of Etolia, Phocis, and Boeotia. From Greece he marched into Servia; reduced the greatest part of it; and besieged the strong city of Belgrade; but here he met with a vigorous repulse, no fewer than 15,000 Turks being slain by the Christians in one sally. In his retreat he was attacked by the celebrated John Hunniades, who cut off great numbers of his men. Not long after he gained a still more complete victory over the enemy in the plains of Transylvania, with the loss of only 3000 of his own men, whereas 20,000 Turks were killed on the field of battle, and almost an equal number in the pursuit. Amurath, who was then at Adrianople, sent an army into Transylvania far more numerous than the former; but they were attended with no better success, being cut off almost to a man by the brave Hungarian. He gained several other victories no less remarkable; but was at last entirely defeated in 1448; and with this defeat ended all hopes of preserving the empire. The unhappy emperor was now obliged to pay an annual tribute of 300,000 aspers to the sultan, and to yield up to him some strong holds on the Euxine. However, as he doubted not but Amurath would soon attempt to become master of the capital, he renewed the union between the Greek and Latin churches, hoping that this would induce the western princes to assist him in the defence of the city. This produced great disturbances, which the emperor did not long survive; as he died in 1448, leaving the empire, now confined within the walls of Constantinople, to his brother Constantine XIII.

Amurath died in 1450, and was succeeded by his son Mohammed II. In the beginning of his reign he entered into an alliance with Constantine, and pretended a great desire to live in friendship with him; but no sooner had he put an end to a war in which he was engaged with Ibrahim king of Caramania, than he built a strong fort on the European side of the Bosphorus, opposite to another in Asia; in both of which he placed garrisons. These two castles commanded the Straits; and the former, being but five miles from the city, kept it in a manner blocked up. This soon produced a misunderstanding between him and the emperor, which ended in the siege of the city. This commenced on the 6th of April, 1453; Mohammed's numerous forces covering the plains before it on the land side, and a fleet of 300 sail blockading it by sea. The emperor, however, had taken care to secure the haven, in which were three large ships, twenty small ones, and a great number of galleys. Mohammed began the siege by planting batteries, and raising works in several places as high as the walls, whence the besieged were incessantly galled with arrows. He had in his camp a piece of ordnance of prodigious size, which is said to have carried a stone ball of 100 lb. With this piece the enemy made several breaches in the walls; which, however, were repaired with incredible expedition. Mohammed, the better to carry on the siege, caused new levies to be made throughout his dominions, by which his army was soon increased to near 400,000 men; while the garrison consisted only of 9000 regular troops, viz. 6000 Greeks and 3000 Ge

noese and Venetians. As the enemy continued to batter the walls day and night, a great part of them was at last beaten down; while the Turks, however, were busy filling up the ditch, a new wall was built. This threw the tyrant into a prodigious rage, which was greatly heightened when he saw his whole fleet worsted by five ships, of which four were laden with corn from Peloponnesus, and the other with provisions from Chios. These made their way through the Turkish fleet; and, to the great joy of the Christians, got safe into the harbour. The Turks attempted several times to force the haven; but, all their efforts proving ineffectual, Mohammed formed the design of conveying eighty galleys eight miles over land into it. This he accomplished by means of certain engines, the contrivance of a renegado; and, having then either taken or sunk all the Christian ships, he caused a bridge to be built over it with surprising expedition. Thus the city was laid open on that side likewise, and assaulted on all sides. Constantine, now feeling that he could not long hold out against such a mighty and successful enemy, sent deputies to Mohammed, offering to acknowledge himself his vassal, by paying him yearly what tribute he should impose, provided he raised the siege and withdrew. The tyrant answered that he was determined to become master of the city: but if Constantine would deliver it up forthwith, he would yield to him the Peloponnesus, and other provinces to his brothers, which they should enjoy peaceably: but if he held out to the last extremity, and suffered it to be taken by assault, he would put him and the whole nobility to the sword, carry the inhabitants into captivity, and give up the city to plunder. These conditions were rejected by the emperor. The siege was therefore renewed with vigor, and continued till the 25th of May; when a report being spread in the Turkish camp that a large army was advancing to the relief of the city under the celebrated John Hunniades, the soldiers began to mutiny, and pressed Mohammed to raise it. Mohammed was upon the point of complying, when he was advised by Zagan, a Turkish officer of great intrepidity, and an irreconcileable enemy to the Christians, to attempt immediately a general assault. To this he said the soldiers would not be averse, provided the sultan promised to abandon the city to be plundered by them. Mohammed accordingly published a proclamation throughout the camp, declaring that he gave up to his soldiers all the wealth of the opulent capital before them, requiring for himself only the empty houses; and they unanimously desired to be led to the attack. Hereupon Constantine was summoned for the last time to deliver up the city, with a promise of his life and liberty; but to this he answered that he was unalterably determined to defend the city or perish with it. The attack began at three in the morning on the 29th of May; such troops being first employed as the sultan valued least, and designed for no other purpose than to tire the Christians. After the carnage had lasted some hours, the Janissaries and other fresh troops advanced in good order. The Christians making prodigious efforts twice repulsed the enemy:

