COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS BY SIR WALTER SCOTT. THE ASSASSIN AND VARANGIAN. EDINBURGH: ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK. COUNT EGBERT OF PARIS BY SIR WALTER SCOTT, Baet. The European with the Asian shore — Sophia's cupola with golden gleam — The cypress groves— Olympus high and hoar— The twelve isles, and the more than I could dream. Far less describe, present tlie very view That charm'd the charming Mary Montagu. Don Jtutn. EDIj^BUKGIi ADAM AND CHAELES BLACK 1863 PRssn TALES OF MY LANDLORD, COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. ADVERTISEMENT. [Sir Walter Scott transmitted from Naples, in February 1832, an Introduction for Castle Dangerous ; but if he ever wrote one for a Second Edition of Robert op Paris^ it has. not been discovered among his papers. Some notes, chiefly extracts from the books which he had been obsen^ed to consult while dictatiiuj this novel, are now appended to its jDages ; and in addition to what the author had given in the shape of historical infor- mation respecting the principal real persons introduced, the ro*ider is hero presented with what may probably amuse him, the passage of the Alexiad, in which Anna Comnena describes the incident which originally, no doubt, determined Sir Walter's choice of a hero. May, A.D. 1097. — " As for the multitude of those who advanced towards THE GREAT CITY, let it bo enough to say that they were as the stars in the heaven, or as the sand upon the sea-shore. They were, in the words of Homer, as many as the leaves and fiowers of spring. But for the names of the leaders, though they are present in my memory, I will not relate them. The numbers of these would alone deter me, even if my language furnished the means of expressing their barbarous sounds ; and for what purpose should I afflict my readers with a long enumeration of the names of those, whose visible presence gave so much horror to all that beheld them ? *' As soon, therefore, as they approached the Great City, they occupied .the station ai^pointed for them by the Emperor, near to the monastery of Cosmidius. But this multitude were not, like the Hellenic one of old, to be restrained and governed by the loud voices of nine heralds ; they re- quired the constant superintendence of chosen and valiant soldiers, to keep them from violating the commands of the Emperor. " He, meantime, laboured to obtain from the other leaders that acknow- ledgment of his supreme authority, which had already been drawn from Godfrey [rourocppe] himself. But, notwithstanding the willingness of some to accede to tliis proposal, and their assistance in working on the minds of their associates, the Emperor's endeavours had little success, as the majority were looking for the arrival of Bohemund [Bai/.ioi'Tos], in whon^ they placed their chief confidence, and resorted to eYsij ai-t with the view iV ADVERTISEMENT. of gaining time. The Emperor, whom it was not easy to deceive, pene- trated their motives ; and by granting to one powerful person demands which had been supposed out of all bounds of expectation, and by resort- ing to a variety of other devices, he at leng-th prevailed, and won general assent to the following of the example of Godfrey, who also was sent for in person to assist in this business. ''All, therefore, being assembled, and Godfrey among them, the oath was taken ; but when all was finished, a certain Noble among these Counts had the audacity to seat himself on the throne of the Emperor. [ToAurjoros Tis OTTO TravTuy rcav Ko/jLrjrcou ivyevris cis top aKifj^noSa tov BactAecoy iKaOicrev']. The Emperor restrained himself and said nothing, for he was well acquainted of old with the nature of the Latins. " But the Count Baldwin [BaASouivos] stepping forth, and seizing him by the hand, dragged him thence, and with many reproaches said, ' It becomes thee not to do such things here, especially after having taken the oath of fealty [^8ov\eiav uTrotrxOjUe^'cJj. It is not the custom of the Koman Emperors to permit any of their inferiors to sit beside thorn, not even of such as are born subjects of their empire ; and it is necessary to respect the customs of the country,' But he, answering nothing to Baldwin, stared yet more fixedly upon the Emperor, and muttered to himself some- thing in his own dialect, which, being interpreted, was to this effect — ' Behold what rustic fellow [x^p'''^iis] is this, to be seated alone while such leaders stand arovmd him ! ' The movement of his lips did not escape the Emperor, who called to him one that understood the Latin dialect, and inquired what words the man had spoken. When he heard them, the Emperor said nothing to the other Latins, but kept the thing to himself. When, however, the business was all over, he called near to him by him- self that swelling and shameless Latin [v^^v^ocppoua iKeivov kui ayaiSi^, and asked of him, who he was, of what lineage, and from what region he had come. * I am a Frank,' said he, 'of pure blood, of the Nobles. One thing I know, that where thi^ee roads meet in the place from which I came, there is an ancient church, in which whosoever has the desire to measure himself against another in single combat, prays God to help him therein, and afterwards abides the coming of one willing to encounter him. At that spot long time did I remain, but the man bold enough to stand against me I found not.' Hearing these w^ords the Emperor said, 'If hitherto thou hast sought battles in vain, the time is at hand which will furnish thee with abundance of them. And I advise thee to place thyself neither before tlie phalanx, nor in its rear, but to stand fast in the midst of thy fellow- soldiers ; for of old time I am well acquainted with the warfare of the Turks.' With such advice he dismissed not only this man, but the rest of those who were about to depart on that expedition." — Alexiad, Book x., pp. 237, 238. Ducange, as is mentioned in the novel, identifies the church, thus do- scribed by the crusader, with that of Oitr Lady of Soissons, of which a French poet of the days of Louis VII. says — Veiller y vont encore li Pelerin Cil qui bataille veulent fere et fournir. Ducange in Alexiad, p. 86. The Princess Anna Comnena, it may be proper to observe, was born on the first of December, a.D. 1083, and was consequently in her fifteenth year when the chiefs of the first crusade made their appearance in her father's court. Even then, however, it is not improbable that she might have been the wife of Nicephorus Bryennius, whom, many years after his ADVERTISEMENT. y death, she speaks of in her history as rou €iJ.ov Kaicrapa, and in other terms equally affectionate. The bitterness with which she uniformly mentions Bohemund, Count of Tarentum, afterwards Prince of Antioch, has, how- ever^ been ascribed to a disappointment in love ; and on one remarkable occasion, the Princess certainly expressed great contempt of her husband, I am aware of no other authorities for the liberties taken with this lady's conjugal character in the novel. Her husband, Nicephorus Bryennius, was the grandson of the person of that name, who figures in history as the rival, in a contest for the imperial throne, of Nicephorus Botoniates, He was, on his marriage with Anna Comnena, invested with the rank of Pojihypersehastos, or Oranium Av.gv.s- iissimus ; but Alexius deeply offended him, by afterwards recognising the superior and simpler dignity of a Sehasios. His eminent qualities, both in peace and war, are acknowledged by Gibbon : and he has left us four books of Memoirs, detailing the early part of his father-indaw's history, and valuable as being the woi'k of an eyewitness of the most important events which he describes. Anna Comnena appears to have considered it her duty to take up the task Avhich her husband had not lived to complete ; and hence the Alexiad — certainlj'-, with all its defects, the first historical work that has as yet proceeded from a female pen. ''The life of the Emperor Alexius," says Gibbon, "has been delineated by the pen of a favourite daughter, who was inspired by tender regard for his person, and a laudable zeal to perpetuate his virtues. Conscious of the just suspicion of her readers, the Princess repeatedly protests that, besides her personal knowledge, she had searched the discourses and writings of the most respectable veterans ; and that after an interval of thirty years, forgotten by, and forgetful of the world, her mournful solitude was inac- cessible to hope and fear : that truth, the naked perfect truth, was more dear than the memory of her parent. Yet instead of the simplicity of style and narrative which wins our belief, an elaborate affectation of rhetoric and science betrays in every page the vanity of a female author. The genuine character of Alexius is lost in a vague constellation of virtues ; and the perpetual strain of panegyric and apology awakens our jealousy to question the veracity of the historian, and the merit of her hero. We cannot, however, refuse her judicious and important remark, that the disorders of the times were the misfortune and the glory of Alexius ; and that every calamity which can afflict a declining empire was accumulated on his reign by the justice of Heaven and the vices of his predecessors. In the east, the victorious Turks had spread, from Persia to the Hellespont, the reign of the Koran and the Crescent ; the west was invaded by the adventui'ous valour of the Normans ; and, in the moments of peace, the Danube poured forth new swarms, who had gained in the science of war what they had lost in the ferociousness of their manners. The sea was not less hostile than the land ; and, while the frontiers were assaulted by an open enemy, the palace was disti-acted with secret conspiracy and treason. " On a sudden, the banner of the Cross was displa3^ed by the Latins ; Europe was precipitated on Asia ; and Constantinople had almost been swept away by this impetuous deluge. In the tempest Alexius steered the imperial vessel with dexterity and courage. At the head of his armies, he was bold in action, skilful in stratagem, patient of fatigue, ready to improve his advantages, and rising from his defeats with inexhaustible vigour. The discipline of the camp was reversed, and a new generation of men and soldiers was created by the precepts and example of their leader. In his intercourse with the Latins, Alexius was patient and artful ; his dis- cerning eye pervaded the new system of an unknown world. "The increase of the male and female branches of his family adorned t! advertisement. the throne, and secured the succession ; but their princely luxury and pride offended the patricians, exhausted the revenue, and insulted the misery of the people. Anna is a faithful witness that his happiness was destroyed and his health broken by the cares of a public life ; the patience of Constantinople was fatigued by the length and severity of his reign ; and before Alexius expired, he had lost the love and reverence of bis sxibjects. The clergy could not forgive his application of the sacred riches to the defence of the state ; but they applauded his theological learning, and ardent zeal for the oi-thodox faith, which he defended with his tongue, his pen, and bis sv/ord. Even the sincerity of his moral and religious virtues was sus- pected by the persons who had passed their lives in his confidence. In his last hours, when he was pressed by his wife Irene to alter the succes- sion, he raised his head, and breathed a pious ejaculation on the vanity of the world. The indignant reply of the Empress maj be inscribed as an epitaph on his tomb, — ' You die, as you have lived — a hypocrite.' " it was the wish of Irene to supplant the eldest of her sons in favour of her daughter, the Princess Anna, whose philosophy woiild not have refused the v/eight of a diadem. But the order of male succession was asserted by the friends of then- country ; the lawful heir drew the royal sig-net from the finger of his insensible or conscious father, and the empire obeyed the master of the palace, Anna Comnena was stimulated by ambition and revenge to conspire against the life of her brother ; and when the design was prevented b}'- the fears or scruples of her husband, she passionately ex- claimed that nature had mistaken the two sexes, and had endowed Brycn- nius with the soul of a woman. After the discovery of her treason, the life and fortune of Anna were justly forfeited to the laws. Her life was spared by the clemencj'- of the emperor, but he visited the jJomp and treas\ares of her palace, and bestowed the rich confiscation on the m.ost deserving of his friends." — Histonj of the Decline and Fall of the Roriian Empire, chap, siviii. The year of Anna's death is nowhere recorded. She appears to have written the Alexioxl in a convent ; and to have spent nearly thirty. years m this retirement, before her book was published. For accurate particulars of the public events touched on in .Rohert of Paris, the reader is referred to the above quoted author, chapters xlviii., xlix., and 1. ; and to the first volume of Mills' Historj- of the Crusades. J. G. L.j LoxDON, 1st March 18X3. INTRODUCTOEY ADDRESS. JEDEDIAII CLEISHBOTHAM, U.A, To the loving Reader wisheth Jcealth and jjrosyjeriti/. It would ill become me, whose name has been spread aoroad by those for- mer collections bearing this title of " Tales of my Landlord," and who have, by the candid voice of a numerons crowd of readers, been taught to think that I merit not the empty fame alone, but also the more substantial rewards, of successful pencraft — it would, I say, ill become me to suffer this, my youngest literary babe, and, jjrobably at the same time, the last child of mine old age, to pass into the world without some such modest apology for its defects as it has been my custom to put forth on preceding occasions of the like nature. The world has been sufficiently instnacted, of a truth, that I am not individually the person to whom is to be ascribed the actual inventing or designing of the scheme upon which these Tales, which men have found so pleasing, were originally constructed ; as also that neither am I the actual workman, who, furnished by a skilful archi- tect with an acciu-ate plan, including elevations and directions both general and particular, has from thence toiled to bring forth and complete the intended shape and projDortion of each division of the edifice. Neverthe- less, I have been indisputably the man, who, in placing my name at the head of the undertaking, have rendered myself mainly and principally re- sponsible for its general success. When a ship of war goeth forth to battle with her crew, consisting of sundry foremast-men and various officers, such subordinate persons are not said to gain or lose the vessel which thej'- have manned or" attacked (although each was natheless suflftciently active in his own department) ; but it is forthwith bruited and noised abroad, without further phrase, that Captain Jedediah Cleishbotham hath lost such a seventy-four, or won that which, by the united exertions of all thereto pertaining, is taken from the enemy. In the same manner, shame and soxTow it were, if I, the voluntary captain and founder of these adven- tures, after having uj^on throe divers occasions assumed to myself the emoluments and reputation thereof, should now withdraw myself from the risks of failure proper to this fourth and last outgoing. No ! I will rather addi-ess my associates in this bottom with the constant spirit of Matthew Prioi''s heroine : — " Did I hut purpose to embark with tliee On the smooth surface of some sunmiev sea, But would forsake tlie waves, and make the shore, When the winds whistle, and the billows roar ? " y;\\[ INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. As little, nevertheless, would it become my years and station not to admit without cavil certain errors which may justly be pointed out in these con- cluding " Tales of My Landlord/' — the last, and, it is manifest, never carefully revised or corrected handiwork, of Mr Peter Pattison, now no more ; the same worthy young man now so repeatedly mentioned in these Introductory Essays, and never without that tribute to his good sense and talents, nay, even genius, which his contributions to this my undertaking fairly entitled him to claim at the hands of his surviving friend and patron. These pages, I have said, were the nltimus labor of mine ingenious assist- ant ; but I say not, as the great Dr Pitcairn of his hero — uliimus aiqitc optimus. Alas ! even the giddiness attendant on a journey on this Man- chester railroad is not so perilous to the nerves, as that too frequent exer- cise in the merry-go-round of the ideal world, whereof the tendency to render the fancj^ confused, and the judgment inert, hath in all ages been noted, not only by the erudite of the earth, but even by many of the thick- witted Ofelli themselves ; whether the rapid pace at which the fancy moveth in such exercitations, where the wish of the penman is to him like Prince Houssain's tapestry, in the Eastern fable, be the chief source of peril— or whether, without reference to this wearing speed of movement, the dwelling habitually in those realms of imagination, be as little suited for a man's intellect, as to breathe for any considerable space ''the diffi- cult air of the mountain- top " is to the physical structure of his outward frame — this question belongeth not to me ; but certain it is, that we often discover in the works of the foremost of this order of men, marks of be- wilderment and confusion, such as do not so frequently occur in those of persons to whom nature hath conceded fancy weaker of wing, or less am- bitious in fhght. It is affecting to see the gi'eat Miguel Cervantes himself, even like the sons of meaner men, defending himself against the critics of the day, who assailed him upon such little discrepancies and inaccuracies as are apt to cloud the progress even of a mind like his, when the evening is closing around it, " It is quite a common thing," says Don Quixote, " for men who have gained a very great reputation by their writings before they were printed, quite to lose it afterwards, or, at least, the greater part." — "The reason is plain," answers the Bachelor Carrasco ; "their faults are more easily discovered after the books are jDrinted, as being then more read, and more narrowly examined, especially if the author has been much, cried up before, for then the severity of the scrutiny is sure to be the greater. Those who have raised themselves a name by their own ingenuity, great poets and celebrated historians, are commonly, if not always, envied by a set of men who delight in censuring the writings of others, though they could never produce any of their own." — "That is no wonder," quoth Don Quixote; "there are many divines that would make but very dull preachers, and yet are quick enough at finding faults and superfluities in other men s sermons." — " All this is true," says Car- rasco, " and therefore I could wish such censurers would be more mer- ciful and less scrupulous, and not dwell ungenerously upon small spots that are in a manner but so many atoms on the face of the clear sun they murmur at. If aliqiiando dormital Homerus, let them consider how many nights he kept himself awake to bring his noble works to light as little dai'kened with defects as might be. But, indeed, it may many times haj^pen, that what is censured for a fault, is rather an ornament, as moles often add to the beauty of a face. When all is said, he that jiublishes a book runs a great risk, since nothing can be so unlikely as that he should have composed one capable of securing the approbation