OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.

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denied that his passions were at once furious CH ap.and inexorable; that in the palace, as in the field, LXVI H-a torrent of blood M as spilt on the slightest pro-vocation; and that the noblest of the captiveyouth were often dishonoured by his unnaturallust. In the Albanian war, he studied the les-sons, and soon surpassed the example, of his fa-ther; and the conquest of two empires, twelvekingdoms, and two hundred cities, a vain andflattering account, is ascribed to his invinciblesword. He was doubtless a soldier, and pos-sibly a general; Constantinople has sealed hisglory; but if we compare the means, the obsta-cles, and the achievements, Mahomet the secondmust blush to sustain a parallel with Alexanderor Timour . Under his command the Ottomanforces were always more numerous than theirenemies; yet their progress was bounded bythe Euphrates and the Adriatic; and his armswere checked by Huniades and Scanderbeg , bythe Rhodian knights and by the Persian king.

In the reign of Amurath, he twice tasted of His reign,royalty, and twice descended from the throne; Feb. 9- 'his tender age was incapable of opposing his fa- j^'a 1481tlier’s restoration, but never could he forgive thevizirs who had recommended that salutary mea-sure. His nuptials were celebrated with thedaughter of a Turkman emir; and after a festi-val of two months, he departed from Adrianople with his bride to reside in the government of

rath IV (Cantemir, p. 61). The sophis of Persia can produce a naoreregular succession j and in the last age, our European traveller! werethe witnesses and companions of their icvci*.