DANUBE SCENERY. 307 



of the gout from following up the important ad- 

 vantage he had thus gained, by advancing upon 

 Buda, and attempting the subjugation of Germany 

 and Italy. 



It v\^as this same Bajazet who was defeated in 

 the battle of Angora, 28th July, 1402, byTimour, 

 and being taken prisoner, was, it is said by some, 

 imprisoned in an iron cage, whilst, on the contrary, 

 others maintain that Timour treated him with 

 the greatest respect until his death, which hap- 

 pened about nine months after his defeat. Vol- 

 taire laughs at the vulgar credulity, and rejects 

 the iron cage stoiy, as altogether fabulous.* 



Until reaching the frontiers of Servia, the 

 scenery of the Danube cannot be called other 

 than monotonous and uninteresting. After leav- 

 ing Silistria, the never-ending level of its banks 

 might occasionally be varied by low ranges of 

 alluvial hills, but there is no grand, nor even 

 moderately picturesque scenery. Any person who 

 undertakes the somewhat tedious voyage up the 

 Danube with the expectation of being rewarded 

 with the sight of some such scenery as the Rhine 

 between Cologne and Mayence, will be most 

 * Gibbon. 



