'

treaty, nor fubmiffion, can fecure peace, pur- CHAP. 66 fue," faid he to Mahomet, your impious LXVIII. "warfare. My truft is in God alone: if it fhould

A September 1 ;

please him to mollify your heart, I fhall rejoice in the happy change; if he delivers the city into your hands, I fubmit without a murmur to his holy will. But until the judge of the "earth fhall pronounce between us, it is my I duty to live and die in the defence of my people." The fultan's anfwer was hoftile and decifive his fortifications were completed, and before his departure for Adrianople, he ftationed a vigilant Aga and four hundred Janizaries, to levy a tribute of the fhips of every nation that fhould pafs within the reach of their cannon. Venetian veffel, refufing obedience to the new lords of the Bofphorus, was funk with a fingle bullet. The mafter and thirty failors cfcaped in the boat; but they were dragged in chains to the porte: the chief was impaled; his companions were beheaded; and the hiftorian Ducas 18 beheld, at Demotica, their bodies expofed to the wild beafts. The fiege of Conftantinople was deferred till the enfuing fpring; but an Ottoman army marched into the Morea to divert the force of the brothers of Conftantine. At this A. D. 1435, January 17 æra of calamity, one of these princes, the defpot Thomas, was bleffed or afflicted with the birth of a fon; "the laft heir," fays the plaintive Phranza, "of the last spark of the Roman empire "

CHA P.

for the fiege

ople,

A. D. 1452,

20

The Greeks and the Turks passed an anxious LXVIII. and fleepless winter: the former were kept awake Preparations by their fears, the latter by their hopes; both by of Conftantin. the preparations of defence and attack; and the two emperors, who had the most to lose or to September gain, were the most deeply affected by the A. D. 1453, national fentiment. In Mahomet, that fentiment. April. was inflamed by the ardour of his youth and temper he amufed his leifure with building at Adrianople the lofty palace of Jehan Numa (the watch-tower of the world); but his ferious thoughts were irrevocably bent on the conqueft of the city of Cæfar. At the dead of night, about the fecond watch, he started from his bed, and commanded the inftant attendance of his prime vizir. The meffage, the hour, the prince, and his own fituation, alarmed the guilty confcience of Calil Bafha; who had poffeffed the confidence, and advifed the restoration, Amurath. On the acceffion of the fon, the vizir was confirmed in his office and the appearances of favour; but the veteran ftatefman was not infenfible that he trod on a thin and flippery ice, which might break under his footsteps, and plunge him in the abyfs. His friendship for the Christians, which might be innocent under the late reign, had ftigmatifed him with the name of Gabour Ortachi, or foster-brother of the infidels **; and his avarice entertained a venal and treasonable correfpondence, which was detected and punished after the conclufion of the war. On receiving the royal mandate, he embraced, perhaps for the

of

laft time, his wife and children; filled a cup сHA г. with pieces of gold, haftened to the palace, LXVIII. adored the fultan, and offered, according to the

22

Oriental custom, the flight tribute of his duty
and gratitude "It is not my wifh," faid
Mahomet, "to refume my gifts, but rather to
heap and multiply them on thy head. In
my turn I ask a present far more valuable and
"important; Conftantinople." As foon as the
vizir had recovered from his furprise, "the fame
God," faid he, "who has already given thee
"fo large a portion of the Roman empire, will
not deny the remnant, and the capital. His
"providence, and thy power, affure thy fuccefs;
" and myself, with the reft of thy faithful
flaves, will facrifice our lives and fortunes.
"Lala "," (or preceptor),. continued the fultan,
"do you fee this pillow? all the night, in my
"agitation, I have pulled it on one fide and the
"other; I have rifen from my bed, again have
"I lain down; yet fleep has not vifited these

23

weary eyes. "Beware of the gold and filver of "the Romans: in arms we are fuperior; and "with the aid of God, and the prayers of the "prophet, we shall speedily become mafters of "Conftantinople." To found the difpofition of his foldiers, he often wandered through the streets alone and in difguife: and it was fatal to discover the fultan, when he wished to escape from the vulgar eye. His hours were spent in delineating the plan of the hoftile city: in debating with his generals and engineers, on what spot he should

CHA P. erect his batteries; on which fide he fhould affault LXVII. the walls; where he should fpring his mines; to what place he should apply his fcaling-ladders: and the exercises of the day repeated and proved the lucubrations of the night.

The great cannon of Mahomet.

Among the implements of deftruction, he ftudied with peculiar care the recent tremendous difcovery of the Latins; and his artillery furpaffed whatever had yet appeared in the world. A founder of cannon, a Dane or Hungarian, who had been almoft ftarved in the Greek fervice, deferted to the Moflems, and was liberally entertained by the Turkish fultan. Mahomet was fatisfied with the answer to his firft queftion, which he eagerly preffed on the artist. "Am I able to "caft a cannon capable of throwing a ball or "ftone of fufficient fize to batter the walls of Conftantinople? I am not ignorant of their ftrength, but were they more folid than those of Babylon, I could oppofe an engine of "fuperior power: the pofition and management "of that engine must be left to your engineers." On this affurance, a foundery was established at Adrianople: the metal was prepared; and at the end of three months, Urban produced a piece of brafs ordnance of stupendous, and almoft incre dible, magnitude; a measure of twelve palms is af figned to the bore; and the ftone bullet weighed above fix hundred pounds **. A vacant place before the new palace was chofen for the first experiment; but, to prevent the fudden and mifchievous effects of aftonishment and fear, a

24

proclamation was iffued, that the cannon would CHA P. be discharged the enfuing day. The explosion LXVIII. was felt or heard in a circuit of an hundred furlongs: the ball, by the force of gunpowder, was driven above a mile; and on the fpot where it fell, it buried itself a fathom deep in the ground. For the conveyance of this destructive engine, a frame or carriage of thirty waggons was linked together and drawn along by a team of fixty oxen:. two hundred men on both fides were ftationed to poife and fupport the rolling weight; two hundred and fifty workmen marched before to smooth the way and repair the bridges; and near two months were employed in a laborious journey of one hundred and fifty miles. A lively philofopher" derides on this occafion the credulity of the Greeks, and obferves, with much reason, that we should always diftruft the exaggerations of a vanquished people. He calculates, that a ball, even of two hundred pounds, would require a charge of one hundred and fifty pounds of powder; and that the ftroke would be feeble and impotent, fince not a fifteenth part of the mafs could be inflamed at the fame moment. A ftranger as I am to the art of deftruction, I can difcern that the modern improvements of artillery prefer the number of pieces to the weight of metal; the quickness of the fire to the found, or even the confequence, of a single explosion. Yet I dare not reject the pofitive and unanimous evidence of contemporary writers; nor can it feem improbable, that the firft artifts, in their rude.