50

THE DECLINE AND FALL

CHAP.

LXV.

The empe-ror JohnPalaeolo-gus I,

A D. 1425,Jnlv 21-A. b. 1448,Oct. 31.

scendant of the prophet , 0 who arrived in the camp,on a mule, with a venerable train of five hundreddisciples. But he might blush, if a fanatic couldblush, at the failure of his assurances. Thestrength of the walls resisted an army of two hun-dred thousand Turks: their assaults were repel-led by the sallies of the Greeks and their fo-reign mercenaries; the old resources of defencewere opposed to the new engines of attack ; andthe enthusiasm of the dervish, who was snatch-ed to heaven in visionary converse with Maho-met, was answered by the credulity of the Chris-tians, who beheld the virgin Mary, in a violetgarment, walking on the rampart and animatingtheir courage. p After a siege of two months,Amurath was recalled to Boursa by a domesticrevolt, which had been kindled by Greek trea-chery, and was soon extinguished by the deathof a guiltless brother. While he led his janiza-ries to new conquests in Europe and Asia, theByzantine empire was indulged in a servile andprecarious respite of thirty years. Manuel sunkinto the grave, and John Palseoiogus was permit-ted to reign, for an annual tribute of three hun-dred thousand aspers, and the dereliction of al-most all that he held beyond the suburbs of Con-stantinople .

In the establishment and restoration of theTurkish empire, the first merit must doubtless

* Cantemir, p. 80. Cananus, who describes Seid Becltar withoutnaming him, supposes that the friend of Mahomet assumed in hisamours the privilege of a prophet, and that the fairest of the Greeknuns were promised to the saint and his disciples.

p For this miraculous apparition, Cananus appeals to the mussulmausaint j but who will bear testimony for Seid Beehar?