daring enterprises, as Henry Morgan, a native of Wales. This man sailed in 1668 from Jamaica to attack Porto Bello; and his measures were so well concerted (planned) that, soon after his landing, he attacked the sentinels, and made himself master of the town, before the Spaniards could put themselves in a posture of defence.

In hopes of reducing, with the same facility, the fortress, into which the citizens had conveyed their most valuable property and all the plate belonging to the churches, Morgan thought of an expedient (contrivance) which discovers his knowledge of national characters, as well as of human nature in general. He compelled the nuns and other women, and also the priests, whom he had made prisoners, to plant the scaling ladders against the walls of the fortress, from a persuasion that the gallantry and superstition of the Spaniards would not suffer them to fire on the objects of their love and veneration. But he found himself deceived in this flattering conjecture (supposition). The Spanish governor, who was a resolute soldier, used his utmost efforts to destroy every one that approached the works (fortifications). Morgan and his English associates, however, carried the place by storm, in spite of all opposition; and found in it, beside a vast quantity of rich merchandize, bullion (uncoined gold and silver) and specie (coined gold and silver), equivalent (equal) to one hundred thousand pounds sterling.

With this booty Morgan and his crew returned to Jamaica, where he immediately planned a new enterprise. Understanding that De Basco and Lolonois (two other Buccaneers) had been disappointed with regard to the plunder of Maracaybo, by their imprudent delay, he resolved, from emulation (rivalry), no less than avidity, to surprise that place. With this view, in 1669, he collected fifteen vessels, carrying nine hundred and sixty men. These ravagers entered the gulf of Venezuela unobserved, silenced the fort that defended the passage to the lake of Maracaybo, and found the town, as before, perfectly deserted. But they were so fortunate as to discover the chief citizens, and the greater part of their wealth, in the neighbouring woods. Not satisfied, however, with this booty (prey), Morgan proceeded to Gibraltar (a town in Venezuela), which he found in the same desolate condition; and while he was attempting, by the

most horrid cruelties, to extort (force) from such of the inhabitants as had been seized, a discovery of their hidden treasures, he was informed of the arrival of three Spanish men-of-war at the entrance of the lake.

At this intelligence, which was confirmed by a boat dispatched to reconnoitre the enemy, the heart of the bravest Buccaneer sunk within him. But although Morgan considered his situation as desperate, his presence of mind did not forsake him. Concealing his apprehensions, he sent a letter to Don Alonzo del Campo, the Spanish admiral, boldly demanding a ransom for the city of Maracaybo. The admiral's answer was resolute, and excluded (shut out) all hopes of acting upon his fears. "I am come," said he, "to dispute your passage out of the lake, and I have the means of doing it. Nevertheless, if you will surrender, with humility, all the booty and prisoners you have taken, I will suffer you to pass, and permit you to return to your own country without molestation. But if you reject this offer or hesitate to comply (consent), I will order boats from Caraccas, in which I will embark my troops; and sailing to Maracaybo, will put every one of you to the sword. This is my final determination. Be prudent, therefore, and do not abuse my kindness by an ungrateful return. I have with me," added he, " very good troops who desire nothing more ardently, than to revenge on you and your people, all the cruelties and depredations (robberies) which you have committed upon the Spanish nation in America."

As soon as Morgan had received this letter, he called together his followers, and acquainting them with its contents, desired them to deliberate (consult) whether they would give up all their plunder, in order to secure their liberty, or fight for it? They unanimously (with one consent) answered that they would rather lose the last drop of their blood than resign (give up) a booty which had been purchased with so much peril. Morgan, however, sensible of his dangerous situation, endeavoured to compromise the matter, but in vain. The Spanish admiral continued to insist upon his first conditions. When Morgan was informed of this inflexibility, he coolly replied; "If Don Alonzo will not allow me to pass, I will find means to do so without his permission." He accordingly made a division of the spoil, that each man might

have his own property to defend; and, having filled a vessel, which he had taken from the enemy, with a preparation of gunpowder and other combustible materials, he gallantly proceeded to the mouth of the lake; burned two of the ships and took one; and by making a feint (pretence) of disembarking men, in order to attack the fort by land, he diverted (took off) the attention of the garrison to that side, while he passed the bar (rock or sand bank at the entrance of a river or lake) with his whole fleet, on the other, without receiving any damage.

