Amurath possessed great endowments both of body and mind. His bravery and skill in war ob tained him the surname of Gazi, or conqueror, and his energy and steadiness of purpose ensured the internal tranquillity of his empire, which, during the former reigns, had been so frequently disturbed by the arrogance and outrages of the Janissaries. Of all his army none could excel him in handling the bow, or wielding the scymitar, or were so ex pert in managing his horse, and throwing the jerid. His great endowments, however, were obscured by licentiousness and cruelty. The slightest act of disobedience was punished with death, which he often executed with his own hand; and so fond was he of shedding blood, that he is said to have some times sallied out of his palace at midnight with a drawn sword, and put to death any unfortunate person whom he chanced to meet. He was early addicted to an excessive indulgence in wine, which continued through life, and brought him at last to a premature grave.
The sceptre, which had been grasped by the fierce and imperious Amurath, fell into the hands of the timid and feeble lintAnrm, as the only surviving male of the house of Othman. Indolent and effemi nate, he resigned himself entirely to the pleasures of the harem, and left the direction of affairs to the grand vizier Mustapha, the favourite of Amurath.
Mustapha overawed the refractory soldiers by severe discipline, cut off some of the pachas whom he sus pected of seditious purposes, and by such means infused into the government of Ibrahim the energy and decision of its former master. He cleared the Euxine of the Cossack pirates, and expelled them from the city of Azofi'; but he soon after fell a sacri fice to the resentment of Kiosem, the valid6 sultana, whose influence predominated within the walls of the seraglio. The Ottoman arms were then directed against Candia; and the inva'sion of that island by 74,000 Turks showed to the Venetians that their dominion would no longer be tolerated in the Egean sea. Canea and Retimo, two of the principal cities of Crete, after a brave and sanguinary defence, opened their gates; and the whole island submitted to the Turks, except the capital Camila, which alone owned the authority of Venice. In the mean time Ibrahim had rendered himself obnoxious to all classes of his subjects by his open and voluptu ous sensuality; and in an insurrection of the janis saries, instigated by the mufti, whose daughter he had defloured, he was deposed, and soon after put to death.