than which, with the good leave of Italy, I must say, she possesses not a finer or a larger. Introduced into the wardrobe, I saw so many costly garments, loaded with gold, jewels and pearls; such tapestry hangings; so many gold and silver vessels wrought with exquisite skill, that I deem fifty men* could not carry them. Amongst other things I saw steps (qy. stove, in Latin stuffam, in German stufe,) of pure silver, of such height and size that two persons can scarcely embrace them; also two unicorns, the one like a common horse the other like an ass, with their real horns; further, admirable crucifixes and altar ornaments, upwards of 590 large dishes, 300 golden goblets, and trenchers and basins without number, all which cannot in truth be justly estimated. Such precious household stuff, such, such precious plate, such an adorned hall have I seen of this king's, that I believe the glory of Solomon could not be greater."

This perhaps is the place for mentioning that to Mathias Corvinus we are said to owe the invention of posting in carriages, and indeed of carriages themselves; coaches deriving their very name from Hungary-for Count Mailáth says:

"Tomori made use of the posting established by Mathias Corvinus, and journeyed in one of the light carriages, called Kocsi by the Hungarians, to the king at Vissegrad."

And in a note he appends to this the following explanation.

"The light Hungarian carriages drawn by three horses changed horses every four or six miles [German miles of course, each equal to upwards of four English miles]. *** The carriages derived their name from the town Kocs, either because invented there, or because the Kocs peasants were the best drivers. * ** Lithius, in his notes on Bonfin, calls Mathias Corvinus the inventor of these carriages. And even if he did not invent the carriage itself, the arrangement for changing carriage and horses may with all likelihood be attributed to him."

But however the Hungarians might object to the belligerent propensities of Mathias, or to his occasional assumption of arbitrary power, he was during his life, and remained after death, their darling and their pride. The fond admiration still attached to his name may have been enhanced by the disasters that followed his death, from Turkish conquest, civil wars, and final loss of independence; but that it does not spring from such causes, that it existed amongst his contemporaries, is evident from the number of anecdotes, and of pictures by pen and pencil, of their great king, preserved and transmitted to us. To these Mailáth

dedicates a whole chapter, from which we shall make ample extracts. He begins with the personal appearance of his hero.

*This correspondence is in Latin, and the word is maribus, which a Hungarian writer conceives to be a mistake for navibus.

"Mathias was of a middle stature; with hair reddish and curly, eyes black, large, vivacious, and fiery, often suffused as it were with blood; his face was ruddy, his nose straight, his mouth rather wide, his gaze the lion's. Whomsoever he looked full in the face, to him he was favourably disposed; him to whom he gave a side glance, he disliked. He was wide-chested, broad-shouldered; his fingers were long and the little one he seldom straightened. The aspect of the man was martial; and when he sat on horseback he seemed larger than usual.

"Four pictures of him have come down to us, all contemporary, all dissimilar** *.

"Mathias was one of the best horsemen of his time, and skilful in all martial exercises. His knowledge was great. Besides his mothertongue, he was acquainted with the German, Sclavonian, Latin, and Bulgarian or Turkish languages. The classics were his favourite study; he was familiar with Frontinus and Vegetius, and on retiring to rest he read Livy or Quintus Curtius, to whom he was very partial, or some other classic, after he was in bed. He likewise read the Holy Scriptures very diligently, and astonished those about him with the number of texts he quoted by heart. He was addicted to astrology, and not unversed in other sciences, although he bestowed no especial study upon them. He owed this to his constant intercourse with the learned men of his court, and to his natural quickness.

"To business he most sedulously attended. He read every letter immediately; the answers he generally directed his private secretary to write, and read them over; but frequently he dictated or wrote them himself. His autograph style was most laconic; of which two specimens may suffice. Upon occasion of a dispute respecting the nomination to a prebend, he wrote to the Pope: Your Holiness may be assured that the Hungarian nation will rather convert the double cross that is the ensign of our realm into a triple cross, than suffer the benefices and prelacies belonging of right to the crown, to be conferred by the apostolic see.' A letter in his own hand to the men of Buda runs thus:'Mathias, by God's Grace, King of Hungary. Good-morrow, citizens. you do not all come to the King, you lose your heads. Buda. King."

