ave done right
in bringing me the boy; I will take care of you, and make him a
nobleman.' The king was as good as his word, he provided for the mother,
caused the boy to be instructed in knightly exercises, and made him a
present of the town of Hunyad, in Transylvania, on which account he was
afterwards called Hunyadi, and gave him, as an armorial sign, a raven
bearing a ring in his beak.

Such, O young man of Horncastle! is the popular account of the birth of
the great captain of Hungary, as related by Florentius of Buda. There
are other accounts of his birth, which is, indeed, involved in much
mystery, and of the reason of his being called Corvinus, but as this is
the most pleasing, and is, upon the whole, founded on quite as good
evidence as the others, I have selected it for recitation.

_Myself_. I heartily thank you, but you must tell me something more of
Hunyadi. You call him your great captain; what did he do?

_Hungarian_. Do! what no other man of his day could have done. He broke
the power of the Turk when he was coming to overwhelm Europe. From the
blows inflicted by Hunyadi, the Turk never thoroughly recovered; he has
been frequently worsted in latter times, but none but Hunyadi could have
routed the armies of Amurath and Mahomed the Second.

_Myself_. How was it that he had an opportunity of displaying his
military genius?

_Hungarian_. I can hardly tell you, but his valour soon made him famous;
King Albert made him Ban of Szorenyi. He became eventually waivode of
Transylvania, and Governor of Hungary. His first grand action was the
defeat of the Bashaw Isack; and though himself surprised and routed at
St. Imre, he speedily regained his prestige by defeating the Turks, with
enormous slaughter, killing their leader, Mezerbeg: and subsequently, at
the Battle of the Iron Gates, he destroyed ninety thousand Turks, sent by
Amurath to avenge the late disgrace. It was then that the Greeks called
him Achilles.

_Myself_. He was not always successful.

_Hungarian_. Who could be always successful against the early Turk? He
was defeated in the battle in which King Vladislaus lost his life, but
his victories outnumbered his defeats threefold. His grandest
victory--perhaps the grandest ever achieved by man--was over the terrible
Mahomed the Second, who, after the taking of Constantinople in 1453,
said, 'One God in Heaven--one king on earth;' and marched to besiege
Belgrade at the head of one hund