hen, in consequence of the sudden death of Nicholas
Zrinyi the party of Hungarian malcontents had lost their standing and
most of them had gone to Transylvania, which country was rejoicing in
Home rule, owing to the rivalry of the German and Turkish monarchs.
True, the country paid the Sublime Porte a tribute, but in its diets
it could make what plans it would; and if the Tartars did burn the
villages of the country to the ground, in that very act they gave
proof that they did not consider the country their own. All the
fortresses were in the hands of the Prince, who could maintain as many
soldiers as he had means to pay, and carry on war whenever he found
himself in a position to do so. Furthermore, if it gave him any
satisfaction, he could even dupe the Turks.

The Turk did not find anything to object to in the constitution of the
country; in its privileges, its patriarchal aristocracy, its Latin
language and Hungarian costume, nor in its many religions; all that
did not concern him. He pitied from his soul the poor people who gave
so bright an outlook to the affairs of the country. He did not exert
himself in the least to procure them a more exact acquaintance with
his own simple system; in this respect he was like the Turk in the
story, who when he saw a Hungarian eating with his open knife in hand,
sat down behind in confident expectation that the Hungarian would put
out his eyes in carrying his knife to his mouth, and when he saw that
this did not happen, went away in the pleasant belief that it
certainly would happen a little later.

* * * * *

Great changes had taken place in Ebesfalva in this time; the princely
residence was no longer the simple manor house. At some distance from
that, on a height, the Prince had a castle built with a high square
tower, and from each corner rose small pointed turrets; the entrance
was guarded by two stone lions, and on the facade was this inscription
in high relief:

"Fata viam invenient."

Beyond the carved columns along the front was a corridor connecting
one wing of the castle with the other; the windows were all made with
pointed arches and with antique decorations, and the inner court was
reached through an arched passage under the building. In this
courtyard instead of plows and wagons we now see rampart guns and long
culverins. Instead of farm boys, we see outside the gates guards in
yellow cloaks and red hose. To reach the Prince's o