If

The

"With the troops he lived as with his equals. He knew every common soldier by name. He visited the sick in their tents, and himself administered their medicines; the desponding he encouraged; in battle he often bound up wounds with his own hand. Accordingly the army was devoted to him, even unto death. The troops often fought without pay.

"In the first year of his reign he lived like the old Magyar kings. The palace was negligently, or not at all guarded. Many tables were daily laid, at which he eat in friendship and sociability with the great men of his kingdom. The doors were open during the repast; beggars and collectors entered freely, and every one, even the poorest, might speak to the king. Subsequently, when he had married Beatrice, he was more reserved. The court was regulated after the Italian fashion,

VOL. XXIV. NO. XLVII.

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and the residence adorned with all the luxury of the age. Door-keepers were appointed, the king was no longer accessible; only at stated times did he appear, and administer justice."

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"In one of his Turkish campaigns he visited the enemy's camp, with a single companion, both disguised as peasants. All day long Mathias sold eatables before the tent of the Turkish general. In the evening he returned in safety. Next morning he wrote to the Turk that he had himself explored his camp, and to authenticate his statement named the dishes that had been served up to the Ottoman. The Moslem was scared, and fled.

"At the siege of Shabacz he disguised himself as a common soldier, got into a small boat with a single attendant and a rower, and was rowed along the fortress, in quest of the best place to assault. The Turks fired upon them; the attendant was killed, but the king, without a symptom of alarm, continued his exploration of the walls."

We here adduce another anecdote relative to the same subject, which our author has separated from it. In fact he seems to have written his anecdotes as he happened to light upon them, without the slightest regard to order or classification.

"During the siege of Vienna the king entered the town in disguise, and after strolling about sat a long time, as though to rest. Suddenly it was rumoured that Mathias was within the walls, and he was every where sought. The report reached him; without discovering any alarm, he took a wheel in which was a broken spoke, and rolling it before him, walked along the street, passed out at the gate, and returned to his camp. When Vienna was taken, the Hungarians, in commemoration of his disguise, danger, and escape, caused his image to be carved in stone, and set it up in the place where he had so long sat and rested."

The following anecdotes of his mode of giving audience evince great adroitness in baffling arrogance, and extraordinary readiness and powers of mind.

"A Turkish ambassador boasted that he had by his eloquence swayed at his pleasure every prince to whom he had been sent, and that even so would he manage King Mathias. Mathias was informed of the vaunt and ordered Neustadt, which he was then besieging, to be stormed upon the day appointed for the Turk's audience. He led him to the scene of action, received his communications amidst a shower of balls and arrows; answered upon the instant, and dismissed him. The envoy was so amazed and bewildered that he entirely forgot the king's answer. In vain did he beseech its repetition; Mathias gave him a letter to Bajazet, in which he requested the sultan to send him in future men who were capable of noting a message.

"At Vissegrad he once received a Turkish envoy in full regal state: and looked at him so formidably that the diplomatist altogether forgot his errand, and could say nothing more than, The Emperor greets;

'The Emperor greets.' Thereupon the king turned to his court and said, 'See what beasts are suffered, by our own fault, to ravage our lands and those of other princes! ' Then followed the proclamation of a Turkish war, and the Moslem was sent home."

"Envoys from the King of Poland presented themselves at Vissegrad, and made a speech in the Polish tongue that lasted full two hours. When it was ended Mathias inquired whether they wished the answer to be in Polish or in Latin? The envoys referred that to the king's pleasure. Then did the king recapitulate all that the envoys had said during these two hours, improved the arrangement of their matter, and refuted it point by point, to the astonishment of the envoys and of all present."

Of this monarch's love of justice, we are told;

"The king's justice was so generally known as to have become proverbial. The Magyar says even to the present day, 'Mathias is dead and justice is lost."