of every reader." — " Sure," says Don Quixote, "that which treats of me can have pleased INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. ix but few?" — ''Quite the contrary," says Carrasco ; "for as iitjlnitns est numei-us stultomm, so an infinite number have admired your history. Only some there are who have taxed the author with want of memory or sincerity, because he forgot to give an account who it was that stole Sancho's Dapple, for that particular is not mentioned there, only we find, by the story, that it was stolen ; and yet, by and by, we find him riding the same ass again, without any previous light given us into the matter. Then they say that the author forgot to tell the reader what Sancho did with the hundred pieces of gold he found in the portmanteau in the Sierra Morena, for there is not a word said of them more ; and many people have a great mind to know what he did with them, and how he spent them ; which is one of the most material points in which the work is defective." How amusingly Sancho is made to clear up the obscurities thus alluded to by the Bachelor Carrasco, no reader can have forgotten ; but there re- mained enough of similar lacunce, inadvertencies, and mistakes, to exer- cise the ingenuity of those Spanish critics who were too wise in their own conceit to profit by the good-natured and modest apology of this immortal author. There can be no doubt that, if Cervantes had deigned to use it, he might have pleaded also the apologj^ of indifferent health, under which he certainly labom-ed while finishing the second part of " Don Quixote." It must be too obvious that the intervals of such a malady as then affected Cervantes, could not be the most favourable in the world for revising lighter compositions, and correcting, at least, those grosser eiTors and Imperfections which each author should, if it were but for shame's sake, remove from his work, before bringing it forth into the broad light of day, where they will never fail to be cUstinctly seen, nor lack ingenious per- sons, who will be too happy in discharging the office of pointing them out. It is more than time to explain with what pmpose we have called thus fully to memory the many venial errors of the inimitable Cervantes, and those passages in which he has rather defied his adversaries than pleaded his own justification ; for I suppose it will be readily granted, that the difference is too wide betwixt that great wit of Spain and ourselves, to permit us to use a buckler which was rendered sufficiently formidable only by the strenuous hand in which it was placed. The history of my first publications is sufficiently well known. Nor did I relinquish the purpose of concluding these ^'^ Tales of My Landlord," K^hich had been so remarkably fortunate ; but Death, which steals upon us all with an inaudible foot, cut short the ingenious young man to whose memory I composed that inscription, and erected, at my own charge, that monument which protects his remains, by the side of the river CTander, which he has contributed so much to render immortal, and in a place of his own selection, not very distant from the school under my care. i In a word, the ingenious INIr Pattison was removed from his place. Nor did I confine my care to his posthumous fame alone, but carefully inventoried and preserved the effects which he left behind him, namely, the contents of his small wardrobe, and a number of printed books of somewhat more consequence, together with certain woefully blurred manu- scripts, discovered in his repository. On looking these over, I found them to contain two Tales, called " Coimt Robert of Paris," and " Castle Dangerous ; " but was seriously disappointed to perceive that they were by no means in that state of correctness which would induce an experi- 1 See Volume v. of the New Edition of the Waverley Novels, p. 22, for some cir- cumstances attending this erection. X INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. cnced person to pronounce any writing', in tlie technical langnasfo of book- craft, "prepared for press." There were not ovAy hiatus valde deflendi, but even grievous inconsistencies, and other mistalces, which tlie penman's leisurely revision, had he been spared to bestow it, would doubtless have cleared away. After a considerate perusal, I no question flattered myself that these manuscripts, with all their faults, contained here and there passages v/hich seemed plainly to intimate that severe indisposition had been unable to extinguisli altogether th.e brilliancy of that fancy which the world had been pleased to acknowledge in the creations of Old Mortality, the Bride of Lammennoor, and others of tliese narratives. But I, never- theless, threw the manuscripts into my drawer, resolving not to think of committing them to the Ballantynian ordeal, until I could either obtain the assistance of some capable person to supply deficiencies and correct errors, so as they might face the public with credit, or perhaps niimerous and more serious avocations might permit me to dedicate my own time and laboiu' to that task. While I was in this uncertainty, I had a visit from a stranger, who was announced as a j'oung gentleman desirous of speaking with me on parti- cular business. I immediately augured the accession of a new boarder, but was at once checked by observing that the outward man of the stranger was, in a most remarkable degree, what mine host of the Sir William Wal- lace, in his phraseology, calls seexbj. His black coat had seen service ; the waistcoat of grey plaid bore yet stronger marks of having encountered more than one campaign ; his third piece of dress was an absolute veteran i compared to the others ; his shoes were so loaded with mud as showed his I journey must have been pedestrian ; and a grey inand, which fluttered I around his wasted limbs, completed such an equipment as, since Juvenal's days, has been the livery of the poor scholar. I therefore concluded that I beheld a candidate for the vacant office of usher, and prepared to listen to his proposals with the dignity becoming my station ; but v/hat was my surprise when I fouiid I had before me, in this rusty student, no less a man than Paul, the brother of Peter Pattison, come to gather in his bro- ther's succession, and possessed, it seemed, with no small idea of the value of that pai-t of it which consisted in the productions of his pen ! By the rapid study I made of him, this Paul was a sharp lad, imbuoci with some tincture of letters, like his regi'etted brother, but totally desti- tute of those amiable qualities which had often induced me' to say within liiyself, that Peter was, like the famous John Gay, — " In wit a man, simplicitj'^ a child." He set little by the legacy of my deceased assistant's wardrobe, nor did the books hold much greater value in his eyes : but be peremptorily de- manded to be put in possession of the manuscri]jts, alleging, with obsti- nacy, that no definite bargain had been completed between his late brother and me, and at length produced tlie opinion to that effect of a writer, or man of business, — a class of persons with whom I have always chosen to have as little concern as possible. But I had one defence left, which came to my aid, tanquam dens ex inachhiA. This I'apacious Paul Pattison could not pretend to wrest the disputed nraiuiscripts out of my possession, unless upon repayment of a considerable sum of money, which I had advanced from time to time to the deceased Peter, and particularly to purchase a small annuity fur his aged mother. These advances, with the charges of the funeral and other expenses, amounted to a considerable s^im, which the poverty-struck stu- dent and his acute legal adviser equally foresaw great difficulty in liqviid- INTEODUCTORY ADDRESS. x} ating. The said Mr Paul Pattison, therefore, listened to a suggestion, I which I dropped as if by accident, that if he thought himself capable of filling his brother's place of carrying the v/ork through the press, I would I make him -welcome to bed and board within mj^ mansion while he was thus engaged, onl}'- requiring his occasional assistance at hearing the more ad- j vanced scholars. This seemed to promise a close of our dispute, alike f satisfactory to all parties, and the first act of Paul was to draw on me for I a. round sum, under pretence that his wardrobe must be wliolly refitted. I To this I made no objection, though it certainly showed like' vanity to purchase garments in the extremity of the mode, when not only great part of the defunct's habiliments were very fit for a twelvemonth's use, but as I myself had been, but yesterday as it were, equipped in a becoming new stand of black clothes, Mr Pattison would have been welcome to the use of such of my quondam raiment as lie thought suitable, as indeed had always been the case with his deceased brother. The school, I must needs say, came tolerably on. My j'oungster was very smart, and seemed to be so active in his duty of usher, if I may so speak, that he even overdid his part therein, and I began to feel myself a cipher in my own school. I comforted myself with the belief that the publication was advancing as fast as I could desire. On this subject, Paul Pattison, like ancient Pis- tol, " talked bold words at the bridge," and that not only at our house, but in the society of our neighbours, amongst whom, instead of imitat- ing the retired and monastic manner of his brother deceased, he became a gay visitor, and such a reveller, that in process of time he was observed to vilipend the modest fare which had at first been esteemed a banquet by his hungiy appetite, and thei-eby highly displeased my wife, who, Avith. justice, applauds herself for the plentiful, clcanl}-, and healthy victuals, ■wherewith she maintains her ushers and boarders. Upon the whole, I rather hoped than entertained a sincere confidence that all was going on well, and was in that unpleasant state of m.ind v.inch j)i-ecedes the open breach betv.'cen two associates who have been long jea- lous of each other, but are as yet deterred by a sense of mutual interest from coming to an open ruptiire. The first thing which alarmed mo was a rumour in the village, that Paul Pattison intended, in some little space, to undertake a voyage to the Con- tinent — on account of his health, as was pretended, but"^ as the same report averred, much more with the view of gratifying the curiosity which his perusal of the classics had impressed upon him, than for any otlicr purpose. I was, I say, rather alarmed at this susiimis, and began to reflect that the retirement of Mr Pattison, unless his loss could be supplied in good time, was like to be a blow to the establishment ; for, in truth, this Paul had a winning way with the boys, especially those who v/ere gentle-tempered ; so that I must confess my doubts v/hether, in certain respects, I myself could have fully supplied his place in the school, with all my authority and experience. My wife, jealous, as became her station, of Mr Pattison's intentions, adAdsed me to take the matter up immediately, and go to the bottom at once ; and, indeed, 1 had always found that way answered best with my boys. Mrs Cleishbotham was not long before renewing the siibject ; for, like roost of the race of Xantippe (though my helpmate is a well-spoken w^oman), she loves to thrust in her oar where she is not able to pull it to purpose. *' You are a shai-p-witted man, Mr Cleishbotham," would she observe, '' and a learned man, Mr Cleishbotham — and the schoolmaster of Gander- cleuch, Mr Cleishbotham, which is saying all in one word ; but many a man almost as great as yourself has lost the saddle by suffering an inferior Xll INTllODUCTOUY ADDRESS. to get up behind him ; and tbongli, with tlie world, Mr Cleishbotham, you have the name of doing- everything, both in directing the school and in this new profitable book line which you have taken up, yet it begins to be the common talk of Gandercleuch, both up the water and down the water, that the usher both writes the dominie's books, and teaches the dominie's school. Ay, ay, ask maid, wife, or widow, and she'll tell ye, the least gaitling among them all comes to Paul Pattison with his lesson as natur- ally as they come to me for their four-hours, puir things ; and never ane thmks of applying to you aboot a kittle turn, or a crabbed word, or about onything else, unless it were for licet exire, or the mending of an auld pen." Now, this address assailed me on a summer evening, when I was whiling away my leisure hours with the end of a cutty pipe, and indulging in such bland imaginations as the Nicotian weed is wont to produce, more especi- ally in the case of studious persons, devoted tmisis severioribus. I was na- turally loth to leave my misty sanctuary ; and endeavoured to silence the clamour of Mrs Cleishbotham's tongue, which has something in it pecul- iarly shrill and penetrating. " Woman," said I, with a tone of domestic authority befitting the occasion, " res tuas agas ; — mind your washings and your wringings, your stufiings and your physicking, or whatever concerns the outward person of the pupils, and leave the progress of their education to my usher, Paul Pattison, and myself." " I am glad to see," added the accursed woman (that T should say so !), '^ that ye have the grace to name him foremost, for there is little doubt, that he ranks first of the troop, if ye wad but hear what the neighbours speak — or whisper." '' What do they whisper, thou sworn sister of the Eumenides V cried T, —the irritating oestrum of the woman's objurgation totally counterbalanc- ing tbe sedative effects both of pipe and pot. " Whisper ? " resumed she in her shrillest note — '^ why, they whisper .loud enough for me at least to hear them, that the schoolmaster of Gandei-- cleuch is turned a doited auld woman, and spends all his; time in tippling strong drink with the keeper of the public-house, and leaves school and bootmaking, and a' the rest o't, to the care of his usher ; and, also, the wives in Gandercleuch say, that you have engaged Paul Pattison to write a new book, which is to beat a' the lave that gaed afore it ; and to show what a sair lift you have o' the job, j'ou didna sae muckie as ken the name o't — no, nor whether it was to be about some Heathen Greek, or the Black Douglas." This was said with such bitterness that it penetrated to the very quick, and I hurled the poor old pipe, like one of Homer's spears, not in the face of my provoking helpmate, though the temptation was strong, but into the river Gander, which, as is now well known to tourists from the uttermost parts of the earth, pm-sues its quiet meanders beneath the bank on which the schoolhouse is pleasantly situated ; and, starting up, fixed on my head the cocked hat (the pride of Messrs Grieve and Scott's repositoiy), and plunging into the valley of the brook, pursued my way upwai'ds, the voice of Mrs Cleishbotham accompanying me in my retreat with something like the angry scream of triumph with which the brood-goose pursues the flight of some unmannerly cur or idle boy who has intruded upon her premises, and fled before her. Indeed, so great was the influence of this clamour of scorn and wrath which hung upon my rear, that while it rung in my ears, I was so moved that I instinctively tucked the skirts of my black coat under my arm, as if I had been in actual danger of being seized on by the grasp of the pursuing enemy. Nor was it till I had almost reached the well-known burial-place, in which it was Peter Pattison's hap to meet the far-famed personage called Old Mortality, that I made a halt for the pur- INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. xill pose of composing my perturbed si^irits, and considering* what was to be done ; for as yet my mind was agitated by a chaos of passions, of wldcb anger was predominant ; and for what reason, or against whom, I enter tained such tumultuous displeasure, it was not easy for me to determine. Nevertheless, having settled my cocked hat with becoming accuracy on my well-powdered wig, and suffered it to remain uplifted for a moment to cool my flushed brow — having, moreover, re-adjusted and shaken to rights the skirts of my black coat, I came into case to answer to my own questions, w-hich, till these manoeuvres had been sedately accomplished, I might have asked myself in vain. In the first place, therefore, to use the phrase of Mr Docket, the writer (that is, the attorney) of our village of Gandercleuch, I became satisfied that my anger was directed against all and sundry, or, in law Latin, contre omnes mortales, and more particularly against the neighbourhood of Gandercleuch, , for cii'culating reports to the prejudice of my literary talents, as well as my accomplishments as a pedagogue, and transferring the fame thereof to mine own usher. Secondly, against my spouse, Dorothea Cleishbotham, for transferring- the said calumnious reports to my ears in a preruj:)± and un- I seemly manner, and without due respect either to the language which she I made use of, or the person to whom she spoke, — treating affairs in which I ' was so intimately concerned as if they were proper subjects for jest among 1 gossips at a christening, where the womankind claim the privilege of wor- } shipping the Bona Dca according to their secret female rites. Thirdly, I : became clear that I was entitled to respond to any whom it concerned to I inquire, that my wrath was kindled against Paul Pattison, my usher, for \ giving occasion both for the neighbours of Gandercleuch entertaining such 1 opinions, and for Mrs Cleishbotham disrespectfully urging them to my face, since neither circumstance could have existed, without he had put forth \ sinful misrepresentations of transactions, private and confidential, and of j( which I had myself entirely refrained from dropping any the least hint to [! any third person. This arrangement of my ideas having contributed to soothe the stormy atmosphere of which they had been the oflspring, gave reason a time to pre- dominate, and to ask me, with her calm but clear voice, whether, under all the circumstances, I did well to nourish so indiscriminate an indignation ? In fine, on closer examination, the various splenetic thoughts I had been in- dulging against other parties, began to be merged in that resentment against my perfidious usher, which, like the serpent of Moses, swallowed up all subordinate objects of displeasure. To put myself at open feud with the whole of my neighbours, unless I had been certain of some effectual mode of avenging myself upon them, -would have been an undertaking too weighty for my means, and not unlikely, if rashly grappled withal, to end in my ruin. To make a public quarrel with my wife, on such an account as her opinion of my literary accomplishments, would sound ridiculous : and, besides, Mrs C. was sure to have all the women on her side, who vfould re- present her as a wife persecuted by her husband for offering him good advice, and urging it vipon him with only too enthusiastic sincerity. There remained Paul Pattison, undoubtedly, the most natural and proper object of my indignation, since I might be said to have him in my own power, and might punish him by dismissal, at my pleasure. Yet even vin- dictive proceedings against the said Paul, however easy to be enforced, might be productive of serious consequences to my own purse ; and I began to reflect, with anxiety, that in this world it is not often that the gratifica- tion of our angry passions lies in the same road with the advancement of our interest, and that the wise man, the vere so.jnens, seldom hesitates which of these two he ought to prefer. XIV l.NTllODUCTORY