troops intrusted to his charge; and the rest of the army, witnessing the flight of their bravest leader, soon followed the fatal example. The Pasha of Roumania was slain in the fray; but Scanderbeg contrived to secure and carry off his secretary, who, as soon as the fugitives were in security, was, under a threat of instant death, forced to write an order, directing the Governor of Croia, the capital of Epirus, to deliver that fortress to the Albanian Prince. Compliance with the demand did not, however, save the unhappy functionary's life; for no sooner was the deed signed and sealed, than he was ruthlessly slain by the Albanians, who continued their flight through the mountains towards their native land.

Arrived in the vicinity of Croia, Scanderbeg assembled a small band of patriots, and concealed them in the woods near the city. He then presented the official order which named him governor of the place; and the unsuspecting Turk having readily submitted to his authority, he found means during the night to admit his followers, attacked and easily routed the unprepared garrison. This success became the signal for a universal rising through the country; the dispersed Turks were assailed on all points, and massacred without pity; it was to the very few who chose to embrace Christianity that mercy was extended.

The Moslem troops still holding different fortresses, terrified by the late events, capitulated and surrendered their posts, though they had probably little to dread from mere insurgent peasants, unprovided with artillery. Sfetigrad alone held out. An old soldier whose name has unfortunately not reached us, seeing his comrades and commanders preparing to surrender their post, addressed them in bold and gallant style, told them how discreditable it would be to yield to assailants who had no means of destroying the rampart, and would soon be forced to raise the siege by the rapid approach of winter. The result of this harangue proved how much one bold spirit may, at

times, effect in war. Sfetigrad refused to yield, and the inclemency of the weather soon obliged Scanderbeg to raise the siege, leaving, however, 3000 men to blockade the place.

The garrisons of the captured fortresses having been collected in Macedonia, and reinforced by some additional troops, again prepared to invade Albania and avenge their late defeat. Scanderbeg was, however, too prompt for them; at the head of a few hundred horse he surprised and dispersed the Moslem gathering, and having then plundered the country again, retired to his mountains.

Amurath, exasperated at having been deceived by one of his own captains, regretting deeply that he had too long spared his life, determined, in the spring, to send a force against the rebels capable of bearing down all opposition, and of punishing defection in a signal manner. To have greater liberty of action, he concluded a peace with Hungary.

Scanderbeg knew the Sultan's character too well to be surprised at this resolution. He immediately collected troops, and, acquainted with the Turkish mode of warfare, instructed them accordingly, and trained them further by constant inroads into the enemy's territory. He also called an assembly of the chiefs and magnates together at Alessi, told them what they had to expect in case of defeat and inspired them all with the firm resolution to risk everything for liberty and national independence.

At the head of 40,000 men, Ali Pasha, spreading havoc around, entered Albania in the spring of the year. Though unable, in the first instance, to meet so superior a force in the open field, Scanderbeg was not unprepared for the struggle. Thirty thousand men, the flower of the Albanian population, were assembled at Croia, but from these the Prince only selected 7000 horse and as many foot, and then, to the surprise of all, dismissed the rest to their own homes.

Arrived on the banks of the Dibra, in front of the Turk

ish camp, Scanderbeg placed 3000 men in ambuscade. behind some wooded hills on his right, desired his troops to make few fires, and thus to deceive the enemy regarding their strength. The Turks, seeing so weak a force before them, crossed the stream in small parties, and in their usual manner began to harass the camp; but Scanderbeg gave strict orders for his troops to remain perfectly quiet, and be prepared for battle on the following morning.

The details of the action that followed are not very clear, -not very intelligible perhaps. The Albanians, we are told, allowed the Turks to penetrate the centre of their army, while the wings held their ground firmly. In the heat of the combat the ambushed detachment broke from their concealment and decided the fate of the day against the infidels, who were completely routed. The vanquished lost 20,000 men in the action, and the victors, following their success, entered the Turkish camp along with the fugitives, and made themselves masters of all the wealth and stores it contained.

