438 THE FIRST ROMANCE. 



tion resembled the toasting of bread. The roof of the wigwam was 

 very ingeniously thatched with bark, and we observed a good supply 

 of blankets, and several small ornaments, which proved that this was 

 a family of some consequence in the tribe. 



When the ringing of the bell again recalled us to the steam-boat, 

 I cut from my pocket-book and presented to the squaw an engraving 

 of the Strand at Charing Cross, in which these natives of the forest 

 might explore the wonders of the streets, carriages, shops, and crowds 



of the greatest of the cities of the world. 











THE FIRST ROMANCE. 



SOLYMAN, the emperor of the Turks, surnamed by his subjects 

 Ranani, or Institutor of Rules, and by Christian historians. The 

 Magnificent, ascended the throne in the year 1520, from which time, 

 until the period of his death in 1560, he continued the terror of 

 Europe. In execution of his avowed purpose to overturn the Ger- 

 man empire, he opened a way into Hungary by the capture of 

 Belgrade, totally defeated the army of the Hungarians, (whose young 

 King Lewis fell in the retreat) and subsequently took Buda, Pest, 

 and other important places. After the death of Lewis, the Waywode 

 of Transylvania, prevailed by intrigues with the Hungarian nobility, 

 to get himself elected king ; but his title was disputed by Ferdinand, 

 Archduke of Austria, who claimed the crown in right of his wife 

 Anne, sister to the late king, and putting himself at the head of an 

 army in assertion of his rights, marched into lower Hungary, and 

 invested Buda. 



Among the feudatory chieftains whom the Archduke had sum- 

 moned to his assistance, was Casimir, Margrave of Brandenburg, in 

 whose ranks there served, as a private soldier, a native of Anspach, 

 named Leopold, not less remarkable for his personal strength than 

 for his dauntless intrepidity. Leopold distinguished himself during 

 the siege of Buda, and when that place was taken in a desperate 

 night assault, he was one of the first who escaladed the walls, and 

 entered the city. Finding all further resistance useless, the mass of 

 the Turkish garrison made their escape by one of the gates, but 

 several detached parties, being intercepted in their retreat, hurried 

 tumultuously about the streets. A band of these fugitives burst 

 into the noble palace built by Matthias Corvinus, a former king of 

 Hungary, and rushing into the chapel, clung to the altar, imagining, 

 that no Christian soldier would violate so holy a sanctuary. In this, 

 however, they were wofully mistaken. Leopold and some of his 

 comrades followed close upon their heels, and without staying to 

 expiate the desecration by any more lengthened process than that of 

 kissing the cross hilts of their swords, assaulted the wretched Mus- 

 sulmen, put them to death without compunction, rifled their persons, 

 and then dispersed about the palace in search of other plunder. 