ADDllESS. I recollected also that I was quite uncertain how far the present usher had really been guilty of the foul acts of assumption charged against him. In a word, I began to perceive that it would be no light matter, at once, and without maturer jjerpending of sundiy collateral punctiunctda, to break up a joint-stock adventure, or society, as civilians term it, which, if profit- able to him, had at least promised to be no less so to me, established in years and learning and reputation so much his superior. Moved by which, and other the like considerations, I resolved to proceed with becoming cau- tion on the occasion, and not, by stating my causes of complaint too hastily in the outset, exasperate into a positive breach what might only prove some small misunderstanding, easily explained or apologised for, and which, like a leak in a new vessel, being once discovered and carefully stopped, renders the vessel but more sea-worthj'- than it was before. About the time that I had adopted this healing resolution, I reached the spot where the almost perpendicular face of a steep hill seems to terminate the valley, or at least divides it into two dells, each serving as a cradle to its own mountain-stream, the Gruff-quack, namely, and the shallower, but more noigy, Gusedub, on the left hand, which, at their union, form the Gander, properly so called. Each of these little valleys has a walk winding up to its recesses, rendered more easy by the laboiu-s of the poor during the late hard season, and one of vv'hich bears the name of Pattison's path, while the other had been kindly consecrated to my own memory, by the title of the Dominie's Daidling-bit. Here I made certain to meet my associate, Paul Pattison, for by one or other of these roads he wa,s wont to return to my house of an evenir,;^-, after his lengthened rambles. Nor was it long l-.c\;i-e I espied him descending the Gusedub by that tor- tuous path, markii);c po strongly the character of a Scottish glen. He was easily distinguished, indeed, at some distance, bj^ his jaunty swagger, in which he presented to you the flat of his leg, like the manly knave of clubs, apparently with the most perfect contentment, not only with liis leg and boot, but with every part of his outward man, and the whole fashion of his garments, and, one would almost have thought, the contents of his pockets. In this, his wonted guise, he approached me, where I was seated near the meeting of the waters, and I could not but discern, that his first impulse was to pass me witliout any jirolonged or formal greeting. But as that would not have been decent, considering the terms on which we stood, he seemed to adopt, on reflection, a course directly opposite ; bustled up to me with an air of alacrity, and, I may add, impudence ; and hastened at once into the middle of the impoitant affairs which it had been my pui^pose to bring under discussion in a manner more becoming their gravity. " I amgiad to see you, Mr Cleishbotham," said he, with an inimitable mixture of confusion and effrontery; ''the most wonderful news which has been heard in the literary world in my time — all Gandercleuch rings with it — they positively speak of nothing else, fi'om Miss Buskbody's youngest ap- prentice to the minister himself, and ask each other in amazement, whether the tidings are true or false — to be sure they are of an astounding complex- ion, especially to you and me." " Mr Pattison," said I, " I am quite at a loss to guess at j-our meaning. Davus sum, non CEdipus — I am Jedediah Cleishbotham, Schoolmaster of the parish of Gandercleuch ; no conjuror, and neither reader of riddles^ nor expounder of enigmata." " Well," replied Paul Pattison, " Mr Jedediah Cleishbotham, School- Jpiaster of the parish of Gandercleuch, and so forth, all I have to inform you is, that our hopeful scheme is entirely blown up. The tales, on publish- ing which we reckoned with so much confidence, have already been printed ; they are abroad, over all America, and the British papers are clamorous." INTKODUCTOKY ADDRESS. XV I received this news with the same eqnaniraity with which I should have accepted a blow addressed to my stomach by a modern gladiator, with the full energy of his fist. " If this be correct information, Mr Pattison," said I, '' I must of necessity suspect you to be the person who Lave supplied the foreign press with the copy which the printers have thus made an un- scrupulous use of, without respect to the rights of the undeniable proprie- tors of the manuscripts ; and I request to know whether this American production embraces the alterations which you as well as I judged neces- sary, before the work could be fitted to meet the pul>lic eye ? " To this my gentleman saw it necessary to make a direct answer, for my manner was impressive, and my tone decisive. His native audacity enabled him, however, to keep his ground, and he answered with firmness: — " Mr Cleishbotham, in the first place, these manuscripts, over which you claim a very doubtful right, were never given to any one by me, and must have been sent to America either by yourself, or by some one of the vari- ous gentlemen to whom, I am well aware, you have afforded opportunities of perusing my brother's MS. remains." " Mr Pattison," I replied, " I beg to remind you that it never, could be my intention, either by my own bands, or through those of another, to re- mit these manuscripts to the press, until, by the alterations which I medi- tated, and which you yourself engaged to makt., !iiey were rendered fit for public perusal." Mr Pattison answered me with much heat : — " Sii-, I would have you to know, that if I accepted your paltry offer, it was with less regard to its amount, than to the honour and literary fame of my late brother. I fore- saw that if I declined it, you would not hesitate to throw the task into in- capable hands, or, perhaps, have taken it upon j^ourself, the most i;nfit of all men to tamper with the works of departed genius, and that, God willing, I was determined to prevent — but the justice of Heaven has taken the matter into its own hands. Peter Pattison's last labours shall now go down to posterity unscathed by the scalping-knife of alteration, in the hands of a false friend — shame on the thought that the tmnaturai weapon could ever be wielded by the hand of a brother ! " I heard this sjieech not without a species of vertigo or dizziness in my head, which would probably have struck me lifeloss'at his feet, had not a thought like that of the old ballad — ** Earl Percy sees my fall,'' called to my recollection, that I should only afford an additional triumph by giving way to mj^ feelings in the presence of Mr Paul Pattison, who, I could not doubt, must be more or less directly at the bottom of the Trans- atlantic publication, and had, in one way or another found his own inte- rest in that nefarious transaction. To get quit of his odious presence T bid him an unceremonious good- night, and marched down the glen with the air not of one who has pai-ted with a friend, but who rather has shaken oft' an intrusive companion. On the road I pondered the whole matter over with an anxiety which did not in the smallest degree tend to relieve me. Had I felt adequate to the ex- ertion, I might, of com'se, have supplanted this spurious edition (of which the literary gazettes are already doling out copious specimens) by introduc- ing into a copy, to be instantly published at Edinburgh, adequate correc- tion of the various inconsistencies and imperfections which have already been alluded to. I remember the easy victory of the real second part of these " Tales of my Landlord " over the performance sent forth by an inter- loper under the same title ; and why should not the same triurx ph be XVI INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. repeated now ? There would, in short, have been a pride of talent in this manner of avenging myself, which would have been justifiable in the case of an injured man ; but the state of my health has for some time been such as to render any attempt of this nature in every way imprudent. Under such circumstances, the last " llemains" of Peter Pattison must even be accepted, as they were left in his desk ; and I humbly retire in the hope that, such as they are, they may receive the indulgence of those who have ever been but too merciful to the productions of his pen, and in all respects to the courteous reader's obliged servant, J. C. Gandercleuch, IStli Oct. 1831. COUNT EGBERT OF PARIS CHAPTER I. Leo)-Uius. That power that kindly spreads The clouds, a signal of impending showers, To warn the wandering linnet to the shade, Beheld without concern expiring Greece, And not one prodigy foretold our fate. Demetrius. A thousand horrid prodigies foretold it : A feeble government, eluded laws, A factious populace, luxurious nobles, And all the maladies of sinking states. When public villany, too strong for justice, Shows his bold front, the harbinger of ruin. Can brave Leontius call for airy wonders. Which cheats interpret, and which fools regard? Irene, Act I. The close observers of veg-etable nature have remarked that when a new graft is taken from an ag'ed iree, it possesses indeed in exterior form the appearance of a youthful shoot, but has in fact attained to the same state of maturity, or even decay, which lias been reached by the parent stem. Hence, it is said, arises the general dechne and death that about the same season is often ob- served to spread itself through individual trees of some particular species, all of which, deriving their vital powers from the parent stock, are therefore incapable of protracting their existence longer than it does. In the same manner efforts have been made by the mighty of the earth to transplant large cities, states, and communities, by one great and sudden exertion, expecting to secure to the new capital the wealth, the dig-nity, the magniticent decorations, and unlimited extent of the ancient city, which they desire to renovate ; while, at the same time, they hope to begin a new succession of ages from the date of the new structure, to last, they imagine, as long, and with as much fame as its predecessor, which the founder hopes his new metropolis may replace in all its youthful glories. But nature has her laws, which seem to apply to the social as well as the vegetable system. It appears to be a general rule that what is to last long ehould be slowly matured and gradually improved, while every sud- B 2 COUNT ROBERT OF TARTS. den effort, however gig-antic, to bring about the speedy execution of a plan calculated to endure for ages, is doomed to exhibit symptoms of premature decay from its very commencement. Thus, in a beauti- ful Oriental tale, a dervise explains to the Sultan how he had reared the magnificent trees among wliich they walked, by nursing their shoots from the seed ; and the prince's pride is damped when he re- flects that those plantations, so simply raised, were gathering new Tigour from each returning- sun, while his own exhausted cedars, which had been transplanted by one violent effort; were drooping their majestic heads in the Valley of Orez.^ It has been allowed, I believe, by all men of taste, many of whom have been late visitants of Constantinople, that if it were possible to survey the whole globe with a view to fixing a seat of universal empire, all who are capable of making such a choice would give their preference to the city of Constantine, as including the great recommendations of beauty, wealth, security, and eminence. Yet with all these advantages of situation and climate, and with all the architectural splendour of its churches and halls, its quarries of marble, and its treasure-houses of gold, the imperial founder must himself have learned that although he could employ all these rich materials in obedience to his own wish, it Avas the mind of man itself, those intellectual faculties refined by the ancients to the highest degree, which had produced the specimens of talent at which men paused and wondered, whether as subjects of art or of moral labour. The power of the Emperor might indeed strip other cities of their statues and their shrines, in order to decorate that which he had fixed upon as his new capital ; but the men who had performed great actions, and those, almost equally esteemed, by whom such deeds were celebrated, in poetry, in painting, and in music, had ceased to exist. The nation, though still the most civilised in the world, had passed beyond that period of society when the desire of fair fame is of itself the sole or chief motive for the labour of the historian or the poet, the painter or the statuary. The slavish and despotic constitution introduced into the empire had long since en- tirely destroyed that public spirit wliich animated the free history of Rome, leaving nothing but feeble recollections, which produced no emulation. To speak as of an animated substance, if Constantine could have regenerated his new metropolis by transfusing into it the vital and vivifying principles of old Rome, — that brilliant spark no longer re- mained for Constantinople to borrow, or for Rome to lend. In one most important circumstance, the state of the capital of Constantine had been totally changed, and imspeakably to its ad- vantage. The world was now Christian, and, with the Pagan code, had got rid of its load of disgraceful superstition. Nor is there the least doubt that the better faith produced its natural and de- sirable fruits in society, in gradually ameliorating the hearts and taming the passions of the peo[)le. But while many of the converts "were turning meekly towards their new creed, some, in the arro- 1 Tale of Mirgljp the Persian, in the Tales of the Genii. COU.NT ROBERT OF PARIS. 8 gance of their understanding-, were limiting' the Scriptures by their own devices, and others foiled not to make religions character or spiritual rank the means of rising" to temporal power. Thus it happened at this critical period that the effects of this great change in the religion of the country, although producing an immediate harvest, as well as sowing* much good seed v/hich was to grow here- after, did not, in the fourth century, flourish so as shed at once that predominating influence which its principles might have taught men to expect. Even the borrowed splendour, in which Constaniine decked his city, bore in it something which seemed to mark premature decay. The imperial founder, in seizing upon the ancient statues, pictures, obelisks, and works of art, acknowledged his ov/n incapacity to sup- ply their place with the productions of later genius : and when the world, and particularly Rome, was plundered to adorn Constantin- ople, the Emperor, under whom the work was carried on, mJght be compared to a prodigal youth, who strips an aged parent of her youthful ornaments, in order to decorate a flaunting paramour, on whose brow all must consider them as misplaced. Constantinople, therefore, when in 324 it first arose in imperial majesty out of the humble Byzantium, showed, even in its birth, and amid its adventitious splendour, as we have already said, some inti- mations of that speedy decay to which the whole civilised world, then limited Avithin the Roman empire, was internally and imper- ceptibly tending. Nor was it many ages ere these prognostications of declension were fully verified. In the year 1080, Alexius Comnenus^ ascended the throne of the Empire ; that is, he was declared sovereign of Constantinople, its precincts and dependencies ; nor, if he was disposed to lead a life of relaxation, would the savage incursions of the Scytliialis or the Hungarians frequently disturb the imperial slumbers, if limited to his own capital. It may be supposed that this safety did not extend much farther ; for it is said that the Empress Pulcheria had built a churcli to the Virgin Mary as remote as possible from the gate of the city, to save her devotions from the risk of beino- interrupted by the hostile yell of the barbarians, and the reigning EmperoE had constructed a palace near the same spot, and for the same reason. Alexius Comnenus was in the condition of a monarch who rather derives consequence from the wealth and importance of his prede- cessors, and the great extent of their original dominions, than from what remnants of fortune had descende'd^to the present generation. This Emperor, except nominally, no more ruled over his dismem- bered provinces than a half-dead horse can exercise power over those limbs on which the hooded crow and the vulture have already begun to settle and select their prey. In diflerent parts of his territory difl"erent enemies arose, who waged successful or dubious war against the Emperor ; and, of the 1 See Gibbon, chap- xlviii., for the origin and eavly history of the house of the Coraneui. 4 COUJsT ROBERT OF PARIS. numerous nations with whom he was eng'ag-ed in hostilities, whether tlie Franks from the west, tlie Turks advancing- from the east, the Cumans and Scythians pouring- their barbarous numbers and un- ceasing' storm of arrows from'^the north, and the Saracens, or the tribes into which they were divided, pressing- from the south, there was not one for whom the Grecian empire did not spread a tempt- ing repast. Each of these various enemies had their own particular liabits of war, and a way of manoeuvring' in battle peculiar to them- selves. But tlie Roman, as the unfortunate subject of the Greek em]3ire was still called, was by far the Aveakest, the most ignorant, a«!d most timid, wlio could be dragged into the field ;_ and the Emperor was happy in his own good-luck, when he found it possible to con- duct a defensive war on a counterbalancing principle, making- use of the Scythian to repel the Turk, or of both these savage people to drive back the fiery-footed Frank, Avhom Peter the Hermit had, in the time of Alexius, waked to double fury by the powerful influence of the crusades. If, therefore, Alexius Coranenus was, during his anxious seat upon the throne of the East, reduced to use a base and truckling- course of policy — if he was sometimes reluctant to fight when he had a conscious doubt of the valour of his troops— if he commonly employed cunning and dissimulation instead of wisdom, and perfidy instead of courage— his expedients were the disgrace of the age rather than his own. Again, the Emperor Alexius may be blamed fov affecting- a degree of state wdiich was closely allied to imbecility. He was proud of as- suming in his own person, and of bestowing upon others, the painted show of various orders of nobility, even now, when the rank within the prince's gift was become an additional reason for the free bar- barian despising the imperial noble. That the Greek court was encumbered with unmeaning ceremonies, in order to make amends for the want of that veneration which ought to have been called fortli by real worth, and the presence of actual power, was not the particular fault of that prince, but belonged to tlie system of the g'overnment of Constantinople for ages. Indeed, in its trumpery etiquette, which provided rules for the most trivial points of a man's behaviour during- the day, the Greek empire resembled no existing- power in its minute follies except that of Pekin ; both, doubtless, being influenced by the same vain wish, to add seriousness and an appearance of importance to objects which, from their trivial nature, could admit no such distinction. Yet thus far we must justify Alexius, that, humble as were the expedients he had recourse to, they v/ere more useful to his empire than the measures of a more proud and liigh-spirited prince might have proved in the same circumstances. He was no champion to break a lance against the breastplate of his Prankish rival, the famous Bohemond of Antioch,^ but there were many occasions on which lie liazarded his life freely ; and, so far as we can see from a minute perusal of his achievements, the Emperor of Greece v/as never so 1 See Note A. Bohemond. COU.NT liODERT OF VAKIH. 