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J.C. 1416, renounce his errors: Even thofe that at firft had

to 1419.

Heg. 822. been gained by fear, were become enthusiasts like

their master. Of all thofe that accompanied this impostor in fuch a large number, not one escaped, either man, woman, or child. Percligia himself was taken; he would never conceal his name, nor renounce what he had taught. Spite of the dreadful torments to which he was put at Ephefus, where he was conveyed, he declared himself always the envoy of God, the organ of truth, the destroyer of superstition and falfe worship; he was at last nailed on a crofs, where he expired, declaring always, that he should not die, and that he would propagate his law in every corner of the universe. And indeed, it was reported that he was not dead; they would even have it, that he had appeared again in several towns in Greece; but those of his difciples who had escaped the fword of the Muffulmen, difperfed, as foon as they had loft their mafter. This fect was the cause of fhedding much blood, against the will of Mahomet, who valued men's lives more than any of his predeceffors had done.

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Towards the end of his reign, Mahomet gave the government of Amafia to the young Amu rath his fon and heir apparent. He wished to accustom him betimes to the fatigues of war and the cares of government, in order to be witness to his firft faults, and to be in a fituation to repair them. The fultan himself had committed

one,

to 1419.

impoftor to

throne

homet.

Heg. 822.

one, which was the caufe of many evils during J.C. 1416, his reign and his fucceffor's. We have faid that Heg. 822. he pardoned a bashaw of Smyrna, called Sineis, sineis rai who was guilty of rebellion, and only took from fes up an him his government. Mahomet, who eafily for- difpute the got offences, a few years after, gave this fame with Maofficer the government of Nicopoli, and confe- J.C. 1419. quently an opportunity of again betraying him. Sineis did not fail of making that use of it. Having found among the dregs of the people a man perfectly resembling Muftapha, the elder brother of Mahomet, who was killed at the battle of Angora by the fide of Bajazet his father, he refolved to fet up this phantom against the lawful fultan. There were but few Mahometans that had feen the real Muftapha perish; Sineis inftructed the impoftor, and was the firft to acknowledge him in Nicopoli, publishing, that the throne belonged to him, as the eldest of the house of Ottoman. The love of novelty, riches, and honors, foon procured the pretended Muftapha a crowd of fubjects. Every one was anxious to acknowledge him, in order to merit the favor which he promised all thofe, who should affift him to recover his fceptre. Sineis and he went into Theffaly, where they recruited considerably, publishing every where fables, which easily gained. credit.

Mahomet was quiet at Burfa, when he was prefently informed of the progrefs of the pretended

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J.C. 1419, tended Mustapha, and that it was time to attack

to 1421.

Heg. 822, this impoftor, whom he had at first seemed to

to 824.

The Greek

emperor

contemn. He paffed the ftraits of Gallipoli at the head of fixty thousand men. The fultan was beloved; he flattered himself that his presence would disperse these confpirators. But Sineis, comprehending the neceffity of choofing between the most cruel death and the favor of a monarch that would be the work of his hands, encouraged the pretended Muftapha, whofe intereft was the fame as his, if not greater. They invented a fable, the artifice and probability of which deceived all those that could not, or would not, feek the truth. They wrote to the Greek emperor, and fent to the governors that commanded for him in Europe to implore affiftance. They marched at the head of a confufed rabble of foldiers, raised in hafte. Mahomet came up with this feeble army near Theffalonica, which his janiffaries and spahis dispersed presently. The rebels fled, because Mustapha and Sineis did not dare oppose the vanquisher long, for fear of being made prifoners.

As foon as victory declared against them, they gives him took refuge in Theffalonica. The next day an afylum. Mahomet fummoned Demetrius Lafcaris, the

governor of the place for Manuel, to deliver him the two fugitives. On the refusal of this officer, the fultan fent one of the bashaws of his retinue to menace Demetrius with a fiege. The latter,

always

to 1421.

to 824.

always believing, or feigning to believe, Muf- J.C. 1419, tapha the elder brother of the emperor, answered, Heg. 822, that he should not betray an unfortunate prince, who had requested of him an asylum, nor any of those who had accompanied his flight, without an exprefs order from Manuel his master. What most aftonifhes is, that, notwithstanding the friendship in which the two emperors lived, the pretended Muftapha found the fame protection from Manuel as from Demetrius. In vain did Mahomet cry out that he was an impoftor: the Greek emperor constantly treated this adventurer as the fon of the unfortunate Bajazet. All that the Turk could obtain, was, that this pretended brother of his fhould be confined, as likewise Sineis, in the ifle of Lemnos, and that both of them fhould be ftri&tly guarded there for the remainder of their lives. Manuel confirmed this agreement by oath.

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Whatever his opinion of the birth of the pretended Mustapha might be, his proceeding was unjuft; for, if the latter really were the eldest of the Ottoman house, Manuel should not have deprived him of his throne and liberty; if, on the contrary, he was but an impoftor, he should not \ have screened him from the chastisement which he fo justly merited, ftill lefs have expofed the dominions of his ally to troubles which nothing but Muftapha's death could put an end to. This laft confideration was perhaps what determined Manuel;

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to 1421.

J.C. 1419, Manuel; for, whatever friends the Greeks were of Heg. 822, Mahomet, it was not without envy that they faw the prosperity of the house of Ottoman.

to 824.

Mahomet.

Mahomet was determined to punish the Walachians for the fort of protection that they had given the pretended Mustapha: he ravaged their country, took fome towns, and exacted from them Death of an additional tribute. He had hardly finished this expedition, when he was attacked with a bloody flux, which, in a few days, carried him to the grave. When Mahomet faw himself near his end, he fent for his two viziers Bajazet and Ibrahim, and recommended them to be faithful to Amurath his eldest son, who at that time was commanding an army on the frontiers of Amafia. His two other children, who were neither of them above seven years old, he placed under the guardianship of the Greek emperor, for fear, as it is faid, left their brother should have them ftrangled. This prince died at Adrianople, where Heg. 824. he had been conveyed by his own orders, aged

J.C. 1421.

forty-feven. He reigned eight years and ten months, more peaceably than had yet been seen among the Turks. Mahomet restored to the Ottoman empire all the splendor that it had loft under Bajazet. Juftice and lenity reigned with him; but it is very rare, that men know how to keep conftantly that juft medium which prudence prescribes, and without which, even virtues become weaknesses. Mahomet's clemency often

encouraged

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