but being in the end exhausted, they were no longer able to stand their ground; and the enemy broke in several places into the city. In the mean time Justiniani, the commander of the Genoese and a select body of Greeks, having received two wounds, one in the thigh and the other in the hand, was so disheartened that he caused himself to be conveyed to Galata. His men, dismayed at the sudden flight of their general, immediately quitted their posts and fled in the utmost confusion. The emperor, however, attended with a few of the most resolute of the nobility, still kept his post, striving with unparalleled resolution to oppose the multitude of barbarians that now broke in from every quarter. Being in the end overpowered with numbers, and seeing most of his friends fallen around him, 'What!' cried he aloud, 'is there no Christian left alive to strike off my head" Scarcely had he uttered these words, when one of the enemy, not knowing him, cut him across the face with his sabre; and another coming behind him with a blow on the back part of his head laid him dead on the ground. The few Christians now left alive fled; and the Turks, meeting with no further opposition, entered the city, and put all they met without distinction to the sword. Many thousands took refuge in the church of St. Sophia, but they were all massacred in their asylum. Most of the nobility were, by the sultan's orders, cut off, and the rest kept for purposes more grievous than death. Many of the inhabitants, among whom were some men of great learning, escaped, however, while the Turks were busied in plundering the city. These, embarking in the ships then in the harbour, arrived safe in Italy; where, with the study of the Greek tongue, they revived the liberal sciences, which had long been neglected in the west. After the expiration of three days, Mohammed commanded his soldiers to forbear all farther hostilities on pain of death; and thus put an end to as cruel a pillage and massacre as any recorded in history. The next day, he made his triumphal entry into Constantinople, and chose it for the seat of the Turkish empire, which it has continued to be ever since.

PART VI.

ROME, MODERN.

Modern Rome is built chiefly on the left or eastern bank of the Tiber, there being only a few streets on its western side. The walls are of a quadrangular figure, somewhat more than three miles each way, the circuit being in all about thirteen miles. While this is equal to the circumference of ancient Rome in its greatest splendor, there is this distinction perhaps between the ancient and modern city, that of the 'seven hills' on which the former stood, several, viz. Mons Aventinus, Palatinus, Cœlius, and in some degree Mons Esquilinus, Viminalis, and Quirinalis, are covered with vineyards, corn fields, or villas, the closely peopled part being confined to the level ground between the eminences and the river. The length of this part is less than two miles, its breadth from a mile to a mile and a half.

The most regular part of Modern Rome is that adjacent to the north gate, or Porta del Popolo, and the quarter of Borgo, on the right of the river. The points from which it can best be viewed are the Pincian Hill, Mount Janiculum, the tower of the Capitol, and the tops of the columns of Trajan or Antonine.

