Page:Notes upon Russia (volume 2, 1851).djvu/188

kingdom of Hungary certainly appears to me to have been reduced to its present condition, not by the treachery of the fates, but by wicked and unjust administration. King Matthias, who was neither sprung from royal blood, nor illustrious by birth from any ancient stock of dukes or princes, was, nevertheless, a king, not only in name, but in reality, and not only bravely resisted the prince of the Turks, but endured without yielding his severest attacks; he even harrassed the emperor of the Romans himself, as well as the kings of Bohemia and Poland, and finally became a terror to all his neighbours. In the same degree, however, as the kingdom of Hungary attained to the height of power in the life of this king, through his valour and illustrious deeds, so when he was removed did it begin to sink, as if labouring under the burden of its own prosperity. For his successor Vladislaus, King of Bohemia, the eldest son of Casimir, King of Poland, although a pious, religious, and unblameable prince, was utterly incompetent to govern so warlike a people, especially in the presence of so great an enemy. For the Hungarians having become more brutal and insolent under such prosperity, abused the kindness and clemency of the king, and fell into licentiousness, luxury, sloth, and arrogance, vices which grew in them to such an extent, that they even held the king himself in contempt. Moreover, after the death of Vladislaus, these vices prevailed still more under his son Louis, and what warlike discipline remained amongst them, utterly decayed; nor could the youthful king, on account of his age, remedy these evils; for, indeed, in other respects he was not brought up to that seriousness of character which became his position. The chief nobles of the kingdom, and especially the prelates, indulged in a degree of luxury, which would scarcely be credited, and carried on a kind of rivalry amongst themselves and the barons as to which should surpass the other in profusion and splendour. They kept the rest of the nobility in