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80 THE HISTORY OF THE ORDER OF [book ill.

only D’Aubusson, but the whole council, who sharedthe responsibility with him . 1 Whatever accrue fromhis being born in the purple may be allowed him;for his elder brothers (both the dead Mustapha, aswell as the living Bajazet), as begotten before theirfather’s succession to the throne, were sons ofMahomet, but Zain, of the emperor. Theyhad rarely seen each other, or their parents,or Constantinople; but remained in their govern-ments, the elder on the eastern bank of the BlackSea, the younger in Asia Minor. Bajazet waspacific; Zain, hasty, noble, generous; not so hand-some as the elder brother, still in the younger’scountenance something of greatness, softness, andpride mingled; expression more valued perhapsthan mere beauty. Fond of hunting, and all mili-tary exercises, he nevertheless was not illiteratebut knew many languages, among which Greek,and such Italian as is spoken at Rhodes. An his-torian, he died while writing his father’s reign. Azealous, though not fanatical Mussulman, he lovedthe Knights of Rhodes almost as much as hisfather had hated them; and above all, owned to aparticular affection for the grand master even be-fore he saw him ; and it augmented on personal

1 Cod. Dipl. Geros., ii., Num. xx.—Giunt., 411.

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