OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.

of Constantinople , will conceive and admire thegreatness of the spectacle. The five Christianships continued to advance with joyful shouts,ami a full press both of sails and oars, againstan hostile fleet of three hundred vessels; andthe rampart, the camp, the coasts of Europe andAsia, were lined with innumerable spectators,who anxiously awaited the event of this momen-tous succour. At the first view that event couldnot appear doubtful: the superiority of the Mos-lems was beyond all measure or account; and,in a calm, their numbers and valour must inevit-ably have prevailed. But their hasty and im-perfect navy had been created, not by the ge-nius of the people, but by the will of the sultan:in the height of their prosperity, the Turks haveacknowledged, that if God had given them theearth, he had left the sea to the infidels;* and aseries of defeats, a rapid progress of decay, hasestablished the truth of their modest confession.Except eighteen gallies of some force, the restof their fleet consisted of open boats, rudely con-structed and awkwardly managed, crowded withtroops, and destitute of cannon; and since cou-rage arises in a great measure from the conscious-ness of strength, the bravest of the janizariesmight tremble on a new element. In the Chris-tian squadron, five stout and lofty ships wereguided by skilful pilots, and manned with the

* The perpetual decay and weakness of the Turkish navy may b«observed in Rycaut (State of the Ottoman Empire , p 372-378); The-venot (Voyages, p. i, p. 229-242); and Tott (Memoires, tom. iii); thelast of whom is always solicitous to amuse and amaze his reader.

211

CHAP.

LXVIII.