5 dan^'erous "under shield" as when any foeman desired to stop him Avliifc retreating' from a conflict in which he had been worsted. But, besides that he did not hesitate, according to the custom of the time, at least occasionally, to commit his person to the perils of close combat, Alexins also possessed such knowledge of a general's profession as is required in our modern days. He knew how to oc- cupy military positions to the best advantage, and often covered defeats, or improved dubious conflicts, in a manner highly to the disappointment of those who deemed that the work of war was done only on the field of battle. If Alexius Comnenus thus understood the evolutions of war, lie was still better skilled in those of politics, where, soaring far above the express purpose of his immediate negotiation, the Emperor was sure to gain some important and permanent advantage ; though Tcry often he was ultimately defeated by the unblushing fickleness or avowed treachery of the barbarians, as the Greeks generally termed all other nations, and particularly those tribes (they cau hardly be termed states) by which their own empire was surrounded. We may conclude our brief character of Comnenus by saying, that, had he not been called on to fill the station of a monarch who was under the necessity of making himself dreaded, as one who was exposed to all manner of conspiracies, both in and out of his own family, he might, in all probability, have been regarded as an honest and humane prince. Certainly he showed himself a good-natured man, and dealt less in cutting off" heads and extinguishing eyes than had been the practice of his predecessors, who generally took this method of shortening- the ambitious views of competitors. It remains to be mentioned that Alexius had his full share of the superstition of the age, which he covered v/ith a species of hypocrisy. It is even said that his wife Irene, who of course was best acquainted wdth the real character of the Emperor, taxed her dying husband with practising, in his last moments, the dissimulation which had been his companion during life.^ He took also a deep interest in all matters respecting the Church, where heresy, which the Emperor held, or aff'ected to hold, in great horror, appeared to him to lurk. _ Nor do we discover in his treatment of the Manichseans, or Paulicians, that pity for their speculative errors which modern times might think had been well purchased by the extent of the temporal services of these unfortunate sectaries." Alexius knew no indulgence for those who misinterpreted the mysteries of the Church, or of its doctrines; and the duty of defending religion against schismatics was, in his opinion, as peremptorily demanded from him as that of protecting the empire against the numberless tribes of barbarians who were encroaching on its boundaries on every side. Such a mixture of sense and weakness, of meannessaud dig'nity, of prudent discretion and poverty of spirit, which last, in the Euro- pean mode of viewing things, approached to cowardice, formed the leading traits of the character of Alexius Comnenus, at a period when the fate of Greece, and all that was left in that country of art 1 See Gibbon, chap. Ivi, 6 cou>;t iioBEirr of tauis. and civilisation, was trembling- in the balance, and likely to be saved or lost according- to the abilities of the Emperor for playing the very difficult game which was put into his hands. These few leading circumstances will recall, to any one who_ is tolerably well read in history, the peculiarities of the period at which we have found a resting-place for the foundation of our story. CHAPTER 11. OtJius. This superb successor Of tlie earth's mistress, as tbou vainly speakest, Stands midst these ages as, on tlie wide oc^an. The last spared fragment of a spacious land. That, in some grand and awful ministration <.)f mighty nature has engulfed been, Dotli lift aloft its dark and rocky cliffs O'er the wild waste around, and sadly Ifrowns In lonely majesty. ConstantviU Paleologus, Scene I. Our scene in the capital of the Eastern Empire opens at what is termed the Golden Gate of Constantinople ; and it may be said, in passing, that this splendid epithet is not so lightly bestowed as may be expected from the inflated language of the Greeks, which throws such an appearance of exaggeration about them, their buildings, and moiniments. The massive and seemingly irapreg-nable walls with which Con- stantino surrounded the city were greatly improved and added to by Theodosius, called the Great. A triumphal arch, decorated with the architecture of a better, though already a degenerate age, and serv- ing, at the same time, as a useful entrance, introduced the stranger into the city. On the top, a statue of bronze represented Victory, the goddess who had inclined the scales of battle in favour of Theo- dosius ; and, as the artist determined to be wealthy if he could not be tasteful, the gilded ornaments with which the inscriptions were set off readily led to the popular name of the gate. Figures carved in a distant and happier period of the art glanced from the walls, without assorting happily with the taste in which these were built. The more modern ornaments of the Golden Gate bore, at the period of our story, an aspect very different from those indicating the " con- quest brought back to the city," and the "eternal peace" which the flattering inscriptions recorded as having been extorted by the sword of Theodosius. Four or five military engines for throwing darts of the largest size were placed upon the summit of the arch ; and what had been originally designed as a specimen of architectural embel- lishment was now applied to the purposes of defence. It was the hour of evening, and the cool and refreshing breeze from the sea inclined each passenger whose business was not of a very urgent description, to loiter on his way, and cast a glance at the romantic gateway, and the various interesting objects of nature COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. 7 and art which the city of Constautinople presented, as well to the inhabitants as to strang-ers.- One individual, however, seemed to indulg-e more wonder and curiosity tlian could have been expected from a' native of the city, and looked upon the rarities around Avith a quick and startled eye, that marked an imagination awakened by sights that were new ancl strange. The appearance of this person bespoke a foreigner of aiilitary habits, who seemed, from his complexion, to have his birth- place far from the Grecian metropolis, whatever chance had at pre- sent brought him to the Golden Gate, or Avhatever place he filled in the Emperor's service. This young" man was about two-and-twenty years old, remarkably finely formed and athletic — qualities well understood by the citizens of Constantinople, whose habits of frequenting* the public games had taught them at least an acquaintance with the human person, and where, in tlie select of their own countrymen, they saw the handsomest specimens T)f the human race. These were, however, not gener.illy so tall as the stranger at the Golden Gate, while his piercing" blue eyes, and the fair hair which descended from under a light helmet gaily ornamented with silver, bearing' on its summit a crest resembling a dragon in the act of ex- panding its terrible jaws, intimated a northern descent, to which the extreme purity of his complexion also bore witness. His beauty, however, though he was eminently distinguished both in features and in person, was not liable to the charge of efi'eminacy. From this it was rescued both by his strength and by the air of confidence and self-possession with which the youth seemed to regard the won- ders around him, not indicating- the stupid and helpless gaze of a mind equally inexperienced and incapable of receiving* instruction, but expressing- the bold intellect which at once understands the greater part of the information which it receives, and commands the spirit to toil in search of the meaning- of that which it has not comprehended, or may fear it has misinterpreted. This look of awakened attention and intelligence gave interest to the young- bar- barian; and while the bystanders were amazed that a savage from some unknown or remote corner of the universe should possess a noble countenance bespeaking a mind so elevated, they respected him for the composure with which he witnessed so many tilings, the fashion, the splendour, nay, the very use of which, must have been recently new to him. The young man's personal equipments exhibited a singular mix- ture of splendour and efleminacy, and enabled the experienced spec- tators to ascertain his nation, and the capacity in which he served. We have already mentioned the fanciful and crested helmet, which was a distinction of the foreigner, to which the reader must add in his imagination a small cuirass, or breastplate of silver, so sparingly fashioned as obviously to afford little security to the broad chest, on which it rather hung like an ornament than covered as a buckler; nor, if a well-thrown dart, or strongly-shod arrow, should alight full 1 See Note J3. Constantiiiople. 8 COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. on tbis rich piece of armour, was there much hope that it could pro- tect the bosom which it partially shielded. From betwixt the shoulders hung down over the back what had the appearance of a bearskin ; but, when more closely examined, it was only a very skilful imitation of the spoils of the chase, being" in reahty a surco'at composed of strong- shaggy silk, so woven as to exhibit, at a little distance, no inaccurate representation of a bear's hide. A light crooked sword, or scimitar, sheathed in a scabbard of gold and ivory, hung by the left side of the stranger, the ornamented hilt of which appeared much too small for the large-jointed hand of the young Hercules who was thus gaily attired. A tlresa, purple in colour, and sitting close to the limbs, covered the body of the soldier to a little above the knee ; from tbence the knees and legs were bare to the calf, to which the reticulated strings of the sandals rose from the instep, the ligatures being there fixed by a golden coin of the reigning Emperor, converted into a species of clasp for the purpose. But a weapon which seemed more particularly adapted to the young barbarian's size, and incapable of being useci by a man of less formidable limbs and sinews, was a battle-axe, the firm iron-guarded staff of which was formed of tough elm, strongly inlaid and defended with brass, while many a plate and rhig were indented in the handle to hold the wood and the steel parts together. The axe itself was composed of two blades, turning different ways, with a sharp steel spike projecting from between them. The steel part, both spike and blade, was burnished as bright as a mirror ; and though its pon- derous size must have been burdensome to one weaker than himself, yet the young soldier carried it as carelessly along as if it were but a feather's weight. It was, indeed, a skilfully constructed weapon, so well balanced that it was much lighter in striking and in recovery than he who saw it in the hands of another could easily have believed. The carrying arms of itself showed that the military man was a stranger. The native Greeks had that mark of a civilised people, that they never bore weapons during the time of peace, unless the wearer chanced to be numbered among those whose military profes- sion and employment required them to be always in arms. Such soldiers by profession were easily distinguished from the peaceful citizens ; and it was with some evident show of fear as well as dislike, that the passengers observed to each other, that the stranger was a Varangian, an expression which intimated a barbarian of the imperial body-guard. To supply the deficiency of valour among his own subjects, and to procure soldiers who should be personally dependent on the Emperor, the Greek sovereigns had been, for a great many years, in the cus- tom of maintaining in their pay, as near their person as they could, the steady services of a select number of mercenaries in the capacity of body-guards, which were numerous enough, when their steady dis- cipline and inflexible loyalty were taken in conjunction with their personal strength and indomitable courage, to defeat, not only any traitorous attempt on the imperial person, but to quell open rebellions unless such were supported by a great proportion of the military force. Their pay was therefore liberal; their rank and established character COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. 9 for prowess g\ive them a degree of considevation among- tlie people, whose reputation for valour had not for some ages stood higli ; and if, as foreigners, and the members of a privileged body, the Varan- gians were sometimes employed in arbitrary and unpopular services, the natives were so apt to fear, while they disliked them, that the hardy strangers disturbed themselves but little about the light in which tliey were regarded by the inhabitants of Constantinople. Their dress and accoutrements, while witliin the city, ])artook of the rich, or rather gaudy costume, which we have described, bearing only a sort of affected resemblance to that which the Varangians wore in their native forests. But the indis'iduals of this select corps were, when their services were required beyond the city, furnished with armour and weapons more resembling those which tliey were accus- tomed to wieid in their own country, possessing much less of the splendour of war, and afar greater portion of its cfFective terrors; and thus they were summoned to take the field. This body of Varangians (whicli term is, according to one inter- pretation, merely a g-eneral expression for barbarians) was, in an early age of the empire, formed of the roving and piratical inhabitants ^f the north, whom a love of adventure, the greatest perhaps that ever was indulged, and a contempt of danger, which never had a parallel in the history of human nature, drove forth upon the path- less ocean. "Piracy,'' says Gibbon, with his usual spirit, "was the exercise, the trade, the glory, and the virtue of the Scandinavian youth. Impatient of a bleak climate and narrow limits, they started from the banquet, grasped their arms, sounded their horn, ascended their ships, and exjjlored every coast that promised either spoil or settlement."^ The conquests made in France and Britain by these wild sea-kings, as they were called, have obscured the remembrance of other northern champions, who, long before the time of Connieuus, made excursions as far as Constantinople, and witnessed with their own eyes the wealth and the weakness of the Grecian empire itself. Numbers found their way thither through the pathless wastes of Russia; others navigated the Mediterranean in their sea-serpents, as they termed their piratical vessels. The Emperors, terrified at the appearance of these daring inhabitants of th.o frozen zone, had recourse to the usual policy of a rich and unwarlike people, bought with gold the service of their swords, and thus formed a corps of satellites more distinguished for valour than the ftxmed Praetorian Bands of Rome, and, perhaps because fewer in number, unalterably loyal to their new princes. But, at a later period of the empire, it began to be more difficult for the Emperors to obtain recruits for their favourite and selected corps, the northern nations having now in a great measure laid aside the piratical and roving habits, which had driven their ancestors from the straits of Elsinore to those of Sestos and Abydos. The corps of the Varangians must therefore have died out, or have been filled up with less worthy materials, had not the conquest made by the Nor- 1 Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Chapter Iv. vol. x. p. 221, Svo edition. iO COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. mans in tlie far-distant west, sent to the aid of Comnenus a large body of the dis])ossessed inhabitants of tlie Islands of Britain, and particularly of England, who furnished recruits to his chosen body- g-uard. These were, in fact, Anfilo-Saxons; but, in the confused idea of g'eography received at the court of Constantinople, they were naturally enough called Angio-Danes, as their native country was confounded with the Thule of the ancients, by which expression the archipelag'o of Zetland and Orkney is properly to be understood, thoug'h, according- to the notions of the Greeks, it comprised either Denmark or Britain. Tlie emig-rants, however, spoke a lang'uag-e not very dissimilar to the original Varang-ians, and adopted the name more readily that it seemed to remind them of their unhappy fate, the ap])ellation being" in one sense capable of being* interpreted as exiles. Excepting* one or two chief commanders, whom the Em- peror judg-ed woriJiy of such high trust, the Varangians were officered by men of their own nation ; and with so many privileg-es, being- joined by many of their countrymen from time to time, -as the cru- sades, pilgrimages, or discontent at home, drove fresh supplies of the Ang-lo-Saxons, or Anglo-Danes, to the east, the Varangians sub- sisted in strength to the last days of the Greek empire, retaining their native laug-uag-e, along- with the unblemished loyalty, and un- abated martial spirit, which characterised their fathers. This account of the Varangian Guard is strictly historical, and might be proved by reference to the Byzantine historians ; most of whom, and also Villehardouin's account of the taking' of the city of Constantinople by the Franks and Venetians, make repeated men- tion of this celebi-ated and sing'ular body of Englishmen, forming" a mercenary guard attendant on the person of the Greek Emperors.