, they had grown in favour in Constantinople, where, through
their learning and intelligence, they began to fill confidential offices
under the Porte. To their ordinary avocations some added the practice of
medicine, in which they were adepts; and one of them, Panaiotaki
Nicosias, a medical attendant of the Grand Vizier, managed to ingratiate
himself with his patron, and then, having exerted his influence in
favour of his fellow-countrymen, he succeeded in obtaining minor offices
for some, and toleration for all. He was appointed Dragoman or
interpreter to the Porte, and, proving an able and faithful servant, he
was permitted to nominate as his successor Alexander Mavrocordato, who
is said by some to have been a common labourer and to have married a
butcher's daughter, whilst others call him a silk-dealer of
Constantinople or of Chio. Be that as it may, he made himself so useful
to his employers, especially during the negotiation of the Treaty of
Carlowitz, that after the execution of Brancovano he managed to secure
the succession to the throne of Wallachia (1716) for his son Nicholas
Mavrocordato, and became the ancestor of a long line of rulers in both
principalities.[153]

[Footnote 153: Although Nicholas Mavrocordato is chiefly referred to as
the first Phanariote Prince of Wallachia, in 1716, a comparison of the
authorities (Engel, Wilkinson, Neigebaur, &c.) shows that he had already
ruled in Moldavia since 1712. Vaillant is, as usual, vague, and supplies
the place of precise facts by abundant rhetoric.]

IV.

The selection of Greek princes, or, as they are often called,
'farmers-general,' by the Porte, was probably the result of the distrust
which the native voivodes and boyards had engendered, as much as the
respect entertained for its faithful dragomans; and if Nicholas
Mavrocordato did not receive explicit instructions on the subject, he
knew that the most welcome change he could make in the interests of his
patrons would be to introduce an entirely new _regime_ into his
dominions. The most important step taken by him was to suppress the
guards of the native boyards, which made them as dangerous to the ruler
as the retainers of our barons had been to the Crown until they were
suppressed by the Act of Henry VII.[154] He established new tribunals
and disbanded the militia. His successor, Constantine (about 1731), was
superior in his views and aspirations to almost any of the princes who
had ruled over Wallach