OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE,

gion and policy were insufficient to unite the La-tins in the defence of Christendom. Germany was an inexhaustible store-house of men andarms; q but that complex and languid body re-quired the impulse of a vigorous hand; and Fre-deric the third was alike impotent in his per-sonal character and his imperial dignity. Along war had impaired the strength, without sa-tiating the animosity, of France and England : rbut Philip, duke of Burgundy, was a vain andmagnificent prince; and he enjoyed, withoutdanger or expence, the adventurous piety of hissubjects, who sailed, in a gallant fleet, from thecoast of Flanders to the Hellespont . The mari-time republics of Venice and Genoa were lessremote from the scene of action; and their hos-tile fleets were associated under the standard ofSt. Peter. The kingdoms of Hungary and Po-land , which covered as it were the interior paleof the Latin church, were the most nearly con-cerned to oppose the progress of the Turks.Arms were the patrimony of the Scythians andSarmatians, and these nations might appearequal to the contest, could they point against

In the year 1431, Germany raised 40,000 horse, men at arms,against the Hussites of Bohemia (Lenfant, Hist, du Concile de Basle,tom. i, p. 318). At the siege of Nuvs on the Rhine , in 1474, theprinces, prelates, and cities sent their respective quotas; and thebishop of Munster (qni n'est pas des plus grands) furnished 1400 horse,0000 foot, all in green, with 1200 waggons. The united armies of theking of England and the duke of Burgundy scarcely equalled m e-thirdof this German host (Memoires de Philippe de Comines, 1. )v, c. 3).At present, six or seven hundred thousand men are maintained in con-stant pay and admirable discipline, by the powers of Germany .

r It was not till the year 1444, that France and England could agreeon a truce of some months (See Rymer’s Fwdera, and the chroniclesof both nations).

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CHAP.LX VII