s managed to recover
his sword, and, engaging them in fight, he ran one through the body,
whereupon the other fled.

If his biographers are to be believed, he must have been a remarkable
man. 'As fishes are used to the water,' says one, 'as the deer to the
forest glade, so was he adapted for the bearing of arms, a born leader
of warriors, and the field of battle was his life-element.' The nobility
of his bearing, another says, and his winning manner enabled him to
secure the affection of his soldiers, whilst his readiness to serve, his
piety and benevolence, and his shrewd policy, gained for him the
confidence of his superiors, the leadership of armies, and the highest
offices of the State. At his death he was universally mourned. Pope
Nicholas ordered the cardinals to perform a magnificent _requiem_ in his
memory, as the pious and successful defender of the Christian religion.
Even the Sultan Mohammed, whom he had just defeated--when George, Despot
of Servia, brought him what he thought would be the gratifying news of
the prince's death--lowered his head, and, after a long silence,
exclaimed, 'There never was, under any ruler, such a man since the
beginning of the world.'

As we have said, the Turks were so much afraid of Hunniades that they
are said to have given him the name of 'the Devil;' but the same
designation, as well as that of the Impaler, has also been bestowed upon
Vlad, a voivode of Wallachia, who was probably the ally of Hunniades,
and who, if one-tenth of what has been related of him be true, has a
much better claim to the title. He is represented to have been one of
the most atrocious and cruel tyrants who ever disgraced even those dark
ages. One day he massacred 500 boyards who were dissatisfied with his
rule. The torture of men, women, and children, seems to have been his
delight. Certain Turkish envoys, when admitted into his presence,
refused to remove their turbans, whereupon he had them nailed to their
heads. He burned 400 missionaries and impaled 500 gipsies to secure
their property. In order to strike terror into Mohammed II. he crossed
over into Bulgaria, defeated the Turks, and brought back with him 25,000
prisoners, men, women, and children, whom he is said to have impaled
upon a large plain called Praelatu. Notwithstanding his successes,
however, Vlad was at length compelled to submit to the Turkish rule, and
he concluded the 'Second Capitulation' at Adrianople (1460), in which
the tribute