life of Scanderbeg. He died at Alessio in 1467, in the sixty-fifth year of his age, at the very time when Sultan Mahomet was preparing for the renewed invasion of the country. He left only one son, John Castriota, who possessed neither the genius nor energy of his father, and who ended his days in Italy after his country had been subdued by the infidels.

In his essay on Heroic Virtue, Sir William Temple ranks Scanderbeg among the seven chiefs who deserved without wearing a crown; and there is much in the life of the Albanian Prince to merit the flattering opinion. But in the obscure monkish records of the period, Scanderbeg is unfortunately presented to us only as a successful soldier, performing actions that the religious zeal of the writers, admiration of the Christian champion, and hatred of the infidels, too often induced them to exaggerate even to extravagance. How a prince, reared in the Mohammedan faith, and who, till nearly his fortieth year, had fought under the standard of the Crescent, and was almost a stranger in his native land, immediately acquired on his escape from the Turks so much influence over the wild mountain tribes of Albania, and over their turbulent and ambitious chieftains, we are not shown.

As little do our informants tell us by what skill, what high persuasive power and genius as a statesman, he was enabled to unite and sway the elements of discord natural to the country and state of society at the period, and bring armies into the field capable of contending against the most formidable military power of the age. Whence were the means derived? how were the actions performed? and what was the system of tactics so successfully followed? are points on which we are left in total ignorance. The broad outline of facts, the many victories achieved, the

* They are Belisarius; Narses; Gonsalvo of Cordova; William I., Prince of Orange; Alexander, Duke of Parma; John Hunyades; and George Castriota.

с

long defence of his native land against the infidels, stands fast. We know that the skill and gallantry of a soldier, the genius of a statesman, were requisite to the performance of these noble deeds; but we do not see the head and hand engaged in the mighty work. History may be satisfied with the general results; but for biography, the materials are scanty, and almost wanting.

Handsome in person, and endowed with extraordinary strength and good fortune, Scanderbeg appears before us as the most perfect soldier of his age. Unmatched in single combat, having, as we are told, slain no less than 3000 Turks with his own hand, he was as fertile in resources as he was daring, and as generous as stern and unforgiving when the cause of discipline required severity. As a hostage in early life, he gained the admiration of his very enemies; and when he escaped, it was not to conceal himself, but to conquer a kingdom, the inheritance of his fathers. At the head of the Albanians, he was for twenty-four years the terror of the Osmanli, and the support of Christian Greece. The shortlived freedom of Albania vanished at his death, and the fatherland of Pyrrhus and Alexander has ever since remained a land of bondage.

III.

THE CHEVALIER BAYARD.

THERE is hardly a name in history that has so gallant a sound as that of Bayard. In England it is familiar to us almost from infancy; but with the noble deeds and chivalrous bearing which rendered it illustrious, which obtained for a gentleman of humble rank, who filled no high station, and never held any command, the honoured title of “the knight without fear or reproach," we are comparatively unacquainted. We have no popular history of Bayard in our language, nor is there any work of the kind in French deserving even the slightest praise; and though our narrow limits will easily exonerate us from the presumptuous intention of wishing to fill the biographical vacuum, we shall yet, as far as our space permits, give an outline of the noble knight's career.

Pierre du Terrail de Bayard was born in 1476 at the Castle of Bayard, in the county of Dauphiné. He was descended from a noble, martial, but greatly - reduced family. His great-grandfather was killed at the battle of Poitiers, his grandfather at Agincourt, and his father so severely wounded at Guingette as to be rendered unfit for further military service. As the young Pierre was a second son, and had little to expect, he was, at the age

of fourteen, placed under the care of his maternal uncle, Bishop of Grenoble. This was perhaps a fortunate circumstance, for the churchman did not confine his nephew's education to the martial exercises that usually formed the sole pursuits of the young nobles of the period. Bayard, though he soon became an expert swordsman and distinguished horseman, also obtained an insight into polite letters. And it is more than probable that this mental cultivation, imperfect as it may have been, tended to soften the military manners of the age, and to call forth and strengthen that generosity of feeling for which he was so eminently distinguished in after years.

As the young man's slender means rendered it not advisable to send him, in the first instance, to the Court of France, the Bishop placed him as page with the Duke of Savoy, who then resided at Chambery. But this Prince having some time afterwards held a meeting at Lyons with Charles VIII. of France, the King was so much pleased with Bayard, whose gallant horsemanship attracted particular attention, and obtained for him the appellation of "Picquet," that he took him into his service, and soon afterwards placed him in the company of gendarmes, commanded by the Count de Ligny.

On a second meeting at Lyons between Charles VIII. and the Duke of Savoy, Bayard, though hardly eighteen years of age, distinguished himself in a tournament against a Burgundian knight of the name of Vaudray, famous for his prowess. As the combatants had to pass uncovered down the lists after every course, the spectators were surprised to behold so pale and slender a champion; and the ladies, pleased with the bravery he had displayed in the jousts, cheered him loudly, exclaiming, "See how thin and pale he looks, and yet he has done better than any one else."

Bayard's next station was Aix, in Picardy, where the Count de Ligny's company of gendarmes was in garrison.

Here also our young soldier displayed his skill in the lists; and at a tournament which he proclaimed in honour of the ladies he gained the principal prizes himself, but immediately bestowed them on the next successful champions.

The time for jousts and games was now, however, at an end, and Charles VIII. having declared war against Naples, the Count de Ligny's chivalry accompanied the King into Italy. The conquest of the kingdom proved an easy task; the return of the army was more difficult, and at Fornovo the French had to force their way through an Italian army greatly their superior in number. The victory, however, remained with them, and here Bayard, whose bravery had been conspicuous during the battle, gained his spurs of knighthood.

The period of repose that followed on the return of the troops to France was not of long duration; and though Charles VIII. died when preparing for a second expedition against Naples, which had revolted in favour of King Ferdinand, the monarch's death proved no sign of truce. His successor, Louis XII., had claims to the Duchy of Milan, and in 1499 already crossed the Alps to assert them by force of arms. The first conquest of Lombardy was as easily effected as that of Naples had been; but in both cases the ultimate result proved equally disastrous to France.

A rapid change from the stern work to gaiety and gallantry was one of the characteristics of the period of which we are speaking, and the French were no sooner settled in their new conquest than Bayard hastened to Carignano to pay his respects to the Princess Blanche, the widow of his first patron, the Duke of Savoy. He was received as one of the family; and though he was yet only a simple manat-arms, his arrival was celebrated by balls, feasts, and festivals. In a tournament which he gave on the occasion, he carried away the principal prizes as usual.