The news of this defeat affected Amurath deeply, and he resolved to march in person against the Albanians. But Ladislaus, King of Poland and Hungary, was no sooner informed of the success of Scanderbeg, than he resolved to profit by it. He accordingly broke the truce and invaded the Turkish possessions, and thus obliged the Sultan to turn his arms against the new and more formidable adversary. An alliance was also concluded between the King and the Albanian Prince, who urged his countrymen to join in a general effort against the infidels. Chiefs and people entered zealously into his views, and an army of 30,000 men was assembled. Their intention was to join the Hungarians on the Lower Danube, but their progress was slow; for Buschowitz, Prince of Servia, was now the friend of Amurath, who had even given him his daughter in marriage, and refused to allow the Albanian army to pass through his country. Scanderbeg endeavoured to

obtain by force what was refused to entreaty. This led to a mountain war which cost both men and time, and had not been brought to a satisfactory termination when the great battle of Varna, in which the flower of the Polish and Hungarian chivalry perished along with their King, was fought on the 10th November 1444. Scanderbeg, now left alone in the arena, retired into Epirus, after ravaging Servia according to the general practice of the period; though the unchristian conduct was, on this occasion, described as due retribution for the Prince's abandonment of the Christian cause.

Exasperated by the devastation of his country, Prince Buschowitz complained to the Sultan, calling for punishment on the offenders, and for compensation to the sufferers. But Amurath had suffered too much during his last campaign to enter immediately into a new contest. He made proposals to Scanderbeg, and offered to leave him in possession of Albania, on condition that he should rebuild the Servian villages, and restore the plundered property, reminding him also of their former friendship, of the favours he had received at his, the Sultan's, hands, as well as of the great disparity of force between them. The negotiation, however, led to nothing; and to the Sultan's taunts and charge of ingratitude, Scanderbeg replied, that if he had formerly received favour, it was at the expense of the lives of his brothers, and the ruin of his country; and as to the superior power of the Turks, he trusted that the courage and constancy of his few Albanians would compensate for their inferiority in number.

A fierce inroad by a corps of 9000 Turks was the reply to this bold defiance; it proved not very successful, however, as the whole body was defeated and dispersed in a mountain pass of Mocria. Another corps of 11,000 men fared little better. Mustapha Pasha, their commander, took up, indeed, a strong position, from which he ravaged the surrounding country for a time with considerable im

punity; but Scanderbeg, watching the opportunity when a great proportion of the soldiers were detached on plundering expeditions, attacked the camp and routed the remainder, and thus completely cleared the country of enemies.

Intimidated by so many reverses and the still threatening aspect of affairs in Hungary, Amurath remained for a time entirely on the defensive towards Albania, and the country would have enjoyed some respite from suffering, had not a sanguinary civil war and a contest against Venice still left the sword unsheathed.

Prince Ducharia, one of the chiefs of the country, had caused his neighbour, Prince Zacharias of Scodrensy, to be assassinated, in the hopes, as the murdered man had no family, of succeeding to his dominions. Scanderbeg, informed of the transaction, claimed the inheritance for himself, on the ground of an engagement formerly entered into between himself and the deceased, to the effect that the survivor of the two should inherit the property of the other. While the dispute was in progress, the mother of Prince Zacharias had sought shelter at Venice, and now requested the Signoria to take possession of her son's dominions. The grasping Republic readily granted her request; they denied the validity of Scanderbeg's claim, occupied Dagno, the principal town in dispute, and, joined by many native chiefs, flung wide the torch of civil discord.

Scanderbeg marched immediately against Dagno, but found it already in the possession of the Venetians. It had therefore to be reduced by force, and as he did not wish to ruin a town he already looked upon as part of his own property, he resolved to blockade and not to besiege it. The slow progress of such an operation enabled the Venetians to raise an army, and advance to the relief of their friends. But fortune did not smile upon them; they were defeated in a general action, which again left the beleaguered town to its fate.