to oppose this rebel, whofe foldiers, badly difci-1.c.1510. Heg. 916. plined, had all that ardour which fanaticifm infpires. The young prince had but very few janiffaries; the troops which he gathered in hafte, were not better trained than those of the novator, and were much less experienced. Korcut was beaten, and thought himself very happy to fave his head from the sword of this fanguinary fanatic. He informed his father of this ill fuccefs, which it was high time to put a flop to. Notwithstanding fome fuccefs which Bajazet's generals had had' under his eyes, he was thoroughly tired of war." Though the circumstances were painted to him as preffing, they could not prevail on this prince to arm for the defence of his throne. He fent his vizier Ali, the fucceffor of Muftapha, to Natolia, The empe at the head of an army, but the guard which an army awatched around his feraglio at Conftantinople, gainst him. could not fecure him from danger. As he was one of his going to the mofque, a dervis, an emiffary of endeavours Scheitankuli's, asked alms of him; the emperor nate Bajastooped to give him fomething, when the traitor stabbed him in the breast with a poniard, and it was a long time before the wound was healed. Since this event, all thofe, who are neither members of the divan nor officers of the feraglio, never approach the emperor of the Turks, without two chiaus' holding them by the arms.

The pretended prophet, as crafty and ambitious as Mahomet had been, had not the fame talents

ror fends

emiffaries.

to affaffi

zet,

kuli is de

his troops are dif

perfed. He

Perfia.

J.C. 1510 for war. Some regular, difciplined troops, foon Heg. 916. difperfed this croad of enthufiafts, terrible to Scheitan- men without arms, but who, having no notion of feated and the art of war, were more capable of maffacring than fighting. Ali bafhaw vanquished them in a flees into pitched battle, and re-took all the places of which the rebels had poffeffed themselves, as eafily as they had taken them. Scheitankuli comprehended, that arms would not be fo favorable to him as he had flattered himself. He renounced the character of conqueror, and, concealing his retreat, even from his dearest disciples, he fled into Perfia to the king, whose opinion on the succession of Ali was the fame as he had preached. This man is regarded, if not as the author, at least as the restorer of the Perfian fchifm, and as their third prophet. It is not then foreign to our fubject, to give a particular account of his fuccefs in that kingdom, and lefs fo, as he was the cause of that inveterate hatred which ftill divides the Ottomans and Perfians.

He obtains

the confi,

Scheitankuli was not ignorant that Ishmael, dence of king of Perfia, believed the dogmas of the fuccef

the king,

and, by fion of Ali. He went to fhelter himself at the

means of a

falfe mira- Court of that prince, as a martyr of this pretended ele, makes truth. The falfe prophet had acquired in his re

alterations

in the text

coran,

of the Al- treat, more learning than is commonly found which are among the Muffulmen. He had fome knowadmitted ledge of the mathematics, and particularly of Perfians, judicial aftrology, which was greatly esteemed in

by the

that

Heg. 916.

that century and country. King Ishmael, cap- J.C. 1510. tivated with the eloquence, doctrine, and erudition of this extraordinary man, intrufted him with the education of the princes his children, and submitted his own faith to the reveries of the pretended prophet. All the Perfians were not, like their master, of the fect of Ali. 'Till then, the king had tolerated the different opinions all professed Islamism; but every one explained the Alcoran his own way, and peace reigned in Perfia, because no person had undertaken to explain what was not intelligible to any one. Scheitankuli, more powerful in Perfia than be: had ever been in Turkey, fince he had fubjugated the king, used this new power with more address. than in the Ottoman empire, but with still more cruelty. He raifed no more armies, which he knew not how to conduct, but inculcated his opinions into a credulous, fanguinary foul; and, employing this great argument of Mahomet, that fire and sword are the ftrongest inftruments of truth, he prevailed on Ishmael to banish all those who would not fubfcribe to the new dogmas. One of the most important was, to know if Mahomet required them to wash their feet every morning with water, or if it were fufficient to rub them with the hand without wetting them. The Turks and Perfians had always made use of water in this cuftom. The novator would have them only wipe their feet. This proceeding,

and

J.C.1510 and feveral others of the fame kind, caufed a Heg. 916. great number of Muffulmen to revolt. As every one who complained was punished with death, the number of executions obliged a great many fubjects to leave Perfia. Ifhmael, affrighted at this desertion, prefumed to complain of it to his prophet, who offered, in order to retain the people under his law, to manifeft, by miracles, the authenticity of his miffion. For feveral days Scheitankulis carried his flaves to a wood contiguous to the palace of Ifpahan. He made the youngest of the princes, who was particularly. fond of his preceptor, take notice of an old plane tree, which he recommended him to point out to the king his father when it should be proper time. As they particularly reproached Scheitankuli with altering the text of the Alcoran, under pretence of explaining it, the falfe prophet said to the king, that he would prove to the whole univerfe, that he alone was capable of expounding this facred book. An affembly of the people was fummoned in the wood which we have juft fpoken of. Scheitankuli defired the king to order the youngest of his fons, to choose what tree in the wood he liked. The child, well inftructed, fixed on the fame that he had agreed on with his mafThe impoftor then prefented to the prince and people a book, which contained the Alcoran exactly according to the text; another, the leaves

ter.

of which were all blank; and a third, in which

the Alcoran was written with the alterations that J.C. 1510. Heg. 916. Scheitankuli had thought neceffary, and which he pretended was the real text of Mahomet. The young prince placed the ancient Alcoran and the blank book in the trunk of the tree. Scheitankuli had the trunk clofed up with bands of iron, fealed it with the feal of the kingdom, and declared, that, in forty days, God would manifeft in the fame place, his will, his law, and his prophet, He returned to the palace, holding in his hand that of the three books which he had corrected himself. During this interval of forty days, the hypocrite affected to go often under this plane tree, and addrefs fervent prayers to God. The time being arrived when the miracle was to be fulfilled, all the people flocked around the plane tree. Scheitankuli recommenced his prayers with more fervency than ever; after which, affuming the voice of infpiration, he ordered the tree to be opened. The little Perfian prince, who had placed the two books in the trunk of this plane, took two from it in the fame form, of which the one, faid to be the ancient Alcoran, was rafed and interlined in all the places that the pretended prophet had thought ought to be changed, and the other, which was believed to be the blank book, was a faithful copy, without a rafure, of this new Alcoran, which he wanted to have received. The people, fafcinated, without informing themselves if the plane had not been opened