treaty with their father, initiated in the religion of the conqueror, and instructed in all the knowledge and exercises of the Turkish court. George, the youngest, by his qualities natural and acquired, soon gained the affections of Amurath, who promoted him to the command of important divisions of his army, in various expeditions. Learning the death of his father, and that his two brothers had been secretly cut off by Amuratb, who had caused Croia and Albania to be occupied as part of his dominions, George or Scanderbeg, as he was named after Alexander of Macedon, after many projects at last succeeded in withdrawing from his gilded slavery, and repaired to his native land. Acknowledged and cordially welcomed by his brave Albanians, he declared himself and his country free and independent. His whole life-time, down to his death in 1466, in his sixty-third year, exhibited an uninterrupted chain of warlike exploits in successful defence of his country, against the utmost exertions of the mighty Amurath and Mahomet, of which we of modern times can with difficulty credit the relation. Well was it said by a French officer, not a hundred years ago; "A plague on gun-powder! it has driven bravery and courage out of the world." Artillery, as applicable to sieges, was but just introduced into practice when the Turks invaded the dominions of Scanderbeg. Personal ingenuity, intrepidity, and perseverance in the field of battle, were therefore still in the highest request. The details of the warfare conducted by Scanderbeg consequently abound in acts and incidents of which examples can rarely occur in modern times, among the nations of Europe; but which may be found in the heroic or fabulous ages of antiquity, or in the personal exploits of the present race of mountaineers of Albania and the Montenegro. |