OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 247

to issue from the castle; she deplored her op- chap.pression, and accused the slowness of her chain- LXVinpions; the principal herald of the golden fleeceadvanced, bearing on his fist a live pheasant,which, according to the rites of chivalry, he pre-sented to the duke. At this extraordinary sum-mons, Philip, a wise and aged prince, engagedhis person and powers in the holy war againstthe Turks: his example was imitated by thebarons and knights of the assembly: they sworeto God , the virgin, the ladies, and the pheasant;and their particular vows were not less extrava-gant than the general sanction of their oath. Butthe performance was made to depend on somefuture and foreign contingency; and, duringtwelve years, till the last hour of his life, theduke of Burgundy might be scrupulously, andperhaps sincerely, on the eve of his departure.

Had every breast glowed with the same ardour;had the union of the Christians correspondedwith their bravery; had every country, fromSweden b to Nanles, supplied a just proportionof cavalry and infantry, of men and money, it isindeed probable that Constantinople would havebeen delivered, and that the Turks might havebeen chased beyond ihe Hellespont or the Eu-phrates . But the secretary of the emperor, whocomposed every epistle, and attended everymeeting, ^Eneas Sjlvius,' a statesman and orator,

6 It was found by an actual enumeration, that Sweden, Gothland ,and Finland , contained 1,800,000 fighting men, and consequently werefar more populous than at present.

c In the year 145-1 Spondanus has giveD, from .®neas Sylvius, aview of the state of Europe , enriched with his own observations.

That