^ liaving" said enough to explain why an individual Varangian should be strolling about tlie Golden Gate, we may proceed in the story which we have commenced. Let it not be thought extraordinary, that this soldier of the life- guard should be looked upon with some degree of curiosity by the passing citizens. It must be supposed that, fi'om their peculiar duties, they were not encouraged to hold frequent intercourse or communi- cation with the inhabitants; and besides that they had duties of police occasionally to exercise amongst them, which made them gen- erally more dreaded than beloved, they w^ere at the same time con- scious that their high pay, splendid appointments, and immediate dependence on the Emperor, were subjects of envy to the other forces. They, therefore, kept much in the neighbourhood of their own bar- racks, and were seldom seen straggling remote from them, unless they had a commission of government intrusted to their charge. This being the case, it was natural that a people so curious as tlie Greeks should busy themselves in eyeing the stranger as he loitered in one spot, or wandered to and fro, like a man who either could not find some place which he was seeking, or had failed to meet some 1 Ducange has poured forth a tide of learning on this curious subject, which v/ill ba found in his Notes ou Villehardouin's Constantinople under tlse French Emperors. — Paris, 1637, folio, p. 19G. Gibbon's History may also be consulted, vol, x. p. 231. [See NotQ C. Varangians.] COU^'T ROBERT OF PARIS. U person with whom he liad an appointmenf, for vvhicli the iiig-cimity of the passengers found a thousand different ar.d inconsistent reasons. "A Varangian," said one citizen to another, "and upon dtity— ahem! Then I presume to say in your ear " '• Yv^hat do you imagine is liis object?" inquired the party to whom this information was addressed. " Gods and goddesses I do you think I can tell you ? hut suppose that he is lurking here to hear what folk say of the Emperor," an- swered the quidmuic of Constantinople. "That is not likely," said the querist; "these Varangians do not speak our language, and are not extremely well fitted for spies, since few of them pretend to any intelligible notion of the Grecian tongue. It is not likely, 1 think, that the Emperor would employ as a spy a man who did not understand the language of the country." "But if there are, as all men fancy," answered the politician, "per- sons among these barbarian soldiers wiio can speak almost all lan- g-uages, you will admit that such are cxcellei:tly qualified for seeing clearly around them, since they possess the talent of beholding and reporting, while no one has the slightest idea of suspecting them." "It may well be," replied his companion; "but since we see so clearly the fox's foot and paws protruding from beneath the seeming sheep's fleece, or rather, by your leave, the heafs hide yonder, had we not better be jogging homeward, ere it be pretended we have in- sulted a Varangian Guard ? " This surmise of danger insinuated by the last speaker, who was a much older and more experienced politician than his friend, deter- mined both on a hasty retreat. They adjusted their cloaks, caught hold of each other's arm, and, speaking fast and thick as they started new subjects of sHspicion, they sped, close coupled together, towards their habitations, in a different and distant quarter of the town. In the mean time, the sunset was nigh over; and the long shadows of the walls, bulwarks, and arches, were projecting from the westward in deeper and blacker shade. The Varangian seemed tired of the short and lingering circle in which he had now trodden for more than an hoin-, and m which he still loitered like an unliberated spirit which cannot leave the haimted spot till licensed by the spell which has brought it hither. Even so the barbarian, casting an impatient glance to the sun, which was setting in a blaze of light behind a rich grove of cypress-trees, looked for some accommodation on the benches of stone which were placed under shadow of the triumphal arch of Theodosius, drew the axe, which Avas his principal weapon, close to his side, wrapped his cloak about him, and, though his dress was not in other respects a fit attire for slumber, any more than the place well selected for repose, yet in less than three minutes he was fast asleep. The irresistible impulse which induced him to seek for re- pose in a place very indifferently fitted for the purpose, might be weariness consequent upon the military vigils, which had proved a part of his duty on the preceding evening. At the same time, his spirit was so alive v.ithin him, even while he gave way to this tran- sient fit of oblivion, that he remained almost awake even with shut 12 COUNT KOBERT OF PAllIS. eyes, and no hound ever seemed to sleep more lightly than our Ang-lo-Saxon at the Golden Gate of Constantmople. And now the slumberer, as the loiterer had been before, was the subject of observation to the accidental passeng-ers. Two men en- tered the porch in company. One was a somewhat slight-made, but alert-looking- man, by name Lysimachus, and by profession a designer. A roll of paper in his hand, with a little satchel containing a few chalks, or pencils, completed his stock in trade ; and his acquaintance with the remains of ancient art gave liim a power of talking on the sub- iect, which unfortunately bore more than due proportion to his talents sf execution. His companion, a magnificen t-looking man in form, and io far resembling the young barbarian, but more clownish and peas- ant-like in the expression of his features, was Stephanos the wrestler, well known in the Palestra. " Stop here, my friend," said the artist, producing his pencils, "till I make a sketch for my youthful Hercules." " I thought Hercules had been a Greek," said the wrestler. " This sleeping animal is a barbarian," The tone intimated some offence, and the designer hastened to soothe the displeasure which he had thoughtlessly excited. Stephanos, known by the surname of Castor, who was highly distinguished for gymnastic exercises, was a sort of patron to the little artist, and not unlikely by his own reputation to bring the talents of his friend into notice. " Beauty and strength," said the adroit artist, " are of no particu- lar nation ; and may our Muse never deign me her prize, but it is my greatest pleasure to compare them, as existing in the uncultivated savage of the north, and when they are found in the darling of an enlightened people, who has added the height of gymnastic skill to the most distinguished natural qualities, such as we can now only see in the works of Phidias and Praxiteles— or in our living model of the gymnastic champions of antiquity." " Nay, I acknowledge that the Varangian is a proper man," said the athletic hero, softening his tone ; " but the poor savage hath not, perhaps, in his lifetime, liad a single drop of oil on his bosom ! Her- cules instituted the Isthmian Games " " But hold ! what sleeps he with, wrapt so close in his bear-skin? " said the artist. "Is it a club ? " ''Away, awa}'-, my friend ! " cried Stephanos, as they looked closer on the sleeper. "Do you not know that is the instrument of their barbarous office ? They do not war with swords or lances, as if des- tined to attack men of flesh and blood ; but with maces and axes, as if they were to hack limbs formed of stone, and sinews of oak. I will wager my crown [of withered parsley] that he lies here to ar- rest some distinguished commander who has offended the govern- ment ! He would not have been thus formidably armed otherwise — Away, away, good Lysimaialus ; let us respect the slumbers of the bear." So saying, the champion of the Palestra made off with less appar- ent confidence than his size and strength might have inspired. Others, now thinly straggling, passed onward as the evening closed, COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. 13 and the shadows of the cypress-trees fell darker around. Two females of the lower rank cast their eyes on the sleeper. " Holy Maria ! " said one, " if he does not put me in mind of the Eastern tale, how the Genie brought a gallant young' prince from his nuptial chamber in Egypt, and left him sleeping at the gate of Damascus. I will awake the poor lamb, lest he catch harm from the night dew." " Harm ? " answered the older and crosser-looking woman. *•' Ay, such harm as the cold water of the Cydnus does to the wild-swan. A lamb ?— ay, forsooth ! Why he's a wolf or a bear, at least a Varan- gian, and no modest matron would exchange a word with such an un- mannered barbarian. I'll tell you what one of these English Danes did to me " So saying, she drew on her companion, who followed with some reluctance, seeming to listen to her gabble, while she looked back upon the sleeper. The total disappearance of the sun, and nearly at the same time the departure of the twilight, which lasts so short time in that tropi- cal region — one of the few advantages which a more temperate climate possesses over it, being the longer continuance of that sweet and placid light — gave signal to the warders of the city to shut the folding leaves of the Golden Gate, leaving a wicket lightly bolted for the passage of those whom business mig-ht have detained too late without the walls, and indeed for all who cliose to pay a small coin. The position and apparent insensibility of the Varangian did not escape those who had charge of the gate, of whom there was a strong guard, which belonged to the ordinary Greek forces. "By Castor and by Pollux," said the centurion— for the Greeks swore by the ancient deities, although they no longer worshipped them, and preserved those military distinctions with which "the steady Komans shook the world," although they were altogether degener- ated from their original manners— "by Castor and Pollux, comrades, we cannot gather gold in this gate, according as its legend tells us : yet it will be our fault if we cannot glean a goodly crop of silver; and though the golden age be the most ancient and honourable, yet in this degenerate time it is much if we see a glimpse of the inferior metal." " Unworthy are we to follow the noble centurion Harpax," answered one of the soldiers of the watch, who showed the shaven head and the single tuft ^ of a Mussulman, " if we do not hold silver a sufficient cause to bestir ourselves, when there has been no gold to be had — as, by the faith of an honest man, I think we can hardly tell its colour — whether out of the imperial treasury, or obtained at the expense of individuals, for many long moons ! " "But this silver," said the centurion, "thou shalt see with thine own eye, and hear it ring a knell in the purse which holds our common stock." ^^ " Which did hold it, as thou wouldst say, most valiant commander^ replied the inferior warder ; " but what tliat purse holds now, save a 1 One tuft is left on the shaven crown of the "jroslcm, for the angel to grasp by whea conveying liim to Paradise. 14 COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. few miserable oboli for purchasing- certain piclded pot-herbs and salt fish, to relish our allowance of stummed wine, I cannot tell, but willing-ly give my share of the contents to the devil, if either purse or platter exhibits symptom of any age richer than the age of copper." " I will replenish our treasury," said the centurion, " were our stock yet lower than it is. Stand up close by the wicket, my masters. Bethink you we are the Imperial Guards, or the Guards of the Im- perial City, it is all one, and let us have no man rush past us on a sudden ; — and now that we are on our guard, I will unfold to you But stop," said the valiant centurion, " are we all here true brothers ? Do all well understand the ancient and laudable customs of our watch — keeping- all things secret which concern the profit and advantage of this our vigil, and aiding" aud abetting the common cause, without information or treachery ? " " You are strangely suspicious to-night," answered the sentinel. *' Methinks we have stood by you without tale-telling in matters which were more weight)'. Have you forgot the passag-e of the jeweller — which v/as neither the gold uor silver ag'e ; but if there were a dia- mond one " "Peace, good Ismail the Infidel," said the centurion, — "for, I thank Heaven, we are of all religions, so it is to be hoped we must have the true one among-st us, — Peace, I say ; it is unnecessary to prove thou canst keep new secrets by ripping- up old ones. Come hither — look through the wicket to the stone bench, on the shady side of the grand porch— tell me, old lad, what dost thou see there ? " "A man asleep," said Ismail. "By Heaven, I think, from what I can see by the moonlight, that it is one of those barbarians— one of those island dog's, whom the Emperor sets such store by ! " "Andean thy fertile brain," said the centurion, "spin nothing- out of his present situation tending" towards our advantage? " " Why, ay," said Ismail ; " they have large pay, though they are not only barbarians, but pagan dogs, in comparison with us Moslems and Nazarenes. That fellow hath besotted himself with liquor, and hath not found his way home to his barracks in good time. He will be severely punished, unless we consent to admit him ; and to prevail on us to do so, he must empty the contents of his g'irdle." " That, at least — that, at least," answered the soldiers of the city ■yvatch, but carefully suppressing" their voices, though they spoke in an eager tone. " And is that all that you would make of such an opportunity ? " said Harpax, scornfully. "No, no, comrades. If this outlandish animal indeed escape us, he must at least leave his fleece behind. See you not the gleams from his head-piece and his cuirass ? I presume these betoken substantial silver, though it may be of the thinnest. There lies the silver mine I spoke of, ready to enrich the dexterous hands who shall labour it." " But," said timidly a young" Greek, a companion of their watcli, lately enlisted in the corps, and unacquainted with their habits, "still this barbarian, as you call him, is a soldier of the Em])eror; and if we are convicted of depriving- him of his arms, we sliall be justly punished for a military crime." COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. 15 "Here to a new Lycnrgiis come to teach us our duty ! " said the centurion. " Learn first, young- man, that the nietropoHtan cohort never can commit a crime ; and learn next, of course, that they can never be convicted of one. Suppose we found a strag-gKng ba.rbarian, a Varangian, like this shimberer, perhaps a Frank, or some other of these foreigners bearing- unpronounceable names, while they dis- honour us by putting' on the arms and apparel of the real Roman soldier, are we, placed to defend an important post, to admit a man so suspicious within our postern, when the event may probably be to betray both the Golden Gate and the hearts of gold who guard it, — to have the one seized, and the throats of the others handsomely cut?" " Keep him without side the gate, then," replied the novice, " if you think him so dangerous. For my part, I should not fear, him, were he deprived of that hug-e double-edged axe, which gleams from under his cloak, having' a more deadly glare than the comet which astrologers prophesy such strange things of." " Nay, then, we agree together," answered Ilarpax, "and you speak like a youth. of modesty and sense; and I promise you the state will lose nothing in the despoiling- of this same barbarian. Each of these savages hath a double set of accoutrements, the one wrought with gold, silver, inlaid-work, and ivory, as becomes their duties in the prince's household ; the other fashioned of triple steel, strong-, weighty, and irresistible. Now, in taking* from this suspicious character his silver helmet and cuirass, you reduce him to his proper w'eapons, and you will see him start up in arms fit for duty." "Yes," said the novice ; " but I do not see that this reasoning" will do more than warrant our stripping the Varangian of his armour, to be afterwards heedfully returned to liim on the morrow, if he prove a true man. How, I know not, but I had adopted some idea that it was to be confiscated for our joint behoof." "Unquestionably," said Harpax ; "for such has been the rule of our watch ever since the days of the excellent centurion Sisyphus,_in whose time it first was determined, that all contraband commodities or suspicious weapons, or the like, which were brought into the city during the night-watch, should be uniformly forfeited to tlie use of the soldiery of the guard; and where the Emperor finds the goods or arms unjustly seized, I hope he is rich enough to make it up to the sufferer." " But stiJl— but still," said Sebastes of Mitylene, the young Greek aforesaid, "' were the Emperor to discover " " Ass 1 " replied Harpax, " he cannot discover, if he had all the eyes of Argus's tail. — Here are tvv'elvc of us sworn according to the rules of the watch, to abide in the same story. Here is a barbarian, who, if he remembers anything of the matter — which I greatly doubt — his choice of a lodging arguing his familiarity with the wine-pot— tells but a wild tale of losing his armour, which we, my masters " (looking round to his companions), "deny stoutly— I hope we have courage enough for that— and which partly will be believed ? the companions of the watch surely ! " " Quite the contrary," said Sebastes. " I was born at a distance 16 COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. from hence; yet even in tlie island of Mifcylene, the rumour had reached me that the cavaliers of the city-guard of Constantinople were so accomplished in falsehood, that the oath of a sing-le barbarian would outweig'ii the Christian oath of the whole body, if Christians some of thera are— for example, this dark man with a sing-le tuft on his head." " And if it were even so," said the centurion, with a gloomy and sinister look, " there is another way of making the transaction a safe one." Sebastes, fixing liis eye on his commander, moved his hand to the hilt of an Eastern poniard whch he wore, as if to penetrate his exact meaning. The centurion nodded in acquiescence. " Young as I am," said Sebastes, " I have been already a pirate five years at sea, and a robber three years now in the hills, and it is the iirst time I have seen or heard a man hesitate, in such a case, to take the only part which is worth a brave man's while to resort to in a pressing affiiir." Harpax struck his hand into that of the soldier, as sharing his un- compromising sentiments ; but when he spoke, it was in a tremulous voice. " How shall we deal with him ? " said he to Sebastes, who, from the most raw recruit in the corps, had now risen to the highest place in his estimation. "Any how," returned the islander; "I see bows here and shafts, and if no other person can use them " "They are not," said the centurion, "the regular arms of our corps." " The fitter you to guard the gates of a city," said the young soldier with a horse-laugh, which had something insulting in it. " Well — be it so. I can shoot Hke a Scythian," he proceeded ; " nod but with your head, one shaft shall crash among the splinters of his skull and his brains ; the second shall quiver in his heart." " Bravo, my noble comrade ! " said Harpax, in a tone of ajapected rapture, always lowering his voice, however, as respecting the slumbers of the Varangian. " Such were the robbers of ancient days, the Diomedes, Corynetes, Synnes, Scyrons, Procrustes, whom it required demigods to bring to what was miscalled justice, and v/hose compeers and fellows will remain masters of the continent and isles of Greece, until Hercules and Theseus shall again appear upon earth. Nevertheless, shoot not, my valiant Sebastes— draw not the bow, my invaluable Mitylenian ; you may wound and not kill." " I am little wont to do so," said Sebastes, again repeating the hoarse, chuckling, discordant laugh, which grated upon the ears of the centurion, though he could hardly tell the reason why it was so uncommonly unpleasant. "If I look not about me," was his internal reflection, "we shall have two centurions of the watch, instead of one. This Mitylenian, or be he who the devil will, is a bow's lengtli beyond me. " I must kesp my eye on him." He then spoke aloud, in a tone of authority. " But come, young man. it is hard to discourage a young beginner. If you liave been such a rover of wood and river as you tell us of, COUNT ROBERT OF TARIS. 