Turkish Superstition; I shall add, That they account it a damnable Sin, if any of their own People chance (though unwillingly) to sit upon the Alcoran, (which is a Book containing the Rites of their Religion) and, if a Christian do it, 'tis Death by their Law. Moreover, they will not suffer Rose-Leaves to lie upon the Ground, because, as the Ancients did fable, the Roses spring out of the Blood of Venus; so the Turks hold, That it had its Rise from the Sweat of Mahomet.
I came to Constantinople on the 20th Day of January, and there found my Collegues above-mentioned, Anthony Wrantzius and Francis Zay; as for the Grand Seignior himself, he was, at that Time, at the Head of his Army in Asia, and had only left at Constantinople, Ebrahim Bashaw, an Eunuch, as Governor of the City, and Rustan, but deprived of his Vizier-ship; however I gave him a Visit and made him Presents, as being mindful of his former Dignity, and of the fair Prospect there was of his speedy Restitution thereunto.
It may, perhaps, divert you, and besides it is not wholly foreign to my Design, to acquaint you how this Rustan came to be strip'd of all his former Honours. Know then, That Solyman had a Son, called Mustapha, on a Concubine of his, born by the Bosphorus, (if I mistake not.) This Youth was in the prime of his Age, and in great Favour among the Soldiers. But the same Solyman had several other Children by Roxolana, whom he doated on so much, that he made her his Wife, by appointing her a Dowry; for that's the Way of making and confirming a Marriage among the Turks. This Solyman did, contrary to the Custom of former Emperors, none of which had ever
