'Collections of travels through Turky into Persia, and the East Indies. Giving an account of the present state of those countries, as also a full relation of the five years wars, between Aureng-Zebe and his brothers in their father's life time, about the succession. And a voyage made by the Great Mogul (Aureng-Zebe) with his Army from Dehli to Lahor, from Lahor to Bember, and from thence to the Kingdom of Kachemire, by the Mogols, call'd, the Paradise of the Indies. Together with a relation of the Kingdom of Japan and Tunkin, and of their particular manners and trade. To which is added a new description of the Grand Seignior's Seraglio, and also of all the Kingdoms that encompass the Euxine and Caspian Seas, being the travels of Monsieur TavernierBernier, and other great men.' [‎49] (720/1024)

‘perplex, and tire out the beft Wits, and only invented, the better to cover the vani-
£ ty and ignorance of men like your felf, that would make us believe, that they know
c all, and that under thofe obfcure and ambiguous words,are hid great myfteries^which
c they alone are capable to underhand : If you had feafon’d me with that Philofophy,
1 which formeth the mind to ratiocination, and infenfibly accuftoms it to be fatished
1 with nothing but folid Reafons i if you had given me thofe excellent Precepts and
‘Dodrines, which raife the Soul above theAffaults of Fortune, and reduce her to an
‘ unfliakeable and always equal temper, and permit her not to be lifted up by Profperi^
l ty, nor debafed by Adverb ty ^ if you had taken care to give me the knowledge of
‘ what we arc, and what are the firft principles of things i and had aififted me in form-
c ing in my mind a fit Idea of the greatnefs of the Univerfe , and of the admirable
c order and motion of the parts thereof > if, I fay, you had inftilled into me this kind
4 of Philofophy, I fhould think my felf incomparably more obliged to you, than Alex-
andir was to his Ariflotle > and believe it my duty to recompence you otherwife,than
c he did him. Should not you, infteadof your flattery, have taught me fomewhat of
4 that point fo important to a King, which is, what the reciprocal duties are of a So-
4 vcreign to his Subje&s, and thofe of Subjects to their Sovereign ? And ought not you
4 to have confider’d , that one day I fhould be obliged with the Sword to difpute my
‘ Life and the Crown with my Brothers ? Is not that the defliny almofi ot all the Sons
4 of Indoftan? Have you ever taken any care to make me learn, what ’tis to befiege a
4 Town, or to fet an Army in Array ? For thefe things I am obliged to others, not at
4 all to you. Go, and retire to the Village whence you are come,and let no body know
4 who you are, or what is become of you.
At that time there arofe a kind of Tempefl: againfl: Aftrologers, which did not dif-
pleafeme. Moft people of Afia are fo infatuated by Judiciary Aerology ^ that they
believe there is nothing done here below, but ’tis written above v for fo they fpeak. )
In all their Undertakings therefore they confult Aftrologers. When two Armies are
ready to give Battel, they beware of falling on, till the Allrologer hath taken and de
termined the moment he fancies propitious for the beginning of the Cpmbat. And
fo, when the matter is about ele6ting a Captain-General of an Army, of difpatching
an AmbaiTador, of concluding a Marriage, of beginning a Voyage, and of ooing any
other thing, as buying a Slave, putting on new Apparel, €^c. nothing of all that is
done, without the fentence of Mr. Star-Gazer'j which is an incredible vexation, an a
cuftotn drawing after it fuch important confequences, that l know not how it can tu -
lift fo long : For the Aftrologer muff needs have knowledge of all that pafleth, ant ot
all that is undertaken, from the greateft Affairs to the leaft. ,, . . ,
But behold, it happen’d, that the prime Aftrologer of the King was drown d which
occaiioned a great noife at Court, and was a great diferedit to Aitrology : for he be
ing the perfon that determined the moments , of all Enterprizes and Actions tor the
King, and the Omrabs, every one wondred, how a man lo experienced, and that for
fo long time had difpenfed good Adventures to others, could not forefee his own mil-
fortune. There were not wanting thofe, who pretended to be wifer than,others, and
faid, that in Frangijian, where Sciences did flourifti, the Grandees do fufpect all luch
kind of people, and that fome hold them even no better than Mountebanks, that us
much doubted, whether this knowledge is grounded upon good and folid reaions, and
that it may very well be fome fancy of Aftrologers,or rather an Artifice to make them-
felves neceifary to the great ones,and to make them in fome meafure to depend on them.
All thefe Difcourfes very much difpleafed the Aftrologers i but nothing 1 ^ em
fo much as this Story, become very famous, viz. That the great Chah-Aaos King o er-
fia, commanded to be digged and prepared a little place in his Seraglio to make a ar-
den i that the young T rees were all ready, and that the Gardener made account o
plant them the next day. Mean time the Aftrologer taking upon him, laid, a goo
nick of time rcat to be obferved for -planting them, to makg them proffer. Cbab- emg
content it ftiould be fo, the Star Gazer took his Inftruments, turned over his books,
made his Calculation, and concluded, T-hat by reafon of fucb and fuch a Conjunc ion an
Affect of the Planets, it was neceffary they Jhould be fet prcfently. The Mafter- ar ener>
who minded nothing lets than this Aftrologer, was not then at hand •, yet tor all tha ,
they fell to work immediately, making holes, and planting the Trees, im 0
felf fetting them, that it might be faid, that they were Trees fqt withCbab-A M s
own hands. The Gardener returning at Night? was fufticiently amazed when he aw