"When the war broke out between Hungary and Austria, a brave officer accosted Mathias with a request for leave to join the Emperor Frederic, to whom he had pledged himself by oath to return in case of war, be he where he might. The king dismissed him with rich presents, and extolled him highly for having preferred his oath to his own interest and a king's favour.

"It was reported to the king that some of his court designed to poison him. The accusation did not seem improbable; but Mathias replied: 'He who governs justly has neither poison nor dagger to fear; and what is most probable is not always true.'

As Mathias was deemed by his subjects and himself so just a king, he may have fancied, however erroneously, the right to be on his side in his attempt to wrest Bohemia from his father-in-law. The following however shows somewhat whimsically that his notions of right and wrong were derived strictly from precedent.

"During the Bohemian war, a person accosted Mathias Corvinus, and undertook to slay King George by the sword, in consideration of a reward of 5000 ducats. Mathias promised him the reward, but the man presently saw that the thing was impracticable. He returned to Mathias, confessed that he found it impossible to kill King Podiebrad by the sword, but offered to poison him. Mathias forbade him, saying: The Roman Fabricius warned his enemy Pyrrhus against poison.' And he forthwith sent to admonish King George to have his food tasted, as he was in danger of being poisoned."

The next anecdote shall be our last, and should perhaps have followed the account of the king's skill in martial exercises, but comes not amiss as the close.

"There came to Buda a stout combatant, named Holubar, of marvellous size and strength, who was reputed invincible in tournament. The king, excited by his fame, challenged him. Holubar declined the proposed tilting match; but Mathias defied him a second time. Holubar then accepted the challenge, resolving to yield to the king's least blow, and let himself be unhorsed. This was reported to Mathias, who compelled Holubar to take an oath that he would fight with him (the king) as with his worst enemy. * Many thousand men witnessed the tournament. The two combatants ran at each other; Holubar, struck on the head and borne backwards off his horse, lay swooning on the ground, with a broken arm. The king, struck on the breast by his antagonist's spear, fell sideways out of the saddle, but held himself on by the horse's mane. Mathias caused Holubar to be well leeched, and upon his recovery bestowed rich garments and much money upon him."

* *

We must now turn to the close of this extraordinary man's life. He had no legitimate children, and tried hard to induce the Estates of the kingdom to choose his natural son, John Corvinus, for a successor. In this he failed, partly by the opposition of Queen Beatrice, who seems, however, to have been instigated either by a step-mother's feelings or by a hope of marrying the next king, and not by conjugal jealousy; for John Corvinus, now of man's estate, must have been born prior to her marriage. In the midst of his exertions for this object, and in the vigour of manhood, death overtook Mathias.

"It was on Palm Sunday that he returned from church fatigued; he ordered dinner to wait for the queen, but asked for some figs. Bad ones, that he could not eat, were brought him, and he was exceedingly angered. The queen now came in; soothed him, and offered him various viands; but he refused all, complained of dizziness and a cloud before his eyes, and was led to his room, where he was struck with apoplexy. John Corvinus, the Bishop of Erlau, and all the grandees poured in; and it was a sad sight to behold the king, tortured with pain, and unable to speak, whilst only the jaj! jaj! (oh! oh!) of suffering, or the sacred name of Jesus, passed his lips. The queen alone retained presence of mind; she encouraged the physicians, forcibly opened his firmly-compressed lips, and administered medicine; she opened his half-closed eyes, she left nothing unattempted to recall him to life. His pains nevertheless increased; he sometimes roared like a lion; his greatest grief was that he could not speak. He looked now at the queen, now at his son; he was evidently struggling for words. The queen tried to guess his thoughts, and asked did he mean this or that? In vain! He could neither assent nor deny. So passed this day and the next. His sufferings then relaxed, but he remained dumb. In the morning of the third day, it was conjectured from his gestures that he was appealing to the mercy of God; and before eight o'clock, Mathias was dead." [He was not fifty years of age.]