The streets have seldom any foot pavement; and are in general not wider than those of the older parts of London. Some indeed are wretchedly narrow and irregular, but the houses are not high; and a number of the streets are long and straight, and not unfrequently terminated by an obelisk, fountain, or church. The great drawback on the beauty of the city is the singular discrepancy of its buildings, a mansion entitled to the name of palace being often placed amidst a group of hovels; and the mean appearance of the shops. Three of the finest streets of the city diverge from the Piazza di Popolo, near the northern gate, viz. the Corso, extending to the foot of the Capitol; the Strada del Babbuina, ending in the Piazza di Spagna, and the Strada di Ripetta, leading to the Tiber. The Corso is the great public walk, and the crowded scene of the carnival. It is perfectly straight, about a mile in length, and has a foot pavement on each side. Other fine streets are the Strada Felice, the Strada Langara, the Strada Maggiore, and the Strada Pia. The houses are partly of stone and brick, frequently covered with stucco, and generally roofed with shingle. Marble is less common here than in the north of Italy.

The modern squares are numerous, adorned with obelisks, fountains, &c.; but also generally of small size. In front of St. Peter's church is a large oval area form, surrounded with a magnificent colonnade; and in the middle between two fountains stands an Egyptian obelisk, of a single piece of granite, seventy-eight feet in height. The elegant Piazza Navona, a square in the centre of the town, next in size to that of St. Peter, is of an oblong form, and adorned by the church of St. Agnes, but its chief ornament is the fountain in its centre. It consists of a circular basin of seventy-three feet in diameter, in the middle of which stands a rock surmounted by an obelisk; on this rock recline four figures representing four great rivers, from which streams of water issue. This is on the whole the most superb fountain of the city. The Piazza di Spagna, occupied largely by foreigners of distinction, has also a fountain; but its chief ornament is a noble flight of steps that ascend from it to the church and square della Trinita di Monte; the latter extending along the brow of the Pincian Hill, and commanding a delightful view. The Piazza di Monte Cavallo, one of the finest in the city both for its situation and buildings, stands on Mount Quirinal, and takes its name from two marble horses placed on its summit, said to be the work of `Phidias and Praxiteles. Between them stands an Egyptian obelisk of granite, forty-five feet in height. Old Intermontium now forms a small square, decorated in the middle with a fine bronze equestrian statue of Marcus Antoninus, accounted a master piece of ancient art. The Campidoglio

Moderno, or Modern Capitol, is ascended by a staircase adorned with statues: but all the statues of the forum have disappeared; and a few scattered porticoes, with here and there an insulated column, fragments of marble, capitals, and cornices, are now its only memorials. The Piazza di Campo Marzio, taking its name from the Campus Martius, is in a great measure covered with buildings.

The ancient wall of Rome is in many places in good preservation; and among the ancient edifices the Pantheon and Coliseum are still conspicuous. For the present state and history of the latter see our article AMPHITHEATRE. At a short distance from it, near the Viminal and Quirinal hills, stands a portion of the baths of Dioclesian, converted into a convent. The principal hall forms the church, retaining its ancient walls, pillars, and vaults; there remains also a large square, supported by 100 pillars, with a beautiful fountain in the middle. Of the triumphal arches the only one remaining entire is the remarkable one of Constantine, with its pillars, statues, and has reliefs. The arch of Septimus Severus, also of marble, has its bas reliefs much damaged: and that of Titus has also suffered severely. Trajan's pillar is still covered with admirable bas reliefs, representing his Dacian expedition. These reliefs contain 2500 figures of men, besides a number of elephants, horses, and trophies. That in honor of the emperor Marcus Aurelius is of equal height, but of inferior execution.

Of the ancient aqueducts there remain the Fontana Felice, on the Viminal Mountain, supplied by the Aqua Claudia, and discharging itself through a rock under an Ionic arcade at a considerable distance, and on the other side of the Tiber, rises an arcade, supported by pillars of granite, through which three streams descend from the summit of an adjacent hill. 2. The Fontana di Trevi, an elegant building of Corinthian architecture, ornamented with statues, and is perhaps the most finished structure of the kind in Europe. It would be tedious to enumerate the other fountains in Rome. The sewers of the ancient city are now much obstructed by stones and earth; but the Cloaca Maxima still merits attention. As to public baths, those great objects of Roman luxury, there remain of those of Caracalla little but the walls, and the baths of Titus, in tolerable preservation.

The Palatine Mount is now a shapeless mass of rubbish. Of the various theatres and circuses of ancient Rome hardly a vestige remains: even the Circus Maximus can be traced only by the hollow scooped in the Aventine valley; and many other monuments are of course obscured or demolished; so that a stranger is generally disappointed on his first investigation of this capital. It has of late been proposed to make a temporary diversion of the Tiber for the purpose of antiquarian research; but some attempts, in 1819 and 1820, to discover hidden relics, by means of a small vessel, with an apparatus for raising heavy bodies, have not succeeded.

