ign by form of law. The grand-vizir Ahmed, and other panders to
the vices of the sultan, were seized and put to death on the place of
public execution; while an immense crowd of soldiers, citizens, and
janissaries, assembling before the palace of the mufti early on the
morning of August 8, 1648, received from him a _fetwa_, or decree, to
the effect that the sultan (designated as "Ibrahim Abdul-Rahman
Effendi") had, by his habitual immorality and disregard of law,
forfeited all claim to be considered as a true believer, and was
therefore incapable of reigning over the Faithful. The execution of this
sentence was entrusted to the Aga of the Janissaries, the Silihdar or
grand sword-bearer, and the Kadhi-asker or chief judge of Anatolia, who,
repairing to the seraglio, attended by a multitude of military officers
and the _ulemah_, proceeded without ceremony to announce to Ibrahim that
his rule was at an end. His furious remonstrances were drowned by the
rude voice of the Kadhi Abdul-Aziz Effendi,[2] who boldly reproached him
with his vices. "Thou hast gone astray," said he, "from the paths in
which thy glorious ancestors walked, and hast trampled under foot both
law and religion, and thou art no longer the padishah of the Moslems!"
He was at last conducted to the same apartment whence he had been taken
to ascend the throne, and where, ten days later, his existence was
terminated by the bowstring; while the Sultana-Walidah, (whose
acquiescence in this extraordinary revolution had been previously
secured,) led into the _salamlik_ (hall of audience) her eldest grandson
Mohammed,[3] an infant scarcely seven years old, who was forthwith
seated on the imperial sofa, and received the homage of the dignitaries
of the realm.

[1] See "Chapters of Turkish History," No. III., November 1840.

[2] He was afterwards, in 1651, mufti for a few months; but is
better known as an historian, (under the appellation of
Kara-Tchelibi-Zadah,) and as having been tutor to
Ahmed-Kiuprili.

[3] His name, according to Evliya, was originally Yusuf, but was
changed to Mohammed on the entreaty of the ladies of the
seraglio, who said that Yusuf was the name of a slave.

Sultan Mohammed IV., afterwards surnamed _Avadji_, or the Hunter, who
was destined to fill the throne of the Ottoman Empire during one of the
most eventful periods of its history, possessed qualifications which, if
his education had not been interrupted b