other stupendous exploits, of which he gives a detailed narration.

As a reward for his services the German emperor created him "Captain
Guardian" of his artillery, and would have loaded him with further
honours, but a roving spirit was upon him, and he started for Sicily
to visit his noble friends who were resident in that island. On his
route he was everywhere received with the utmost respect by the
Princes of Germany and Italy; and when he arrived in Sicily, not only
did Don Pedro d'Arragon house him in his own palace, but the whole
city of Messina turned out to meet him, acknowledging his high
position as a member of the noble house of Cigala, from which it seems
the island had received many great benefits. Leaving Sicily he next
came to Rome, into which he made a public entry, and was warmly
received by Clement IX., before whom, in bravado, he drew and
flourished his dreadful scimitar in token of his defiance of the
enemies of the Church. At last, after touching at Venice and Turin, he
arrived in Paris, where he was received by the king according to his
high quality, and where he published the extraordinary narrative from
which we have taken the above statements, and which honest John
Evelyn, who was roused by his appearance in England, sets himself to
disprove.

Right willingly does Evelyn devote himself to the task of stripping
the borrowed feathers from this fine jackdaw. After inaugurating his
work by quoting the Horatian sneer, "_Spectatum admissi risum
teneatis, amici_?" he at once plunges _in medias res_, and not mincing
his language, says:--"This impudent vagabond is a native of Wallachia,
born of Christian parents in the city of Trogovisti;" and throughout
his exposure employs phrases which are decidedly more forcible than
polite. From Evelyn's revelation it appears that the family of the