body
ever touched them. But just as, after the Macedonian conquest of old
Greece, the language spread all over the East; so, after the Turkish
conquest of Constantinople, Greek became much better known in Europe, for
many learned men of the schools of Constantinople took refuge in Italy,
bringing their books with them; the scholars eagerly learned Greek, and
the works of Homer and of the great old Greek tragedians became more and
more known, and were made part of a learned education. The Greeks at
home still spoke the old tongue, though it had become as much altered
from that of Athens and Sparta as Italian is from Latin.

The most prosperous time of all the Turkish power was under Solyman the
Magnificent, who spread his empire from the borders of Hungary to those
of Persia, and held in truth nearly the same empire as Alexander the
Great. He conquered the island of Rhodes, on the Christmas day of 1522,
from the Knights of St. John, who were Frankish monks sworn to fight
against the Mahommedans. Cyprus belonged to the Venetians, and in 1571 a
Jew, who had renounced his faith, persuaded Sultan Selim to have it
attacked, that he might gain his favourite Cyprus wine for the pressing,
instead of buying it. The Venetian stores of gunpowder had been blown up
by an accident, and they could not send help in time to the unfortunate
governor, who was made prisoner, and treated with most savage cruelty.
However, fifty years later, in 1571, the powers of Europe joined together
under Don John of Austria, the brother of the king of Spain, and beat the
Turks in a great sea-fight at Lepanto, breaking their strength for many
years after; but the king, Philip II. (the husband of our Mary I.), was
jealous of his brother, and called him home, and after that the Venetians
were obliged to make peace, and give up Cyprus. The misfortune was that
the Greeks and Latins hated each other so much that they never would make
common cause heartily against the Turks, and the Greeks did not like to
be under Venetian protection; but Venice kept Crete, or Candia, as it was
now called, till 1670, when the Turks took it, after a long and terrible
siege, lasting more than two years, during which the bravest and most
dashing gentlemen of France made a wild expedition to help the Christian
cause. But all was in vain; Candia fell, and most of the little isles in
the Archipelago came one by one under the cruel power of the Turks.

[Pictur