Of the ancient roads, several, as the Via Latina, the Via Vitellia, the Via Aurelia, still serve to approach the Capitol; and the catacombs, originally

excavations made in digging out the earth used as bricks for building, are of great extent, pene trating, it is said, to a length of several miles.

The oldest church of modern Rome is that of St. Clement. The church of St. Piedro di Vincoli is a noble hall, supported by twenty pillars of Parian marble, and adorned with elegant tombs. St. Martin's and St. Silvester's are built of part of the materials of the baths of Titus. The church of St. Andrea, on Monte Cavallo, though small, is highly finished. That of St. Cecilia, in Trastevere, as well as those of St. Maria in the same quarter, St. Sebastiano and St. Piedro in Montorio, are all of great antiquity. The last contains Raphael's famous picture of the Transfiguration. The churches of St. Grisogono and St. Giovanni e Paolo are splendidly adorned with pillars. Santa Maria Egiznea, a building of the Ionic order, is supposed to be the ancient temple of Fortuna Virilis, and Santa Maria Sopra Minerva a temple of that goddess: while the church of Ava Cœli is said to occupy the site of the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus.

The Pantheon and seven patriarchal basilicæ, or cathedrals, are all of considerable antiquity. The pantheon, built in the reign of Augustus, and called from its form the rotunda, contains busts of a number of eminent men. Of the cathedrals, Santa Maria Maggiore is situated on the Esquiline Mount, and has two fronts, each of modern architecture. St. Giovanni, in Laterone, is the regular cathedral of the diocese of Rome. It was founded by Constantine. Another cathedral, that of Santa Croce, in Gierusalemme, was erected by Constantine on the ruins of a temple of Venus, and is remarkable for its antique form, and beautiful retired situation. A third church, begun by Constantine but much extended since his reign, is that of St Paoli, outside of the city wall. The cathedral of St. Lorenzo is also outside of the city, on the Via Tiburtina.

The original St. Peter's was also erected by Constantine, but had been giving way for some time previous to the middle of the fifteenth century, when Nicholas V. conceived the project of taking it down. The work, however, was feebly prosecuted, till the reign of Julius II.. That prelate proceeded with it on a grand scale, and succeeding popes contributed to its completion. The most celebrated architects of modern times, Bramante, Raphael, Michael Angelo, Vignola, Maderno, and Bernini, have here displayed their talents. A circular court, formed by a vast colonnade, first strikes the eye of the spectator, and leads to the majestic front of the building, extending 400 feet in length, and rising to the height of 180. The eye is at the same time gratified with the majestic dome, rising from the central part of the church to a height from the ground of 324 feet. The interior of the church corresponds with its outward grandeur. Five portals open into the portico, a gallery extending across the width of the edifice, and resembling in size a cathedral. This magnificent entrance is paved with marble, covered with a gilded vault, and closed at either end by statues. Opposite to the five portals are five doors, leading into the church, On entering any of these the spectator

beholds the most spacious hall ever constructed by human art, expanding in magnificent perspective, its length being above 600 English feet. The aisles and altars are adorned with a number of ancient pillars; the walls with festoons, wreaths, tiaras, and other ornaments of marble. The patriarchal chair of St. Peter is a throne, elevated to the height of seventy feet. The high altar has below it what is called St. Peter's Tomb; above a magnificent canopy of brass, towering to the height of 132 feet. A well lighted staircase leads to the roof of St. Peter's, from which the dome can be viewed with minuteness. The access to every part of it, and even the ascent to. the cupola, is perfectly easy. The recent part of the pile is the vestry or sacristi, a structure connected with the main building by a gallery, and adorned with a number of pillars, statues, paintings, and mosaics. It forms of itself a spa-. cious church.

