Solyman, the Ottoman emperor, dying at the siege of Sigeth, in Hungary, his death was cunningly concealed by Mahomet Bassa twenty days before the Janizaries knew of it; and when any of them inquired for him, he would show them the emperor sitting in his horse litter, as if troubled with the gout; but the soldiers, suspecting something, began to be mutinous, whereupon he promised that they should see the emperor the next day, for which purpose he apparelled the corpse in the large royal robes, and placed him in a chair at the end of a long gallery; a little boy was placed behind, to move the emperor’s hand, and to stroke his beard, as it seems his manner was. Which sign of life and strength the soldiers perceiving were well contented, so that his death was concealed for forty days more till the siege was ended. John Visconti, Archbishop, as well as Governor of Milan, in the fourteenth century, was a very ambitious character, and excited the jealousy of the pope by his show of temporal authority, and by his aiming at becoming master of all Italy. The pope, who resided at that time at Avignon, sent a nuncio to John Visconti, to demand the city of Bologna, which he had purchased, and to choose whether he would possess the spiritual or temporal power, for both could not be united. The archbishop, after hearing the message with respect, said he would answer it the following Sunday, at the cathedral. The day came, and, after celebrating mass in his pontifical robes, he advanced towards the legate, requiring him to repeat the orders of the pope, on the choice of the spiritual or the temporal: then taking a cross in one hand, and drawing forth a naked sword with the other, he said, “Behold my spiritual and my temporal, and tell the holy father from me, that with the one I will defend the other.” The pope, not content with this answer, commenced a process, and summoned him to appear in person, on pain of excommunication. The archbishop received the brief, and promised to obey it; he sent immediately to Avignon one of his secretaries, ordering him to retain for his use all the houses and stables he could hire in Avignon, with provisions for the subsistence of twelve thousand horse, and six thousand foot. The secretary executed his commission so well that the strangers, who came on business, could find no place to lodge in. The pope, being informed of this, asked the secretary if the archbishop required so many houses. The latter answered, that he feared those would not be sufficient, because his master was coming with eighteen thousand troops, besides a great number of the inhabitants of Milan, who would accompany him. Terrified at this account, the pope paid immediately the expense the secretary had been at, and dismissed him, with orders to tell the archbishop, that he dispensed with his making a journey to Avignon.