste to them, and shews them the Letters; (they were writ in might such a Character that a Child ten Years old have read them;) but both those Secretaries, when they saw the Letter was superscrib'd to me, threw it back again before they had well look'd upon it; alledging, in Excuse, that such kind of Letters could be read by none, unless by him who had another Cypher to unfold them. This was all the Answer Ebrahim could get of them. Upon his Return to the Bashaws therewith, they could not tell what in the World to do: At last, starts up one (I could not tell his Name) saying, there is a Patriarch in Town, and old Man, and a Christian, and, besides, a great Scholar; if any Man can read these Letters, it must be he. When they came to the Patriarch, he told them, he could not read a Tittle of them, for they were not writ in Greek, Latin, Hebrew or Chaldee. Thus they were disappointed there also. At last, Haly Bassa runs to Rustan (otherwise a Man not ready to jest) and says to him Cardassi (Brother in Turkish), I remember, I had once a Servant, an Italian, who was skilled in all Letters and Tongues, I do not question but he could have read the Letter; but, alas! he is lately dead. At last, they being at a stand what to do, thought it best to send the Letters, which they could make no use of, to me. I knew all the Matter by Ebrahim beforehand, (neither could it be kept secret); whereupon I began to stamp and fret that they had intercepted my Letters against the Law of Nations, and in Contempt of Cæsar who sent them; and, withal, I bid Ebrahim stay, and to Morrow he should see that Letter translated for the Bashaws. The next day, when Ebrahim appeared in the Divan, they asked