The success of Morgan, like that of all ambitious leaders, served only to stimulate (impel) him to greater undertakings (1670). Having disposed of his booty at Port Royal in Jamaica, he put to sea with a larger fleet and a more numerous body of adventurers; and, after reducing the island of St. Catherine, where he procured a supply of naval and military stores, he steered for the river Chagre, the only grand object of his armament. At the mouth of this river stood a strong castle, built upon a rock, and defended by a good garrison, which threatened to baffle (elude) all the efforts of the Buccaneers, when an arrow, shot from the bow of an Indian, lodged in the eye of one of those resolute men: with wonderful firmness and presence of mind, he pulled the arrow from the wound, and wrapping one of its ends in tow, put it into his musket, which was already loaded, and discharged it into the fort, where the roofs of the houses were of straw and the sides of wood, conformably to the custom of building in that country. The burning arrow fell on the roof of one of the houses, which immediately took fire; a circumstance which threw the Spaniards into the utmost consternation, as they were afraid, every moment, of perishing by the rapid approach of the flames, or the explosion (blowing up) of the powder magazine. After the death of the governor, who bravely perished, sword in hand, at the head of a few determined men, the place surrendered to the assailants.

This obstacle being removed, Morgan and his associates, leaving the larger vessels under a guard, sailed up the Chagre in boats to Cruces, and thence proceeded by land to Panama. On the Savannah, a spacious plain before the city, the Spaniards made several attempts to repel the ferocious invaders, but without effect; the Buccaneers

gained a decided superiority in every encounter (contest). Foreseeing the overthrow of their military protectors, the unarmed inhabitants sought refuge in the woods; Morgan then took quiet possession of Panama, and deliberately plundered it for some days.

Preparatory to their return, the booty was divided, and Morgan's share alone is said to have amounted to nearly one hundred thousand pounds sterling. He carried all his wealth to Jamaica, and never afterwards engaged in any piratical enterprise.

The defection (falling off) of Morgan, and of several other principal leaders, who sought and found an asylum in the bosom of that civil society, whose laws they had so atrociously violated, with the total separation of the English and French Buccaneers, (in consequence of the war between the two nations, which followed the Revolution in 1688,) broke the force of those powerful plunderers. The king of Spain, being then in alliance with England, she repressed the piracies of her subjects in the West Indies (1690). The French Buccaneers continued their depredations with success, till the peace of Ryswick in 1697; when all differences between France and Spain having been adjusted (made up), a stop was everywhere put to hostilities, and not only the association, but the very name of this extraordinary set of men, soon became extinct. They were insensibly lost among the other European inhabitants of the West Indies.

READING LXX.

THE SIEGE OF VIENNA.

1683.

In this year the utmost consternation pervaded the continent of Europe, in consequence of the empire of Austria being threatened with invasion by the Turks. The followers of Mahomet had suffered Hungary to breathe during the thirty years' war which overturned Germany. From the year 1541, they had been in possession of both sides of the Danube, to Buda, inclusively.

The conquests of Amurath IV. in Persia had alone prevented him from turning his arms towards Germany.

No people, perhaps, were more miserable at this period, than the Hungarians. Their country, which was depopulated, poor, and distracted between the Catholic and Protestant factions, was, at the same time overrun by the armies of the Turks and the empire. Ragotski, prince of Transylvania, is said to have been the first cause of these misfortunes; he was a tributary to the Porte (Turkish government), and by refusing to pay his tribute drew the Ottoman arms upon him.

The Hungarians, however, having been delivered from the Turks, by the victory gained by the celebrated Montecuculli in 1663, endeavoured in the next place to defend their liberties against the emperor Leopold, who respected no privileges but those of his own crown. New troubles now broke forth; young Emeric Tekeli, an Hungarian nobleman, who had the blood of his friends and relations to revenge, which had been shed by the court of Vienna, prevailed on that part of Hungary which was under the dominion of the emperor Leopold to revolt, and then put himself under the protection of Sultan Mahomet IV., who made him king of Upper Hungary.

Kara

The blood of the Hungarian noblemen of Tekeli's party, which had been spilt by the hands of the common executioner at Vienna, had well nigh cost Leopold and his family the loss of Vienna and Austria. Mustapha, who had succeeded Achmet Cuprogli as prime minister, was ordered by Mahomet IV. to attack the emperor, under pretence of revenging Tekeli. The sultan himself came and assembled his army, one of the most numerous that the Turks had ever sent into the field, in the plain of Adrianople. It consisted of upwards of on hundred thousand regular troops, and about thirty thousand Crim Tartars, making, together with the volunteers, those who served the artillery, or had the care of the baggage and provisions, workmen of all kinds, and servants, full three hundred thousand men. The whole kingdom of Hungary was hardly sufficient to furnish provisions for this multitude.

Leopold, foreseeing that the gathering storm would finally break upon Germany, besides demanding the assistance of the princes of the empire, concluded an offen