Bajazet, his son and successor, surnamed “Ilderim,” or Lightning, was a man of fiery and energetic temperament. His territory was rapidly extended over the whole country, from Boursa to Adrianople, from the Danube to the Euphrates. He turned his arms against Hungary; and at Nicopolis defeated 100,000 Christians, who had proudly boasted that if the sky should fall they could uphold it on their lances. Bajazet boasted that he would advance to Germany and Italy, and feed his horse with a bushel of oats on the altar of St. Peter’s at Rome. A fit of the gout prevented his fulfilment of this threat. Meanwhile there rose up another great Mogul conqueror, Timour, or Tamerlane, who avenged the defeat of his ancestors upon the Turks. Bajazet (who had assumed the title of sultan) was conquered and taken captive. From the Irtysh and Volga to the Persian Gulf, and from the Ganges to Damascus and the Archipelago, Asia was in the hands of Timour; his armies were invincible, his ambition was boundless, and his zeal might have aspired to conquer and convert the Christian kingdoms of the West, which already trembled at his name. But he was not master of a single galley, with which to cross the Bosphorus or Dardanelles. This insuperable obstacle checked his career. At length he died, and the Ottoman power, like a strong tree recovering itself after a storm, began again to stand erect and flourish. The great-grandson of Bajazet was Mahomet II. He emulated the Grecian Alexander. He laid siege to Constantinople, investing it with an army of 258,000 Turks. His navy comprised about 320 vessels, of which 18 were galleys of war. He had engaged the services of a Danish, or Hungarian, founder of cannon, who made him a field-piece capable of throwing a ball, which weighed 600 pounds, more than a mile. This could be fired only seven times in one day. Never before had the recent invention of gunpowder been employed with such terrible effect as at this siege of Constantinople. The inhabitants of that city were more than 100,000, but of those not more than 4,970, together with a body of 2,000 strangers, were capable of bearing arms. How small a garrison to defend a city of thirteen, or perhaps sixteen, miles in extent! Yet, under these doleful circumstances, the city was distracted with religious discord, just as Jerusalem was before and during its siege by Titus. An immense chain closed the mouth of the harbor, whilst the mouth of the Bosphorus was defended by a fleet which was superior to that of the Turks. The city seemed incapable of being reduced. The Turks despaired: the Christians triumphed. In this perplexity it occurred to Mahomet to transport his fleet across the land. By amazing ingenuity and toil, he accomplished this feat. The distance was ten miles, yet in a single night he thus launched eighty of his light vessels into the harbor. The success of this scheme was perfect. He found his way into the city, which was taken May 29th, 1453.