both of town and citadel to the Sultan, to whose camp the prelate also betook himself. Komorn was abandoned by its garrison. Raab also fell, but not till it had been set on fire by the fugitives. Altenburg in Hungary was betrayed into the hands of the enemy. Brück on the Leitha, on the contrary, defended itself stoutly; and the Sultan, pleased with the constancy and courage of its defenders, willingly accorded them terms in virtue of which they were pledged to do him homage only after the fall of Vienna. Content with this compact, he ceased his attack on the city, marched past under its walls, and strictly forbade all injury to the district in its dependence. Wiener Neustadt also defended itself with spirit, and in one day repelled five attempts to storm its defences in the most heroic manner. Several other places, among them Closterneuburg, and Perchtoldsdorf, and some castles held out with success.[3] Such occasional opposition was scarcely distasteful to Soliman, for whom invariable and cheap success had not its usual attraction. His far-reaching ambition looked to a sovereignty of the West corresponding to that which his ancestors had asserted over the East, and he remarked with complacency the valour of men whom he destined for his future subjects. For the same reason he detested cowardice in the ranks of his opponents, and punished it with the same severity as if it had exhibited itself in his own. In contemplation also of the immensity of his force, the rapidity of his progress, and the unprepared condition of Austria, he held success for certain, and isolated instances of resistance could, as he conceived, only afford useful practice to his troops without affecting the general and inevitable result. In fact, the aspect of the time for Austria was one of gloom and danger. The main force of the enemy was hard upon the frontier, which had already been crossed at several points by the terrible bands of Michael Oglou; and from the walls of Vienna the horizon was seen reddened with the flames of burning villages, while within the city little or nothing had yet been done for its fortification and defence. It is true that, on the near approach of the danger, Ferdinand had called meetings of the States, as well in Austria as in the other provinces of his hereditary dominions; and had for this object proceeded in person through Styria, Carinthia, Tyrol, and Bohemia. The cause was everywhere taken up with much alacrity. In Austria the tenth man was called out for service; the other provinces undertook to furnish considerable forces; and Bohemia promised, in case of the actual invasion of Austria, to send to her aid every man capable of bearing arms. The King, however, saw but too well that with all this aid he would be no match in the field for the Sultan’s force; and he turned his thoughts to the Empire, in which the religious disputes of the time presented serious difficulties in the way of the assistance he required.