17 you know how to play the Sicarius : there lies your object, drunk or asleep, we know not which ; — you will deal with him in either case." " Will you g'ive me no odds to stab a stupified or drunken man, most noble centurion ? " answered the Greek. " You Avonid perhaps love the commission yourself? " he continued, somewhat ironically, "Do as you are directed, friend," said Harpax, pointing- to the turret staircase which led down from the battlement to the arched entrance underneath the porch. '•'He has the true cat-like stealthy pace," half muttered the cen- turion, as his sentinel descended to do such a crime as he was posted there to prevent. " This cockerel's comb must be cut, or he will be- come king- of the roost. But let us see if his hand be as resolute as his tong'ue; then we will consider what turn to give to the con- clusion." As Harpax spoke between his teeth, and rather to himself than I any of his companions, the Mitylenian emerg-ed from under the arch- [ w;ay, treading- on tiptoe, yet swiftly, with an admirable mixture of I silence and celerity. His poniard, drawn as he descended, gleamed in his hand, which was held a little behind the rest of his person, so ; as to conceal it. The assassin hovered less than an instant over the i sleeper, as if to mark the interval between the ill-fated silver corslet I and the body which it was desig-ned to protect, when, at the instant I the blow was rushing- to its descent, the Varang-ian started up at once, I arrested the armed hand of the assassin, by striking it upwards with the head of his battle-axe ; and while he thus parried the intended stab, struck the Greek a blow heavier than Sebastes had ever learned ', at the Pancration, which left him scarce the power to cry help to his ' comrades on the battlements. They saw what had happened, how- ever, and beheld the barbarian set his foot on their companion, and brandish high his formidable weapon, the whistling- sound of which made the old arch ring- oluinously, while he paused an instant, v/ith his weapon upheaved, ere he g-ave the finishing'-blow to his enemy. The warders made a bustle, as if some of them would descend to the assistance of Sebastes, without, however, appearing- very eager to do so, when Harpax, in a rapid whisper, commanded them to stand fast. *Eacli man to his place," he said, "happen what may. Yonder comes a captain of the g-uard — the secret is our own, if the savage has killed the Mitylenian, as I well trust, for he stirs neither hand nor foot. But if he lives, my comrades, make hard your faces as flints — he is but one man, we are twelve. We know nothing of his purpose, save that he went to see wherefore the barbarian slept so near the post." While the centurion thus bruited his purpose in busy insinuation to the companions of his watch, the stately figure of a tall soldier, I'ichly armed, and presenting a lofty crest, which glistened as he stept from the open moonlight into the shade of the vault, became visible beneatli. A whisper passed among the warders on the top of the gate. " Draw bolt, shut gate, come of the Mitylenian what will," said the 3enturion ; " we are lost men if we own him. — Here comes the diicf of the Varangian axes, the Follower himself." c ■'8. COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. " Well, ITcreward," said the officer who came last npou the scene, ill a sort of lingua Frcaica, g-enerally used by the barbarians of the guard, " hast thou caught a night-hawk ?" "Ay, by Saint George! " answered the soldier; "and yet, in my country, we would call him but a kite." " What is he? " said the leader. *' He will tell you that himself," replied the Varangian, "when I take my grasp from his windpipe." " Let him go then," said the officer. The Englishman did as he was commanded ; but escaping-, as soon as he felt himself at liberty, with an alertness which could scarce Jiave been anticipated, the Mitylenian rushed out at the arch, an.d, availing himself of the complicated ornaments which had originally graced the exterior of the gateway, Im fled around buttress and pro- jection, closely pursued by the Varangian, who, cumbered with Jiis armour, was hardly a match in the course for the light-footed Grecian, as he dodged his i)ursuer from one skulking place to an- other. The officer laughed heartily, as the two figures, like shadows appearing, and disappearing as suddenly, held rapid flight and chase around the arch of Theodosius. " By Hercules ! it is Hector pursued round the walls of Ilion by Achilles," said the officer; "but my Pelides will scarce overtake the son of Priam. What, ho ! goddess-born— son of the white-footed Thetis!— But the allusion is lost on the poor savage — Hollo, Here- ward ! I say, stop — know thine own most barbarous name." These last words were muttered ; then raising his voice, "Ho not outrun thy wind, good Hereward. Thou mayst have more occasion for breath to-night." " If it had been my leader's will," answered the Varangian, coming back in sulky mood, and breathing like one who had been at the top of his speed, " I would have had him as tast as ever greyhound held hare, ere I left off the chase. Were it not for this foolish armour, which encumbeiJS without defending one, I would not have made two bounds without taking him by the throat." " As well as it is," said the officer, who was, in fact, the Acou- louthos, or FoUoiver, so called because it was the duty of this highly trusted officer of the Varangian Guards constantly to attend on the person of the Emperor. " But let us noAV see by what means we are to regain our entrance through the gate ; for if, as I suspect, it was one of those warders who was willing to have played thee a trick, his companions may not let us enter willingly." " And is it not," said the Varangian, " your Valours duty to probe this want of discipline to the bottom ? " " Hush thee here, my simple-minded savage ! I have often told you, most ignorant Hereward, that the skulls of those who come from your cold and muddy Boeotia of the North, are fitter to bear out twenty blows with a sledge-hammer, than turn off one witty or nigenious idea. But follow me, Hereward, and although I am aware that showing the fine meshes of Grecian policy to the coarse eye of an unpractised barbarian like thee, is much like casting pearls before swine, a thing forbidden in the Blessed Gospel, yet, as thou hast so COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. 19 i;'-oo(l a lieart, ana so trusty, as is scarce to be met with among- my Varangians themselves, I care not if, Avhile thou art in attendance on my person, I endeavour to indoctrinate thee in some of that policy by which I myself— the Follower— the cliief of the Varangians, and therefore erected by their axis into the most valiant of the valiant, am content to guide myself, although every way qualified to bear me throu»-h the cross currents of the court by main pull of oar and press of sail — a condescension in me, to do that by policy, which no man in this imperial court, the chosen sphere of superior wits, could so well accomplish by open force as myself. What thinkst thou, good savage ? " " I know," answered the Varangian, who walked about a step and a half 'behind his leader, like an orderly of the present day behind his officer's shoulder, " I should be sorry to trouble my head with what I could do by my hands at once." "Did I not say so ?" replied the Follower, who had now for some minutes led the way from the Golden Gate, and was seen gliding along the outside of the moonlight walls, as if seeking an entrance elsewhere. " Lo, such is the stuff of what you call your head is made ! Your hands and arms are perfect Ahitophels compared to it. Hearken to me, thou most ignorant of all animals, — but, for that very reason, thou stoutest of confidants and bravest of soldiers, — I will tell thee the very riddle of this night-work, and yet, even then, I doubt if thou canst understand me." " It is my present duty to try to comprehend your Valour," said the Varangian — " 1 would say your policy, since you condescend to expound it to me. As for your valour," he added, " I should be unlucky if I did not think I understand its length and breadth already." » The Greek general coloured a little, but replied, with unaltered voice, " True, good Hereward. We have seen each other iu battle." Hereward here could not suppress a short cough, which to those grammarians of the day who were skilful in applying the use of accents, would have implied no peculiar eulogium on his officer's military bravery. Indeed, during their whole intercourse, the con- versation of the General, in spite of his tone of affected importance and superiority, displayed an obvious respect for his companion, as one who, in many points of action, might, if brought to the test, prove a more eflective soldier than hiuiself. On the other hand, when the powerful Northern warrior replied, although it was with all observance of discipline and duty, yet the discussion might some- times resemble that between an ignorant macaroni officer, before the Duke of York's reformation of the British army, and a steady sergeant of the regiment in which they both served. There was a consciousness of superiority, disguised by external respect, and half admitted by the leader. " You will grant me, my simple friend," continued the chief, in the same tone as before, " in order to lead thee by a short passage into the deepest principle of policy which pervades this same court of Constantinople, that the favour of the Emperor "—(here the officer raised his casque, and the soldier made a semblance of doing 20 COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. SO also)—" who (be the place where he puts his foot sacred !) is the vivifying" principle of the sphere in which we live, as the sun itself is that of humanity " " I have heard something like this said by our tribunes," said the Varangian. " It is their duty so to instruct you/' answered the leader, " and I trust that the priests also, in their sphere, forget not to teach my Varangians their constant service to their Emperor." " They do not omit it," replied the soldier, " though we of the exiles know our duty." " God forbid I should doubt it," said the commander of the battle- axes. " All 1 mean is to make thee understand, my dear Hereward, that as there are, though perhaps such do not exist in thy dark and gloomy climate, a race of insects which are born in the first rays of the morning and expire with those of sunset (thence called by us epliemerse, as enduring one day only), such is the case of a ftivour- ite at court, while enjoying the smiles of the most sacred Emperor. And happy is he whose favour, rising as the person of the sove- reign emerges from the level space which extends around the throne, displays itself in the first imperial blaze of glory, and who, keeping his post during the meridian splendour of the crown, has only the fate to disappear and die with the last .beam of imperial brightness. " " Your Valour," said the islander, " speaks higher language than my Northern wits are able to comprehend. Only, methinks, rather than part with life at the sunset, I would, since insect I must needs be, become a moth for two or three dark hours." " Such is the sordid desire of the vulgar, Hereward," answered the Follower, with assumed superiority, " who are contented to en- joy life, lacking distinction ; whereas we, on the other hand, we of choicer quality, who form the nearest and innermost circle around the Imperial Alexius, in which he himself forms the central point, are watchful, to woman's jealousy, of the distribution of his favours, and omit no opportunity, whether by leaguing with or against each other, to recommend ourselves individually to the peculiar light of his countenance." "I think I comprehend what you mean," said the guardsman; " although as for living such a life of intrigue— but that matters not." '•' It does indeed matter not, my good Hereward," said his officer, "' and thou art lucky in having no appetite for the life I have de- scribed. Yet have I seen barbarians rise high in the empire, and if they have not altogether the flexibility, the malleability, as it is called — that happy ductility which can give way to circumstances, I have yet known those of barbaric tribes, especially if bred up at court from their youth, who joined to a limited portion of this flexile quality enough of a certain tough durability of temper, which, if it does not excel in availing itself of opportunity, has no contemptible talent at creating it. But letting comparisons pass, it follows, from tJiis emulation of glory, that is, of royal favour, amongst the servants of tlie imperch and most sacred court, that each is cou^^: Robert of parts. 21 desirous of distiiiguisliing- himself by showing' to the Emperor, not only that he fully understands the duties of his own employments, but that he is capable, in case of necessity, of discharging- those of others." " I understand," said the Saxon ; '" and thence it happens that the under ministers, soldiers, and assistants of the great crown -officers, are perpetually engaged, not in aiding each other^ but in acting as spies on their neighbours' actions ? " "Even so," answered the commander; " it is but few days since I had a disagreeable instance of it. Every one, however dull in the intellect, hath understood thus much, that the great Protospathan-e,^ which title thou knowest signifies the General-in-Chief of the forces of the empire, hath me at hatred, because I am the leader of those redoubtable Varangians, who enjoy, and well deserve, privileges ex- empting them from the absolute command which he possesses over fill other corps of the army— an authority which becomes Nicanor, notwithstanding the victorious sound of his name, nearly as well as a war-saddle would become a bullock." "How!" said the Varangian, "does the Protospathaire pretend •to any authority over the noble exiles ? — By the red dragon, under which we will live and die, we will obey no man alive but Alexius Comnenus himself and our own officers ! " " Rightly and bravely resolved/' said the leader ; " but, my good Hereward, let not your just indignation hurry you so far as to name the most sacred Emperor without raising your hand to your casque, and adding the epithets of his lofty rank." " I will raise my hand often enough and high enough," said the Norseman, "when the Emperor's service requires it." " I dare be sworn thou wilt," said Achilles Tatius, the commander of the Varangian Imperial Body Guard, who thought the time was unfavourable for distinguishing himself by insisting on that exact i observance of etiquette, which was one of his great pretensions to the name of a soldier. " Yet, were it not for the constant vigilance of your leader, my child, the noble Varangians would be trode down, in the common mass of the army, with the heathen cohorts of Huns, Scythians, or those turban'd infidels the renegade Turks ; and even for this is your commander here in peril, because he vindicates his axe-men as worthy of being prized above the paltry shafts of the Eastern tribes and the javelins of the Moors, which are only fit to be playthings for children." " You are exposed to no danger," said the soldier, closing up to Achilles in a confidential manner, " from which these axes can pro- tect you." "Do I not know it?" said Achilles. "But it is to your arm alone that the Follower of his most sacred Majesty now intrusts his safety." " In aught that a soldier may do," answered Hereward ; " make your own computation, and then reckon this single arm worth two against any man the Emperor has, not being of our own corps." _. 1 Literally, the First Swordsman. 22 COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. " Listen, my brer- sign. Each sentinel sunk his weapon. Achilles then reared his stately crest with a conscious dignity at making this display of court influence in the eyes of his soldiers. Hereward observed an undisturbed gravity, to the surprise of his officer, who marvelled in his own mind how he could be such a bar- barian as to regard with apathy a scene which had in his eyes the most impressive and peculiar awe. This indiflerence he imputed to the stupid insensibility of his companion. They passed on between the sentinels, who wheeled backward in file, on each side of the portal, and gave the strangers entrance to a long narrow plank, stretched across the city-moat, which Avas here drawn within the enclosure of an external rampart, projecting beyond the principal wall of the city. "This," he whispered to HereAvard, "is called the Bridge of Peril, and it is said that it has been occasionally smeared with oil, or strewed' with dried peas, and that the bodies of men, known to have been ii^company with the Emperor's most sacred person, have been taken out of the Golden Horn,^ into which the moat empties it- self." '* I would not have thought," said the islander, raising his voice to its usual rough tone, " that Alexius Comneims " " Hush, rash and regardless of your life ! " said Achilles Tatius ; " to awaken the daughter of the imperial arch,^ is to incur deep pen- alty at all times ; but when a rash delinquent has disturbed her with reflections on his most sacred Highness the Emperor, death is a punishment far too light for the eifrontery which has interrupted her 1 The harboui- of Constantinople. 2 The daughter of the arch was a courtly expression fo' the echo, as we find cxplaiaed by the courtly commander himself. COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. 