The first visit paid to the church of St. Peter's,' says the spirited author of ' Italy,' 'should not be made by the ordinary conveyance to all such sights in Rome-a carriage. It should be approached by pilgrim-steps, slow and difficult; and that great temple,

Where majesty,

Power, glory, strength, and beauty, all are hailed, should be reached on foot, and sought through those various details of misery, disorder, and degradation, which distinguish alike all its avenues, and are the elements out of which its grandeur sprang. Around the other great Basilica of Rome there reigns a saddening region of desolation; and St. Paul's and St. John de Lateran rise on the dreary frontiers of the infected deserts they denominate, like temples dedicated to the genius of the mal-aria. But the approach to St. Peter's has another character: every narrow avenue is thickly colonised with a race of beings marked by traits of indigence or demoralisation; and every dark dilapidated den teems with a tenantry, which might well belong to other purlieus than those of the church. It is thus that the altars of St. Peter's are approached, as they were raised, upon the necks of the people. Here the streets of the filthiest city in Europe are found filthiest ! Here forms, on which Love had set his seal, are equally disfigured by the neglect of cleanliness, or by meretricious ornament!-and the young plebeian beauty, lying on the threshold of some ruinous fabric, withdrawing the bodkin from tresses it is dangerous to loosen, and submitting a fine head to the inspection of some ancient crone, smiles on the passing stranger with all the complacency of a Du Barry, when she made her toilette for the good of the public, surrounded by the dignitaries of the church, who emulously canvassed for its offices. The streets leading immediately to St. Peter's occasionally exhibit a spacious but dilapidated palace, mingled with inferior buildings; but many even of these have their façades of marble disfigured by washerwomen's lines; and an atmosphere of soapsuds indicates an attention to cleanliness, whose effects are nowhere visible in Rome, but in the stench which issues from the laundresses' windows in the very finest

of its streets. These discouraging avenues at last waded through, the Piazza de St. Pietro in Vaticano bursts upon the eye, more striking from the contrast that its beauty and magnificence present to the images of poverty and disgust which have preceded it.

Nothing that art or judgment can dictate, or criticism or pretension utter, on this great object of universal wonder, has been left unsaid or unillustrated. The profoundest Virtuosi of the last age have commented on it; the greatest poet of the present age has sung it; and from the folios of Piranesi to the portefeuille of the most juvenile traveller, views of its architecture are to be found. Little is now left to future visitants, but to enjoy, in silence, their own opinion (should they have any they may call their own), or at most to express the impression communicated to their own minds, on their first view of this supposed miracle of art. The first impression of the façade of St. Peter on the writer of these pages was one of utter disappointment. It did not strike her by its magnitude!—and in its want of simplicity and completeness (broken up as it is by pilasters, loggie, niches, balustrades, &c.), it did not affect her with pleasurable emotion. With none present to direct her judgment, and shame her ignorance, she turned involuntarily away, after a few minutes' observation, to contemplate objects infinitely more attractive to her unlearned apprehension. These were its beautiful semicircular colonnades; its noble fountains dashing their pure bright waters into mid-air, sparkling with sun-beams, and diffusing freshness as they fall; and that antique obelisk, whose transfer from Heliopolis (where the son of Sesostris raised it) to the circus of Nero, where Caligula placed it, includes the history of fallen empires, and of power not subdued, but strangely transmuted. The impression made by the façade of St. Peter's was never effaced. The original design of Michael Angelo, shown in the library of the Vatican, served but to confirm it; and the opinion of one, whose judgment, next to that of Michael Angelo's own, might be trusted, left the decision of ignorance sanctioned by the dictum of the presiding genius of the art.

'But the magnitude of St. Peter's is never justly estimated on a first or many following inspections; which is the fault of its faultlessness: for besides that it is out of the span of human recoguition-beyond the test of all received experience-the harmony of its proportions is so perfect as to leave nothing for comparison; there Autter colossal doves in cornices lofty as the eagle's eyrie; there frown saints

-In bulk as huge

As whom the fables name of monstrous size, the Briareus's of the martyrology!-while cherubs, tall as Typhons, and letters to be read by the cubit, diminish the height of that cupola (the Ossa piled on Pelion of architecture), and lessen the vastness of those interminable naves, whose votive chapels might serve for metropolitan churches. But the temple of St. Peter, with all its unrivalled riches, surpassing the works of Memphian kings, is but a gigantic toy; and the