Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/233

Rh a gift which enabled him to consolidate his conquests, so as to render their retention a matter of no difficulty. Naturally ferocious and bloodthirsty, he aimed at a rule of terror, which he considered the surest protection of a sovereign. The saying is attributed to him that the throne of a monarch could never be safe unless its base were floating in blood. The ambitious tone of his mind may be well gathered from another of his favourite sayings, that as there was but one God in heaven, so there should be but one ruler on earth. Indomitable in will, he never formed a resolution without persisting in its execution, in spite of every difficulty. Opposition appeared only to increase his determination, and he thus succeeded in overcoming obstacles before which a less dauntless mind might have been cowed. His person was as singular and conspicuous as his character. He was lame, the result of a fall from the rampart of a fortress which he was assaulting. Notwithstanding this infirmity, he had an upright gait and a proud commanding air. His head was large, his brow expansive, and his hair, which was snowy white, combined with the ruddiness of his complexion to give him a most remarkable appearance. The game of chess was a passion with him, and he had but few equals in the art. Deeply imbued with superstition, he held the priesthood in profound reverence; at the same time his own religion has been much disputed, and appears to have been selected to suit his policy rather than his faith and convictions. As the great majority of his subjects were Mahometans, he adopted their tenets, but he seems never to have practised them very rigidly, nor to have hesitated in any breach of their laws which might advance his temporal prosperity.

Such was the ally whose aid the emperor of Constantinople had invoked, thus bringing upon Europe the savage who had hitherto contented himself with sweeping the vast plains of Asia. Timour, who was not over-pleased at the prospect of so powerful a neighbour as Bajazet, entered willingly into the views of the Greeks. He therefore at once sent an envoy to the Ottoman prince requiring him to desist from the further prosecution of his designs against Constantinople. He also called upon Bajazet to restore to the neighbouring princes, many of whom had taken refuge at his own court, those