When Rustan was Grand Vizier, and had the intire Administration of all Things in his Hands, he was able to turn his Master's Mind, as he pleased, so that 'twas commonly reported among the Turks, That partly by the Accusation of Rustan, and partly by the Witchcraft of his Wife Roxolana, (for she was accounted little better than a Sorceress) Solyman was so alienated from his Son Mustapha, that he took Counsel to put him to Death. As to what some alledge, that Mustapha being sensible of the Designs of Rustan and his Step-Mother Roxolana, against his Life, did labour to preserve them, by taking off his Father, and so seizing the Empire by force; very few do believe that Story, but look upon it as a Fiction.
On this Occasion, let me tell you, that the Sons of the Turkish Emperors are the miserablest Creatures in the World; for if any one of them succeed his father in the Empire, the rest are inevitably put to Death by him. For the Turks cannot endure any Corrival in Government; and besides they are egged on to this severity by their Prætorian Bands, (Janizaries and Spahies) who, as long as their is any one of the Grand Seigniors Brothers alive, never cease craving of Largesses and Boons, and if the present Emperor refuses to grant tham, they presently cry out, God save your Brother, God send your Brother a long Life; by which Words, they more than intimate their Wishes, that he were on the Throne. So that the Turkish Emperors are in a manner compelled to put their Brethren to Death, and so begin their Reign with Blood. But Mustapha was afraid of such a fatal end; or else Roxolana was willing to translate the said Destiny from her own Children upon Mustapha: Upon one or other of these Grounds, it was, that Solymon enter-
