unwearied zeal; arguing that high qualities do not descend from a father to his son or heir, any more than a talent for music, mathematics, or the like; and that the mind does not derive its origin from the father, so that the son should necessarily be like the father in character, but emanates from heaven, and is thence infused into the human body. Among the Turks, therefore, honours, high posts, and judgeships are the rewards of great ability and good service. If a man be dishonest, or lazy, or careless, he remains at the bottom of the ladder, an object of contempt; for such qualities there are no honours in Turkey! “This is the reason that they are successful in their undertakings, that they lord it over others, and are daily extending the bounds of their empire. These are not our ideas; with us there is no opening left for merit; birth is the standard for everything; the prestige of birth is the sole key to advancement in the public service.”[272] Finally, Ricaut, after describing the _Ajem-oghlans_, declares that this part of the system “is one of the most Politick Constitutions in the World, and none of the meanest supports of the _Ottoman_ Empire.”[273] Financial rewards paralleled advancement in office with great exactness. When a man came to high position, he was provided with the means to live splendidly in proportion to his rank. In addition to his salary, many opportunities of increasing his income presented themselves; and though some of these would be considered undignified in Western eyes,[274] and others were undoubtedly stained with rapacity and extortion,[275] they were allowed to be enjoyed under all ordinary circumstances. The sultan’s higher officials not only lived in great splendor, with a numerous retinue, a large harem, and many costly garments, dishes, gems, and the like, but they often accumulated great wealth in money, houses, lands, mills, horses, cattle, sheep, and everything else that is considered worth collecting.[276] Thus, as men were promoted, they were enabled regularly to proportion display of wealth to rank and office.