the supposed Ottoman prince for the Island of Rhodes, which had slipped from their enfeebled grasp.  The Grand Master of the Order and the Grand Croci had no doubt as to the genuineness of their captive, and wrote letters to Constantinople informing the Sultan where he might find his heir and his chief spouse, if he chose to comply with the Frankish conditions.  It is true that Sciabas was dead, but the worthy knights had recourse to subterfuge in dealing with the infidel, and had dressed up another slave to represent her.  Portraits also were taken of the reputed mother and child, and were sent with descriptive letters to the European courts.  The French and Italians eagerly purchased these representations of the beloved of the Grand Turk; but that mysterious being himself preserved an ominous silence.  Even the knights of Malta, who hated him as a Mohammedan, nevertheless supposed that the Ottoman ruler was human, and when he made no effort to recover his lost ones, began to have some doubt as to the identity of the child of whom they made so much.  In their dilemma they despatched a secret messenger to Constantinople, who contrived to ingratiate himself at the seraglio, and lost no opportunity of inquiring whether any of the imperial children were missing, and whether it were true that the Sultana had been captured by the Maltese some years before.  Of course his researches were fruitless, and in 1650 he wrote to his employers assuring them that they had all the while been on a false scent.  It was deemed best to let the imposture die slowly.  Little by little the knights forbore to boast of their illustrious hostage; by degrees they lessened the ceremonials with which he had been treated, and at last neglected him altogether.  He was made a Dominican friar; and the only mark of his supposed estate was the name Padre Ottomano, which was conferred upon him more in scorn than reverence, and which he continued to bear till the day of his death.

MOHAMMED BEY—­THE COUNTERFEIT VISCOUNT DE CIGALA.

In the miscellaneous writings of John Evelyn, the diary-writer, there is an account of this extraordinary impostor, whose narration of his own adventures outshines that of Munchausen, and whose experiences, according to his own showing, were more remarkable than those of Gulliver.  In 1668 this marvellous personage published a book entitled the “History of Mohammed Bey; or, John Michel de Cigala, Prince of the Imperial Blood of the Ottomans.”  This work he dedicated to the French king, who was disposed to favour his pretensions.