ment and eloquence; and which was rejected
(says the Imperial historian) "by _my_ sublime, and almost incredible
virtue." His repose was disturbed by the sound of plots and seditions;
and he trembled lest the lawful prince should be stolen away by some
foreign or domestic enemy, who would inscribe his name and his wrongs in
the banners of rebellion. As the son of Andronicus advanced in the years
of manhood, he began to feel and to act for himself; and his rising
ambition was rather stimulated than checked by the imitation of his
father's vices. If we may trust his own professions, Cantacuzene labored
with honest industry to correct these sordid and sensual appetites, and
to raise the mind of the young prince to a level with his fortune. In
the Servian expedition, the two emperors showed themselves in cordial
harmony to the troops and provinces; and the younger colleague was
initiated by the elder in the mysteries of war and government. After the
conclusion of the peace, Palaeologus was left at Thessalonica, a royal
residence, and a frontier station, to secure by his absence the peace
of Constantinople, and to withdraw his youth from the temptations of a
luxurious capital. But the distance weakened the powers of control,
and the son of Andronicus was surrounded with artful or unthinking
companions, who taught him to hate his guardian, to deplore his exile,
and to vindicate his rights. A private treaty with the cral or despot
of Servia was soon followed by an open revolt; and Cantacuzene, on
the throne of the elder Andronicus, defended the cause of age and
prerogative, which in his youth he had so vigorously attacked. At his
request the empress-mother undertook the voyage of Thessalonica, and the
office of mediation: she returned without success; and unless Anne of
Savoy was instructed by adversity, we may doubt the sincerity, or at
least the fervor, of her zeal. While the regent grasped the sceptre with
a firm and vigorous hand, she had been instructed to declare, that the
ten years of his legal administration would soon elapse; and that, after
a full trial of the vanity of the world, the emperor Cantacuzene sighed
for the repose of a cloister, and was ambitious only of a heavenly
crown. Had these sentiments been genuine, his voluntary abdication would
have restored the peace of the empire, and his conscience would have
been relieved by an act of justice. Palaeologus alone was responsible for
his future government; and wha