27 blessed slumber! — 111 hath been my fate, to have positive commands laid on me. enjoining- me to bring into the sacred precincts a creature who hath no more of the salt of civilisation in him than to keep his mortal frame from corruption, since of all mental culture he is totally incapable. Consider thyself, Hereward, ami bethink thee what thou art. By nature a poor barbarian — thy best boast that thou hast slain certain Mussulmans in thy sacred master's quarrel; and here art thou admitted into the inviolable enclosure of the Blaq^uernal, and in the hearing- not only of the royal daughter of the imperial arch, which means," said the eloquent leader, " the echo of the sublime vaults ; but— Heaven be our guide,— for what I know, within the natural hearing- of the Sacred Ear itself! " "Well, my captain," replied the Varangian, "I cannot presume to speak my mind after the fashion of this place ; but I can easily suppose I am but ill qualified to converse in the presence of the court, nor do I mean therefore to say a word till lam spoken to, unless when I shall see no better company than ourselves. To be plain, I find ! difficulty in modelling my voice to a smoother tone than nature has given it. So, henceforth, my brave captain, I will be mute, unless when you give me a sign to speak," I " You will act wisely," said the captain. " Here be certain persons I of high rank, nay, some that have been born in the purple itself, that [ will, Hereward (alas,for thee !), prepare to sound with the line of their \ courtly understanding the depths of thy barbarous and shallow conceit. ! Do not, therefore, then, join their graceful smiles with thy inhuman bursts of cachinnation, with which thou art wont to thunder forth j when opening in chorus with thy messmates." *' I tell thee I will be silent," said the Varangian, moved some- what beyond his mood. " If you trust my word, so ; if you think I am ft jackdaw that must be speaking, whether in or out of place and pur- pose, I am contented to go back again, and therein we can end the matter." Achilles, conscious perhaps that it was his best policy not to drive his subaltern to extremity, lowered his tone somewhat in reply to the uncourtly note of the soldier, as if allowing something for the rude manners of one whom he considered as not easily matched among the Varangians themselves, for strength and valour; qualities which, in despite of Hereward's discourtes}', Achilles suspected in his heart were fully more valuable than all those nameless graceo which a more courtly and accomplished soldier might possess. The expert navigator of the intricacies of the imperial residence carried the Varangian through two or three small complicated courts, forming apart of the extensive palace of the Blaquernal,^ and entered the buijding itself by a side-door— watched in like manner by a sen-^ tinel of the Varangian guard, whom they passed on being recognised In the next apartment was stationed the Court of Guard, where were certain soldiers of the same corps amusing themselves at games somewhat resembling the modern draughts and dice, while they seasoned their pastime with frequent applications to deep flagons of 1 Thia place dei-ived its name from the neiglibourins Blachernian Gate and Bridge. '28 COUNT IU)BEnT OF TARTS. ' :ile, which were furnished to them while passing- away their hours ot duty. Some o'lances passed between Hereward and his comrades, nnd he would have joined them, or at least spoke to them ; for since the adventure of the Mitylenian, Ilereward liad rather thought him- self annoyed than distinguislied by his moonlight ramble in the com- pany of his commander, excepting always the short and interesting- period during which he conceived they were on the way to fight a duel. Still, hov/ever negligent in the strict observance of the cere- monies of the sacred palace, the Varangians had, in their own way, rigid notions of calculating their military duty ; in consequence of which Hereward, without speaking- to his companions, followed his leader through the guard-room, and one or two antechambers adja- <;ent, the splendid and luxurious furniture of which convinced him that he could be nowhere else save in the sacred residence of his master the Emperor. At length, having- traversed passages and apartments with whicli the captain seemed familiar, and which he threaded with a stealthy, silent, and apparently reverential pace, as if, in his own inflated phrase, afraid to awaken the sounding- echoes of those lofty and monumental halls, another species of inhabitants beg-an to be visible. In different entrances and in different apartments, the northern soldier beheld those unfortunate slaves, chiefly of African descent, xaised occasionally under the Emperors of Greece to groat power and honours, who, in that respect, imitated one of the most barbar- ous points of Oriental despotism. These slaves were differently oc- 'e changes, never sent to the Eastern half of the g-lobe tidings so alarming' as those I now come to tell your Imperial Highness. Europe, to borrow an expression from this lady, who honours me by calling' me husband, seems loosened from its foundations and about to precipitate itself upon Asia " " So I did express myself," said the Princess Anna Comnena, " and, as I trust, not altogether unforcibly, when we first heard that the wild impulse of those restless barbarians of Europe had driven c tempest as of a thousand nations upon our western frontier, with the extravagant purpose, as they pretended, of possessing themselves of Syria, and the holy places there marked as the sepulchres of pro- phets, the martyrdom of saints, and the great events detailed in the blessed gospel. But that storm, by all accounts, hath burst and passed away, and we well hoped that the danger had gone with it. Devoutly shall we sorrow to find it otherwise." "And otherwise we must expect to find it," said her husband. "It is very true, as reported to us, that a huge body of men of low rank and little understanding, assumed arms at the instigation of a mad hermit, and took the road from Germany to Hungary, expecting miracles to be wrought in their favour, as when Israel was guided through the wilderness by a pillar of flame and a cloud. But no showers of manna or of quails relieved their necessities, or pro- claimed them the chosen people of God. No waters gushed from the rock for their refreshment. They were enraged at their suffer- ings, and endeavoured to obtain supplies by pillaging the country. The Hungarians, and other nations on our western frontiers, Chris- tians, like themselves, did not hesitate to fall upon this disorderly rabble ; and immense piles of bones, in wild passes and unfrequented deserts, attest the calamitous defeats Avhich extirpated these unholy pilgrims." ''All this," said the Emperor, " we knew before: — but what new evil now tlireatens, since we have already escaped so important a one?" " Knew before ? " said the Prince Nicephorus. " We knew notliing of our real danger before, save that a wild herd of animals, as brutal and as furious as wild bulls, threatened to bend their way to a pas- ture for which they had formed a fancy, and deluged the Grecian empire and its vicinity in their passage, expecting that Palestine, with its streams of milk and honey, once more awaited them, as God's predestined people. But so wild and disorderly an invasion had no terrors for a civilised nation like the Romans. The brute herd was terrified by our Greek fire ; it was snared and shot down by the wild nations who, while they pretend to independence, cover our frontier as with a protecting fortification. The vile multitude has been con- sumed even by the very quality of the provisions thrown in their way, — those wise means of resistance which were at once suggested by the paternal care of the Emperor, and by his unfailing policy. Thus wisdom has played its part, and the bark over which the tempest had poured its thunder, has escaped, notwithstanding' all its violence. But the second storm, by which the former is so closely followed, ia COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. 57 of a new descent of these Western nations, more formidable than any which we or our fathers have yet seen. This consists not of tlie ig-norant or of tlie fanatical — not of the base, the need}', and the im- provident. Now, — all that wide Europe possesses of what is wise and worthy, brave and noble, are united by the most religious vows, in the same purpose." " And what is that purpose ? Speak plainly," said Alexius, " The destruction of our whole Roman empire, and the blotting- out the very name of its chief from among- the princes of the earth, among- which it has long been predominant, can alone be an adequate mo- tive for a confederacy such as thy speech infers." "No such design is avowed," said Nicephorus; "and so many princes, wise men, and statesmen of eminence, aim, it is pretended, at nothing' else than the same extravag-ant purpose announced by the brute multitude who first appeared in these regions. Here, most gracious Emperor, is a scroll, in which you will find marked down a list of the various armies which, by different routes, are ap- proaching- the vicinity of the empire. Behold, Hug-h of Vermandois, called from his dignity Hugh the Great, hath set sail from the shores of Italy. Twenty knights have already announced their coming-, sheathed in armour of steel, inlaid with g-old, bearing- this proud greeting : 'Let the Emperor of Greece, and his lieutenants, under- stand that Hugo, Earl of Vermandois, is approaching- his territories. He is brother to the king- of kings — The King of France,^ namely — and is attended by the flower of the French nobility. He bears the blessed banner of St Peter, intrusted to his victorious care by the holy successor of the apostle, and warns thee of all this, that thou mayst provide a reception suitable to his rank.' " "Here are sounding words," said the Emperor; "but the wind which whistles loudest is not always most dangerous to the vessel. We know something of this nation of France, and have heard more. They are as petulant at least as they are valiant; we will flatter their vanity till we get time and opportunity for more effectual de- fence. Tush ! if words can pay debt, there is no fear of our exchequer becoming insolvent. — What follows here, Nicephorus ? A list, I sup- pose, of the followers of this great count ? " " My liege, no ! " answered Nicephorus Briennius ; " so many independent chiefs as your Imperial Highness sees in that memorial, so many independent European armies are advancing by different routes towards the East, and announce the conquest of Palestine from the infidels as their common object." "A dreadful enumeration," said the Emperor, as he perused the list; "yet so far happy, that its very length assures us of the impos- vsibility that so many princes can be seriously and consistently united in so wild a project. Thus already my eyes catch the well-known name of an old friend, our enemy — for such are the alternate chances •of i^eace and war — Bohemond of Antioch. Is not he the son of the celebrated Robert of Apulia, so renowned among his countrymen, who raised himself to the rank of grand-duke from a simple cavalier, 1 See Note D. King of France, 5S COU^'T llOBliilT OF PARIS. fiiul became sovereig-n of those of liis warlike nation, both in Sicily and Italy? Did not the standards of the German Emperor, of the Roman Pontiff, nay, our o^yn imperial banners, g-ive way before him ; until, equally a wily statesman and a brave warrior, he became the terror of Europe, from being" a knight whose Norman castle v/ould have been easily g-arrisoned by six cross-bows, and as many lances? It is a dreadful family, a race of craft as well as power. But Bohe- mond, the son of old Robert, will follow his father's politics. Mo may talk of Palestine and of the interests of Christendom ; but if I can make his interests the same with mine, he is not likely to be g'uided by any other object. So then, with the knowledge I already possess of his wishes and projects, it may chance that Heaven sends US an ally in the g-uise of an enemy. — Whom have we next? God- frey,-^ Duke of Bouillon — leading', I see, a most formidable band from the banks of a hug-e river called the Rhine. What is this persoi^s character?" "As we hear," replied Nicephorus, "this Godfrey is one of the wisest, noblest, and bravest of the leaders who have tlius strang-ely put themselves in motion ; and among- a list of independent princes, as many in number as those who assembled for the sieg-e of Troy, and followed, most of them, by subjects ten times more numerous, this Godfrey may be reg-arded as the Ag-amemnon. The princes and counts esteem him, because he is the foremost in the ranks of those whom they fantastically call Knig'hts, and also on account of the g-ood faith and g-enero»ity which he practises in all his transac- tions. Tne cierg-y g-ive him credit for the highest zeal for the doc- trines of relig-ion, and a corresponding- respect for the Church and its dig-nitaries. Justice, liberality, and frankness, have equally at- tached to this Godfrey the lower class of the people. His g-eneral attention to moral oblig-ations is a pledg-e to them that his religion is real; and, gifted with so much that is excellent, he is already, although_ inferior in rank, birth, and power to many chiefs of the crusade, justly reg-arded as one of its principal leaders." "Pity," said the Emperor, "that a character sueli as you describe this Prince to be, should be under the dominion of a fanaticism scarce worthy of Peter the Hermit, or the clownish multitude which he led, or of the very ass which he rode upon ! which I am apt to think the Avisest of the first multitude whom we belield, seeing- that it ran away towards Europe as soon as water and barley became scarce." "Mig-ht I be permitted hero to speak, and yet live," said Ag-elastes, "I would remark that the Patriarch himself made a similar retreat so soon as blows became plenty and food scarce." ^ "Thouhast hit it, Ag-elastes," said the Emperor; "but the ques- tion now is, whether an honourable and important principality could not be formed out of part of the provinces of the Lesser Asia, now- laid waste by the Turks. Such a principality, methinks, Avith its various advantages of soil, climate, industrious inhabitants, and a * Godfrey of Bonillon, Duke of Lower Lorraine — the great Cr.ptn.in of the first Cru- sade, afterwards King of Jerusalem. See Gibbon, — or jMills, passim. COUxNT UOBEirr OF PAKIS. 50 healthy atmosphere, were well worth the morasses of Bouillon, Ifc mig-lit be held as a dependence upon the sacred Roman empire, and, g-arrisoned as it were by Godfrey and his victorious Franks, would I be a bulwark on that point to our just and sacred person. Ha! most holy Patriarch, would not such a prospect shake the most devout j Crusader's attachment to the burning- sands of Palestine ?" I "Especially," answered the Patriarcli, "if the prince for whom I such a rich theme'^ v.'as changed into a feudal appanage, should be ►previously converted to the only true faith, as your Imperial Hig-h- liness undoubtedly means." i " Certainly — most unquestionably," answered the Emperor, with a I due aflectation of g-ravity, notv/ithstanding' he was internally con- ! scious how often he had been compelled, by state necessities,_ to ' admit, not only Latin Christians, but Manicheans and otlier heretics, ) nay, Mohamedan barbarians, into the number of his subjects, and ; that without experiencing' opposition from the scruples of the Pa- triarch. " Here I find," continued the Emperor, "such a numerous list of princes and principalities in the act of approaching our boun- daries as might well rival the armies of old, who were said to have drunk up rivers, exhausted realms, and trode down forests, in their wasteful advance." As he pronounced these words a shade of pale- ness came over the Imperial brow, similar to that which had already clothed in sadness most of his counsellors. "This war of nations," said Kicephorus, "has also circumstances distinguishing' it from every other, save that which his Imperial Highness hath waged in former times against those whom we are . accustomed to call Franks. We must go forth against a people to whom the strife of combat is as the breath of their nostrils ; who, rather than not be engaged in war, will do battle with their nearest neighbours, and challenge each other to mortal fight, as much in sport as Ave would defy a comrade to a chariot race. Theyarc covered with an impenetrable armour of steel, defending' them from blows of the lance and sv/ord, and which the uncommon strength of their horses renders them able to support, though one of ours could as well bear Mount Olympus upon his loins. Their foot-ranks carry a missile weapon unknown to us, termed an arbelast, or crossbow. It is not drawn with the right hand, like the bow of other nations, but by placing the feet upon the Aveapon itself, and pulling' witli the whole force of the body ; and it despatches arroAvs called bolts, of hard Avood pointed Avith iron, Avhich the strength of the boAV can send through the strongest breastplates, and even through stone Avails, where not of uncommon thickness." " Enough," said the Emperor ; "we have seen Avith our OAvn eyes the lances of Prankish knights, and the crossbows of their infantry. If Heaven has allotted them a deg-ree of bravery Avhich to other na- tions seems Avell-nigh preternaturid, the Divine Avill has given to the Greek councils that Avisdom which it hath refused to barbarians; the art of achieving conquest by Avisdom rather than brute force — obtaining' by our skill in treaty advantag'cs Avhich victory itself could ^ Tlie provinces vrere called Themes. 60 COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. not have procured. If we have not the use of that dreadful weapon which our son-in-law terms the crossbow, Heaven, in its favour, has concealed from these western barbarians the composition and use of the Greek fire — well so called, since by Grecian hands alone it is prepared, and by such only can its lightnings be darted upon the astonished foe." The Emperor paused, and looked around him; and although the faces of his counsellors still looked blank, he boldly proceeded :— " But to return yet again to this black scroll, containing the names of those nations who approach our frontier, here occur more than one with which, methinks, old memory should make us familiar, though our recollections are distant and confused. It be- comes us to know who these men are, that we may avail ourselves of those feuds and quarrels among them which, being blown into life, may happily divert them from the prosecution of this extraordi- nary attempt in which they are now united. Here is, for example, one Robert, styled Duke of Normandy, who commands a goodly band of counts, with which title we are but too well acquainted ; of earls, a word totally strange to us, but apparently some barbaric title of honour; and of knights whose names are compounded, as we think, chiefly of the French language, but also of another jargon, which we are not ourselves competent to understand. To you, most reverend and most learned Patriarch, we may fittest apply for infor- mation on this subject." "The duties of my station," replied the patriarch Zosimus, "have withheld my riper years from studying the history of distant realms ; but the wise Agelastes, who hath read as many volumes as would fill the shelves of the famous Alexandrian library, can no doubt satisfy your Imperial Majesty's inquiries." Agelastes erected himself on those enduring legs which had pro- cured him the surname of Elephant, and began a reply to the inquiries of the Emperor, rather remarkable for readiness than accuracy. " I have read," said he, " in that brilliant mirror which reflects the time of our fathers, the volumes of the learned Procopius, that the people separately called Normans and Angles are in truth the same race, and that Normandy, sometimes so called, is in fact a part of a district of Gaul. Beyond, and nearly opposite to it, but separated by an arm of the sea, lies a ghastly region, on which clouds and tempests for •ever rest, and which is well known to its continental neighbours as the abode to which departed spirits are sent after this life. On one side of the strait dwell a few fishermen, men possessed of a strange charter, and enjoying singular privileges, in consideration of their being the living ferrymen who, performing the office of the heathen •Charon, carry the spirits of the departed to the island which is their residence after death. At the dead of night these fishermen are, in rotation, summoned to perform the duty by which they seem to hold the permission to reside on this strange coast. A knock is heard at the door of his cottage who holds the turn of this singular service, sounded by no mortal hand. A whispering, as of a decaying breeze, summons the ferryman to his duty. He hastens to his bark on the sea-shore, and has no sooner launched it than he perceives its hull sink sensibly in the water, so as to express the weight of the dead COU^fT KOBEUT OF TARIS. 