nded with a fearful litany: "O,
save and deliver us from the arrows of the Hungarians!" But the saints
were deaf or inexorable; and the torrent rolled forwards, till it was
stopped by the extreme land of Calabria. A composition was offered and
accepted for the head of each Italian subject; and ten bushels of silver
were poured forth in the Turkish camp. But falsehood is the natural
antagonist of violence; and the robbers were defrauded both in the
numbers of the assessment and the standard of the metal. On the side of
the East, the Hungarians were opposed in doubtful conflict by the equal
arms of the Bulgarians, whose faith forbade an alliance with the Pagans,
and whose situation formed the barrier of the Byzantine empire. The
barrier was overturned; the emperor of Constantinople beheld the waving
banners of the Turks; and one of their boldest warriors presumed to
strike a battle-axe into the golden gate. The arts and treasures of the
Greeks diverted the assault; but the Hungarians might boast, in their
retreat, that they had imposed a tribute on the spirit of Bulgaria and
the majesty of the Caesars. The remote and rapid operations of the same
campaign appear to magnify the power and numbers of the Turks; but their
courage is most deserving of praise, since a light troop of three or
four hundred horse would often attempt and execute the most daring
inroads to the gates of Thessalonica and Constantinople. At this
disastrous aera of the ninth and tenth centuries, Europe was afflicted
by a triple scourge from the North, the East, and the South: the Norman,
the Hungarian, and the Saracen, sometimes trod the same ground of
desolation; and these savage foes might have been compared by Homer to
the two lions growling over the carcass of a mangled stag.

The deliverance of Germany and Christendom was achieved by the Saxon
princes, Henry the Fowler and Otho the Great, who, in two memorable
battles, forever broke the power of the Hungarians. The valiant Henry
was roused from a bed of sickness by the invasion of his country; but
his mind was vigorous and his prudence successful. "My companions," said
he, on the morning of the combat, "maintain your ranks, receive on
your bucklers the first arrows of the Pagans, and prevent their second
discharge by the equal and rapid career of your lances." They obeyed
and conquered: and the historical picture of the castle of Merseburgh
expressed the features, or at least the character, of Henry,