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very provoking accounts of the bad conduct of his wife, and complained of
it to the Emperor, entreating him either to punish his daughter himself,
or to permit him to deliver her over to justice, that, if she was falsely
accused, she might have an opportunity of putting her own honour and her
husband's out of dispute. The Emperor took little notice of his son-in-
law's remonstrances; and, the truth is, the viceroy was somewhat more
nice in that matter than the people of rank in this country generally
are. There are laws, it is true, against adultery, but they seem to have
been only for the meaner people, and the women of quality, especially the
ouzoros, or ladies of the blood royal, are so much above them, that their
husbands have not even the liberty of complaining; and certainly to
support injuries of this kind without complaining requires a degree of
patience which few men can boast of. The viceroy's virtue was not proof
against this temptation. He fell into a deep melancholy, and resolved to
be revenged on his father-in-law. He knew the present temper of the
people, that those of the greatest interest and power were by no means
pleased with the changes of religion, and only waited for a fair
opportunity to revolt; and that these discontents were everywhere
heightened by the monks and clergy. Encouraged by these reflections, he
was always talking of the just reasons he had to complain of the Emperor,
and gave them sufficient room to understand that if they would appear in
his party, he would declare himself for the ancient religion, and put
himself at the head of those who should take arms in the defence of it.
The chief and almost the only thing that hindered him from raising a
formidable rebellion, was the mutual distrust they entertained of one
another, each fearing that as soon as the Emperor should publish an act
of grace, or general amnesty, the greatest part would lay down their arms
and embrace it; and this suspicion was imagined more reasonable of the
viceroy than of any other. Notwithstanding this difficulty, the priests,
who interested themselves much in this revolt, ran with the utmost
earnestness from church to church, levelling their sermons against the
Emperor and the Catholic religion; and that they might have the better
success in putting a stop to all ecclesiastical innovations, they came to
a resolution of putting all the missionaries to the sword; and that the
viceroy might have no room