Hali-Beigh

, a Polander, of the seventeenth century, whose original name was Albert Bobowski, was born a Christian;but, being taken by the Tartars while a child, was sold to the Turks, who educated him in their religion. He acquired the knowledge of seventeen languages, among the rest, of the French, English, and German, having had part of his education in these countries; and became interpreter to the grand seignior. He translated into the Turkish language the catechism of the church of England, and all the Bible. He composed a Turkish grammar and dictionary, and other things which were never printed. His principal work is, “A Treatise upon the Liturgy of the Turks, their pilgrimages to Mecca, their circumcision, and manner of visiting the sick,” which he was induced to write by Dr. Smith, chaplain to the English embassy at the Porte, and who gave the ms. to Dr. Hyde, by whom it was published in Latin, in the appendix of the “Itinera muncli ab Abrahamo Peritsol,” Oxford, 1691. His death, which happened in 1675, prevented the execution of a design which he had formed of returning to the Christian religion. He is supposed to have furnished Ricaut, the consul of Smyrna, with some materials for his book entitled “The State of the Ottoman Empire.” ¹