nk, it was asserted and believed, that an
equestrian statue in the square of Taurus was secretly inscribed with a
prophecy, how the Russians, in the last days, should become masters of
Constantinople. In our own time, a Russian armament, instead of sailing
from the Borysthenes, has circumnavigated the continent of Europe; and
the Turkish capital has been threatened by a squadron of strong and
lofty ships of war, each of which, with its naval science and thundering
artillery, could have sunk or scattered a hundred canoes, such as those
of their ancestors. Perhaps the present generation may yet behold the
accomplishment of the prediction, of a rare prediction, of which the
style is unambiguous and the date unquestionable.

By land the Russians were less formidable than by sea; and as they
fought for the most part on foot, their irregular legions must often
have been broken and overthrown by the cavalry of the Scythian hordes.
Yet their growing towns, however slight and imperfect, presented a
shelter to the subject, and a barrier to the enemy: the monarchy of
Kiow, till a fatal partition, assumed the dominion of the North; and
the nations from the Volga to the Danube were subdued or repelled by the
arms of Swatoslaus, the son of Igor, the son of Oleg, the son of Ruric.
The vigor of his mind and body was fortified by the hardships of a
military and savage life. Wrapped in a bear-skin, Swatoslaus usually
slept on the ground, his head reclining on a saddle; his diet was
coarse and frugal, and, like the heroes of Homer, his meat (it was often
horse-flesh) was broiled or roasted on the coals. The exercise of war
gave stability and discipline to his army; and it may be presumed, that
no soldier was permitted to transcend the luxury of his chief. By an
embassy from Nicephorus, the Greek emperor, he was moved to undertake
the conquest of Bulgaria; and a gift of fifteen hundred pounds of gold
was laid at his feet to defray the expense, or reward the toils, of the
expedition. An army of sixty thousand men was assembled and embarked;
they sailed from the Borysthenes to the Danube; their landing was
effected on the Maesian shore; and, after a sharp encounter, the swords
of the Russians prevailed against the arrows of the Bulgarian horse. The
vanquished king sunk into the grave; his children were made captive;
and his dominions, as far as Mount Haemus, were subdued or ravaged by the
northern invaders. But instead of relinquishing his pr