you, and to buy your horse, which is,
in truth, a noble brute.

_Myself_. For a soldier and equerry you seem to know a great deal of the
history of your country.

_Hungarian_. All I know is derived from Florentius of Buda, whom we call
Budai Ferentz. He was professor of Greek and Latin at the Reformed
College of Debreczen, where I was educated; he wrote a work entitled
'Magyar Polgari Lexicon,' Lives of Great Hungarian Citizens. He was dead
before I was born, but I found his book, when I was a child, in the
solitary home of my father, which stood on the confines of a puszta, or
wilderness, and that book I used to devour in winter nights when the
winds were whistling around the house. Oh! how my blood used to glow at
the descriptions of Magyar valour, and likewise of Turkish; for
Florentius has always done justice to the Turk. Many a passage similar
to this have I got by heart; it is connected with the battle on the plain
of Rigo, which Hunyadi lost: 'The next day, which was Friday, as the two
armies were drawn up in battle array, a Magyar hero, riding forth,
galloped up and down, challenging the Turks to single combat. Then came
out to meet him the son of a renowned bashaw of Asia. Rushing upon each
other, both broke their lances, but the Magyar hero and his horse rolled
over upon the ground, for the Turks had always the best horses.' O young
man of Horncastle! if ever you learn Hungarian--and learn it assuredly
you will after what I have told you--read the book of Florentius of Buda,
even if you go to Hungary to get it, for you will scarcely find it
elsewhere, and even there with difficulty, for the book has been long out
of print. It describes the actions of the great men of Hungary down to
the middle of the sixteenth century, and besides being written in the
purest Hungarian, has the merit of having for its author a professor of
the Reformed College at Debreczen.

_Myself_. I will go to Hungary rather than not read it. I am glad that
the Turk beat the Magyar. When I used to read the ballads of Spain I
always sided with the Moor against the Christian.

_Hungarian_. It was a drawn fight after all, for the terrible horse of
the Turk presently flung his own master, whereupon the two champions
returned to their respective armies; but in the grand conflict which
ensued the Turks beat the Magyars, pursuing them till night, and striking
them on the necks with their scymetars. The Turk is a noble fellow; I