176 THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER. 



discipline, admirably adapted to the end proposed. 

 It combined the hardihood of the Spartans, the 

 strictness and deconim of the monastic rule, with every 

 encouragement that could nurture the aspiring spirit, 

 and confirm the devoted fidelity of the young soldier. 

 The youths thus brought up, forgot their childhood, 

 their parents, their homes ; knew no native land, but 

 the Serai ; no lord and father, but the Grand Signer ; 

 no will, but his ; no hope, but of his favor : they knew 

 no life, but one passed in rigid discipline and uncon- 

 ditional obedience ; no occupation but war, in the 

 Sultan's service ; no personal purpose, unless it were 

 plunder in this life, and, in death, the paradise thrown 

 open to him who fought for Islam. The glory of the 

 Moslem is departed, and the Sultan's army is now a 

 rabble, more formidable to their friends than to their 

 enemies but let us see what they were in the pleni- 

 tude of their strength. 



First, we behold the Timarli marshalled beneath 

 the banners of their respective corps ; they carry bows 

 and quivers, iron maces and daggers, scymitars and 

 lances ; they know how to use these various weapons, 

 at the right moment, with the utmost dexterity ; they 

 are trained with rare skill to pursue, and to retire, 

 now to hang back in alert suspense, now to dash 

 forward and scour the country. Their horses, too, 

 claim attention ; they come mostly from Syria, where 

 they have been reared with the utmost care, and 



