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 numbered about twelve thousand, and were drawn up under the sultan's own eye before the gate of St. Romanus, in the centre of the great wall.

This now famous force had already decided more than one doubtful struggle in favour of the Turks, and had bid fair to become "the arch of Ottoman greatness." Its composition was such as to make it as far as possible a pure military caste, which knew nothing but its master's orders, and was wholly free from the ordinary sympathies and sentiments of mankind. The janissary, like the Jesuit, was an isolated being: he was a simple soldier, without a single home tie, devoted heart and soul to the cause in which he was enlisted. Taken in early childhood by conscription from among the offspring of Christian parents captured in war by the Turks, or purchased, it might be, in the slave-market of Constantinople, he was bred and trained a Mahometan for the special service of his masters. It was probably Orchan, the second prince of the House of Othman, who first exacted from the conquered peoples a tribute of children, and thus, as has been said, turned their strength against themselves. The janissaries were invariably supported by the religious orders of Turkey, with whom from their education they were brought into the closest sympathy. Thus they were felt to represent the Turkish people, and to be, in fact, a national guard, always prepared to stand up for the nation's rights, and thoroughly identified with its history and traditions. To their devotion the Ottoman dynasty long owed its stability. In after times, that which had been the empire's strength became its weak-