THE FALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE. 223 the great schism in the church, the western world would not have calmly stood by to witness the downfall of eastern Christendom. 3. After a separation of six centuries, the Greek and Latin churches had been solemnly reünited at the Council of Florence, A. D. 1438; but on the return of the emperor, and the prěl'ates who accompanied him, all that they had effected was disowned, and the flames of religious hatred broke out more furiously than ever. The consequences were fatal. Distracted by their own internal quarrels, the princes of western Europe could spare neither time nor thought, neither money nor arms, to protect from the Ottoman invasion a Christian power with which, it not being in commu. nion with them, they had little religious sympathy, and with which, owing to its remoteness, they had no other bond. 4. The events of that terrible siege can never be forgotten by a so'journer at Constantinople. Every thing that he sees and hears is a memorial of it, and the spot is still pointed out, close to the widest breach in the wall, on which the heroic Constantine was seen last before his death. Never, perhaps, was so unequal a battle so long and so direfully contested; and even at the last it seems probable that Mahomet would have been repulsed by those mighty walls, had he not resorted to an expedient almost without precedent in the annals of war. 5. Finding that success was not to be hoped for, except through a double attack by sea and land, and unable to force the narrow channel of the Bos'phorus, he transported his lighter vessels by land, dragging them in a single night over the high grounds of Galata and launched them again in the shallow waters of the harbor, inaccessible to the deeper ships of the Greeks. He was thus enabled to construct a floating battery, 224 THE FALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE. which opened its fire upon the weakest part of the city walls, and a breach was ere long effected. Disaster followed up disaster, and within a few days four towers, near the gate of St. Roma'nus, had crumbled to the ground. 6. The conclusion ceased to be doubtful; but Constantine, resolved that the Eastern empire, like its last monarch, should perish by an honorable death, refused all disgraceful conditions of peace. After consulting his astrologers, Mahomet fixed the twenty-ninth of May as the day for the final assault. On the previous day he harangued his chiefs, and sent heralds through the camp, who threatened with his impla'cable displeasure all who might shrink from their duty. The ardor of the troops burned with a steady flame, and the camp resounded with shouts of "There is no God but God; and Mahomet is his Prophet." 7. History contains no passage more solemn or more pathetic than the last farewell of the Greek chiefs, summoned by Constantine to his palace, the night before the general assault. The emperor, in his final appeal, held out small hopes of success; but the heroic band needed none, resolved to die in the discharge of duty. They wept; they embraced each other; finally, they repaired to the cathedral of St. Sophia, and, for the last time before that fane was converted into a mosque, partook of the Holy Communion. 8. The emperor asked pardon of all whom he might ever have injured, and received from his people, as from his confessor, an absolution confirmed ere long by that of death. That sad ritual over, the chiefs mounted their horses once more, and each proceeding to the spot on the ramparts confided to his especial care, waited there for the morning light. Day broke at last, and with it the battle. The assault was begun at the same time by sea and land; and in a few THE FALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE. 225 moments a mighty and multitudinous host, wielded as if by some unseen power like that which directs the tides of the sea, was precipitated to the attack. 9. To retreat or to stand still for a moment became impossible, even if any in that assailing army had wavered. Wave after wave was repulsed, but the conquering tide rushed on: those in the front ranks were pushed forward by the com-pact' masses behind, and the myriads who fell successively beneath the walls, whose gaping ruins we still behold, filled up the trenches with their bodies, and bridged a way for the myriads that followed. 10. The pachas of Romania, and Anatolia, and Syria, and every Eastern province that bowed to the Crescent, advanced successively, with jeweled turban, at the head of their respective hosts. Attended by his household troops, and holding an iron mace in his hand, Mahomet II., seated on horseback close by, wit nessed every assault, and rewarded every high action with his eye. During a temporary lull, the voice of the emperor was heard urging his exhausted band to one effort more. At that moment, Mahomet, lifting his mace, gave the final sign; and the irresistible Janizaries, whose strength had been reserved until then, rose up and dashed themselves on their prey. 11. From that instant the details of the battle were lost in clouds of smoke and flame, and the clamor of drums, trumpets, and atabals. It is only known that Justinia'ni, wounded in the hand by an arrow, and despairing of the event, abandoned the walls, in spite of the remonstrances of the emperor. Constantine himself continued to fight to the last, surrounded by his nobles and friends, who strengthened themselves, as their ranks thinned, by shouting his name. 12. The last words which he was heard to utter were, "Can not there be found a Christian to slay me?" Fearing to fall alive into the hands of emy, he cast aside the imperial purple, and, in the thickest of the battle, was struck dow unknown hand, and buried beneath the pres slain. In another moment Constantinople wa hands of the Turks. AUBREY DE Pronounce Marseilles, Mar-sälz'; Vendome, Vang-dome' (a as in far) Sang-den-e'. 1. THAT spirit of mingled superstition and asm, which gave rise to the Crusades, showed the year 1212, in a form as strange as it was u for. While the nations and warriors of Chris were busied with various crusading projects, a of boys in France and Germany formed t scheme of marching to rescue the Holy Ci infidel hands. Incredible as it may seem tha plan could be carried out, its rise and subsequ tory are so well attested by historians, that n can be thrown upon its truth. 2. The originator of this juvenile band was ant-boy, named Stephen, of a village of Vend France. Like Joan of Arc in after years, he g that he had seen heavenly visions, that the himself had appeared to him in the guise of THE BOY CRUSADERS. 227 In a short time he was surrounded by a large number of young followers. Soon afterward he removed from his native village to St. Denis, where the credu- . lous populace honored him as a worker of miracles, and his companions daily increased. - 3. When his fame got bruited abroad, several other young enthusiasts started up in various parts of France, and drew after them many followers; but all honored the shepherd-boy of Vendôme as their superior, and were fully persuaded that, under his command, they should obtain a glorious victory over the Săracen'ic arms. They reverenced him as a saint, and that one was thought happy who could obtain a fragment of the garments worn by the holy youth. 4. It might naturally be supposed that immediate and adequate measures would be taken to suppress such a movement; but nothing shows more strongly the superstitious spirit of the age, than that King Philip Augustus thought it necessary to summon the professors of the University of Paris, and consult them on the propriety of interfering with the young crusaders. After serious deliberation, they pronounced it expedient to do so. The greater part of the ecclesiastics deemed the movement to be the effect of witchcraft. A royal edict was accordingly issued, commanding the boys to return to their homes and. useful employments. 5. This mandate was obeyed by some; but, as no steps were taken to enforce it, the greater number held together as firmly as before. They constantly formed processions through the towns and hamlets, bearing banners, censers and tapers, and singing hymns suitable to their enterprise; and, so far from being molested, were followed by admiring crowdseven laborers leaving their work to join the train. They were abundantly supplied with provisions and |