text:  [5] The Turkish annalists do not fail to remark that Kiuprili crossed the imperial threshold at the moment when the call to noon prayers was resounding from the minarets--an evident token of the Divine protection extended to him! Such were the circumstances of the elevation of this most celebrated of Ottoman ministers whose name stands pre-eminent not only from his own abilities and good fortune but as the founder of the only family which ever continued to enjoy during several generations the highest honours of the empire