61 I \yitli whom it is filled. No form is seen ; and tlioiig-li voices are licard, yet the accents are undisting-uishable, as of one who speaks ■ ill his sleep. Thus he traverses tlie strait between the continent and the island, impressed with the mysterious awe which affects the living' when they are conscious of the presence of the dead. They arrive upon the opposite coast, where the cliffs of white chalk form I a strange contrast with the eternal darkness of the atmosphere. They stop at a landing-place appointed, but disembark not, for the ' land is never trodden by earthly feet. Here the passage-boat is gradually lightened of its unearthly inmates, who wander forth in the way appointed to them, while the mariners slowly return to their own side of the strait, having performed for the time this singular service, by which they hold their fishing-huts and their possessions on that strange coast." Here he ceasecl, and the Emperor replied — "If this legend be actually told us by Procopius, most learned Ag-elastes, it shows that that celebrated historian came more near the heathen than the Christian belief respecting the future state. In truth, this is little more than the old fable of the infernal Styx. Pro- copious, we believe, lived before the decay of heathenism, and, as we would gladly disbelieve much which he hath told us respecting our ancestor and predecessor Justinian, so we will not pay him much credit in future in point of geographical knowledge. Meanwhile, what ails thee, Achilles Tatius, and why dost thou whisper with that I soldier ? " " My head," answered Achilles Tatius, " is at your imperial com- mand, prompt to pay for the unbecoming trespass of my tongue. I did but ask of this Hereward here what he knew of this matter ; for I have heard my Varangians repeatedly call themselves Anglo-Danes, Normans, Britons, or some other barbaric epithet, and I am sure that one or other, or it may be all, of these barbarous sounds, at difierent times serve to designate the birth-place of these exiles, too happy in being banished from the darkness of barbarism, to the luminous vicinity of your imperial presence." "Speak, then, Varangian, in the name of Heaven," said the Em- peror, " and let us know whether we are to look for friends or enemies in those men of Normandy who are now approaching- our frontier. Speak with courage, man ; and if thou apprehendesc danger, remember thou servest a prince well qualified to protect thee." " Since I am at liberty to speak," answered the life-guardsman, " although my knowledge of the Greek language, which you term the Roman, is but shght, I trust it is enough to demand of his Im- perial Highness, in place of all pay, donative, or gift whatsoever, since he has been pleased to talk of designing such for me, that he would place me in the first line of battle which shall be formed against these same Normans, and their Duke Robert; and if he pleases to allow me the aid of such Varangians as, for love of me, or hatred of their ancient tyrants, may be disposed to join their arms to mine, I have little doubt so to settle our long accounts with these men, that the Grecian eagles and wolves shall do them the last office, by tearing the flesh from their bones." C2 COUNT IIOBEIIT OF PARIS. " Wliat dreadful feud is tliis, my soldier " said the Emperor, " that after so many years still drives tliee to such extremities when the very name of Normandy is mentioned?" " Your Imperial llig'hness shall he judge ! " said the Varangiai: " My fathers, and those of most, tlioug-li not all of the corps to wlion I helong-, are descended from a valiant race who dwelb in the North of Germany, called Anglo-Saxons. Nohody, save a priest possessed of the art of consulting ancient chronicles, can even guess how long it is since they came to the island of Britain, then distracted with civil war. They came, however, on the petition of the natives of tlie island, for the aid of the Angles was requested hy the southern in- habitants. Provinces were granted in recompense of the aid thus liberally afforded, and the greater proportion of the island became, by degrees, the property of the Anglo-Saxons, who occupied it at first a^ several principalities, and latterly as one kingdom, speaking the language and observing the laws of most of those who now form your imperial body-guard of Varangians, or exiles. In process of time, the Northmen became known to the people of the more southern climates. They were so called from their coming from the distant regions of the Baltic Sea— an immense ocean, sometimes frozen with ice as hard as the cliffs of Mount Caucasus.- They came seeking milder regions than nature had assigned them at home; and the climate of France being delightful, and its people slow in battle, they extorted from them the grant of a large province, which was, from the name of the new settlers, called Normandy, though I have heard my father say that was not its proper appellation. They settled there under a Duke, who acknowledged the superior authority of the King of France, that is to say, obeying him when it suited his con- venience so to do. "Now, it chanced many years since, while these two nations of Normans and Anglo-Saxons were cxnietly residing upon difi'erent sides of the salt-water channel which divides France from England, that William, Duke of Normandy, suddenly levied a large army, came over to Kent, which is on the opposite side of the channel, and there defeated in a great battle, Harold, who was at that time King of the Anglo-Saxons. It is but grief to tell what followed. Battles have been fought in old time, that have had dreadful results, which years, nevertheless, could wash away ; but at Hastings — O woe's me ! — the banner of my country fell, never again to be raised up. Op- pression has driven her wheel over us. All that was valiant amongst us have left the land ; and of Englishmen — for such is our proper designation — no one remains in England save as the thrall of the invaders. Many men of l^ani:sh descent, who had found their way on different occasions to England, were blended in the common ca- lamity. All was laid desolate by the command of the victors. My father's home lies now an undistinguished ruin, amid an extensive forest, composed out of what were formerly fair fields and domestic pastures, where a manly race derived nourishment by cultivating a friendly soil. The fire has destroyed the church where sleep the fathers of my race ; and I, the last of their line, am a wanderer in other climates — a fighter of the battles of others — the servant of a CULX-l KUliCUr OF TARIS. 63 foreig'D, though u kind master: in a word, one of the banished— a Varang'ian." "Happier in that station," said Achilles Tatius, " than in all the barbaric simplicity which your forefothers prized so hio-hly, since you arc HOW under the cheering- influence of that smile which is the life of tlie world." " ] t avails not talking of this," said the Varangian, with a cold gesture. " '.riiese Normans," said the Emperor, " are then the people i by whom the celebrated island of Britain is now conquered and governed ? " " Jt is but too true," answered the Varangian. " They are, then, a brave and warlike people ? " said Alexius. " It would be base and false to say otherwise of an enemy," said Ilereward. " Wrono- have they done me, and a wrong never to be atoniid ; but to speak falsehood of them were but a woman's ven- geance. IMortal enemies as they are to me, and mingling with all , my recollections as that which is hateful and odious, yet were the , troops of Europe mustered, as it seems they are likely to be, no 1 nation or tribe dared in gallantry claim the advance of the haughty I Norman." " And this Duke Robert, who is he ? " " That," answered the Varangian, " I cannot so well explain. He i is the son — the eldest son, as men say — of the tyrant William, who subdued England when I hardly existed, or was a child in the cradle. That William, the victor of Hastings, is now dead, we are assured by concurring testimony ; but while it seems his eldest son Duke Robert has become his heir to the Duchy of Normandy, some other of his children have been so fortunate as to acquire the throne of Eng- land,— unless, indeed, like the petty farm of some obscure yeoman, the fair kingdom has been divided among the tyrant's issue." " Concerning this," said the Emperor, "we have heard something, wliich we shall try to reconcile with the soldier's narrative at leisure, holding the words of this honest Varangian as positive proof, in what- soever he avers from his own knowledge. — And now, my grave and worthy counsellors, we must close this evening's service in the Temple of the"^ Muses, this distressing news, brought us by our dearest son- in-law the Cfesar, having induced us to prolong our worship of these learned goddesses deeper into the night than is consistent with the health of our beloved wife and daughter ; while to ourselves this intelligence brings subject for grave deliberation." The courtiers exhausted their ingenuity in forming the most in- genious prayers, that all evil consequences should be averted which could attend this excessive vigilance. Nicephorus and his fair bride spoke together as a pair equally desirous to close an accidental breach between them. " Some things thou hast said, my Caesar," observed the lady, "in detailing this dreadful intelligence, as elegantly turned as if the nine goddesses, to whom this Temple is dedicated, had lent each her aid to the sense iind expression." " I need none of their assistance," answered Nicephorus, " since 64 COU-XT ROBEIIT OF PARIS. I possess a muse of my own, in whose g-enius are included all those attributes which the heathens vainly ascribed to the nine deities of Parnassus ! " " It is well," said the fair historian, retiring' by the assistance of her husband's arm ; " but if you will load your wife with praises far beyond her merits, you must lend her your arm to support her under the weighty burden you have been pleased to impose." The council parted when the imperial persons had retired, and most of them sought to indemnify themselves in more free though less dignified circles, for the constraint which they had practised in the Temple of t|>4?^'I^es. ^/^ CHAPTER VL ! tliou mayst esteem thy love as fair 1^ ^V^i -^^ ^^""^ Iiyperboles suffice to raise. ► *'*^' .ShC'may be all that's matchless in her person, ft A. ^"^ all-divine in soul to match her body ; ^* ^s V Bub take this from me— thou shalt never call her p» tJs- '-. ^Superior to her sex, while o?2£ survives, ^ ' .-''And I am her true votary. ^ y' Old Play. Achilles Tatius, with his faithful Varangian close by his shoulder, melted from the dispersing assembly silently and almost invisibly, as snow is dissolved from its Alpine abodes as the days become more genial. No lordly step or clash of armour betokened the retreat of the military persons. The very idea of the necessity of guards was not ostentatiously brought forward, because, so near the presence of the Emperor, the emanation supposed to iiit around that divinity of earthly sovereigns, had credit for rendering it impassive and un- assailable. Thus the oldest and most skilful courtiers, among whom our friend Agelastes was not to be forgotten, were of opinion, that, although the Emperor employed the ministry of the Varangians and other guards, it was rather for form's sake, than from any danger of the commission of a crime so heinous, that it was the fashion to account it almost impossible. And this doctrine, of the rare occur- rence of such a crime, was repeated from month to month in those very chambers, where it had oftener than once been perpetrated, and sometimes by the very persons who monthly laid schemes for carrying some dark conspiracy against the reigning Emperor into positive execution. At length the captain of the life-guardsmen and his faithful atten-^- dant found themselves on the outside of the Blacquernal Palace. The passage which Achilles found for their exit was closed by a pos- tern which a single Varangian shut behind them, drawing*, at the same time, bolt and bar with an ill-omened and jarring sound. Looking back at the mass of turrets, battlements, and spires, out of which they had at length emerged, Hereward could not but feel his heart lighten to find himself once more under the deep blue of a COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. 65 Grecian heaven, where the pl.anets were burning- with unusual histre. He sighed and rubbed his hands with pleasure, like a man newly restored to liberty. He even spoke to his leader, contrary to his custom unless addressed : — " Methinks the air of yonder halls, valor- ous Captain, carries with it a perfume, which, thoiig-h it may be well termed sweet, is so suffocating-, as to be more suitable to sepulch- rous chambers than to the dwellings of men. Happy I am that I am free, as I trust, from its influences." " Be happy, then," said Achilles Tatius, " since thy vile, cloddish spirit feels suffocation rather than refreshment in gales, which, in- stead of causing- death, might recall the dead themselves to life. Yet this I will say for thee, Hereward, that, born a barbarian, within the narrow circle of a savag'e's desires and pleasures, and having no idea of life save what thou derivest from such vile and base con- nections, thou art, nevertheless, designed by nature for better tilings, and hast this day sustained a trial, in which, I fear me, not even one of my own noble corps, frozen as they are into lumps of unfashioned barbarity, could have equalled thy bearing-. And speak now in true faith, hast not thou been rewarded ? " " That will I never deny," said the Varangian. " The pleasure of knowing-, twenty-four hours perhaps before my comrades, that the Normans are coming- hither to afford us a full revenge of the bloody day of Hasting-s, is a lordly recompense for the task of spend- ing- some hours in hearing the lengthened chat of a lady, who hasi written about she knows not what, and the flattering- commentaries of the bystanders, who pretended to give her an account of what- they did not themselves stop to witness." " Hereward, my good youth," said Achilles Tatius, " thou ravest, and I think I should do well to place thee under the custody of some person of skill. Too much hardihood^ my valiant soldier, is in sober- ness allied to overdaring-. It was only natural that thou shouldst feel a becoming- pride in thy late position ; yet, let it but taint thee with vanity, and the eftect will be little short of madness. Why, thou hast looked boldly in the face of a Princess born in the purple, before Avhom my own eyes, though well used to such spectacles, are never raised beyond the foldings of her veil." " So be it in the name of Heaven ! '*' replied Hereward. '' Never- theless, handsome faces were made to look upon, and the eyes of young' men to see withal." " If such be their final end," said Achilles, " never did thine, I will freely suppose, find a richer apology for the somewhat over- bold licence which thou tookest in thy gaze upon the Princess this evening." " Good leader, or Follower, whichever is your favourite title,'' said the Anglo-Briton, " drive not to extremity a plain man, Avho desires to hold his duty in all honour to the imperial family. The Princess, wife of the Caesar, and born, you tell me, of a purple colour, has now inherited, notwithstanding, the features of a most lovely woman. She hath composed a history, of which I presume not to form a judgment, since I cannot understand it; she sings like an angel; and, to conclude, after the fashion of the knights of this day— though F 66 COUNT ROBEUT OF TARIS. I deal not ovdiiianly with tlioir lang-uag-e— I would say cheerfully that I am ready to place myself in lists against any one whomsoever, who dares detract from the beauty of tlie imperial Anna Com- iiena's person, or from the virtues of her mind. Having- said this, my noble Captain, we have said all that it is competent for you to in- quire into, or for me to answer. That there are handsomer womiCn than the Princess is unquestionable ; and I question it the less that I hare myself seen a person whom I think far her superior ; and with that let us close the dialogue." " Thy beauty, thou unparalleled fool," said Achilles, " must, I ween, be the daughter of the large-bodied northern boor, living next door to him upon whose farm was brought up the person of an ass, curst with such intolerable want of judgment." " You may say your pleasure, captain," rephed Hereward ; " be- cause it is the safer for us both that thou canst not on such a topic either offend me, who hold thy judgment as light as thou canst esteem mine, or speak any derogation of a person whom you never saw, but whom, if you had seen, perchance I might not so patiently have brooked any reflections upon, even at the hands of a military superior." Achilles Tatius had a good deal of the penetration necessary for one in his situation. He never provoked to extremity the daring spirits whom he commanded, and never used any freedom with them beyond the extent that he knew their patience could bear. Here- ward was a favourite soldier, and had, in that respect at least, a sincere liking and regard for his commander : when, therefore, the Follower, instead of resenting his petulance, good-humouredly apo- logised for having hurt his feelings, the momentary displeasure be- tween them was at an end ; the officer at once reassumed his super- iority, and the soldier sunk back with a deep sigh, given to some period which was long past, into his wonted silence and reserve. Indeed the Follower had another and further design upon Here- ward, of which he was as yet unwilling to do more than give a dis- tant hint. After a long pause, during which they approached the barracks, a gloomy fortified building constructed for the residence of their corps, the captain motioned his soldier to draw close np to his side, and proceeded to ask him, in a confidential tone — " Hereward, my friend, although it is scarce to be supposed that in the presence of the imperial family thou shouldst mark any one who did not partake of their blood, or rather, as Homer has it, who did not participate of the divine ichor, which, in their sacred persons, supphes the place of that vulgar fluid ; yet, during so long an audience, thou mightst possibly, from his uncourtly person and attire, have distinguished Agelastes, whom we courtiers call the Elephant, from his strict ob- servation of the rule w^hich forbids any one to sit down or rest in the Imperial presence ? " " I think," replied the soldier, "I marked the man you mean ; his age was some seventy and upwards, — a big burly person; — and the baldness v/hich reached to the top of his head was v/ell atoned for by a white beard of prodigious size, which descended in waving COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. 67 curls over his breast and rcaclied to the to\yol with whicli his lohi.i v/ere girded, instead of the silken sash used by other persons of rank." " Most accurate!}' marked, my Yarang-ian," said the officer. " What else didst thou note about this person ? " " His cloak was in its texture as coarse as tliat of the mcanef^t of the people, but it was strictly clean, as if it had been the intention of the wearer to exhibit poverty, or carelessness and contempt of dress, avoiding-, at the same time, every particular which implied anything" neg-lig-ent, sordid, or diso-usting'.^' "By St Sophia! " said the officer, "thou astonishest me! The Pro]>het Balaam was not more surprised when his ass turned, round her head and spoke to him ! — And what else didst thou note con- cerning' this man ? I see those who meet thee must beware of thy observation, as well as of thy battle-axe." '•'If it please your Valour," answered the soldier, "we English have eyes as well as hands ; but it is only when discharg'ing- our duty that we permit our tongues to dwell on what we have ob- served. I noted but httle of this man's conversation, but from what I heard, it seemed he was not unwilling- to play what we call the jester, or jack-pudding-, in the conversation, a character wliich, considering the man's ag-e and physiog-nomy, is not, I shouiri be tempted to say, natural, but assumed for some purpose of deeper import." "Hereward," answered his officer, "thou hast spoken like.aai ang-el sent down to examine men's bosoms : that mnn. Ag-elasles, is a contradiction, such as earth has seldom witnessed. Possessiiig- all that wisdom which in former times united the sag-es of this nation with the g-ods themselves, Ag'elastes has the same cunning- as the elder Brutus, who disg-uised his talents under the semblance of au idle jester. He appears to seek no office — he desires no considera- tion — he pays suit at court only when positively required to do so ; yet what shall I say, my soldier, concerning tlie cause of an_ in- fluence gained without apparent eftbrf, and extending- almost into the very thoughts of men, M'ho appear to act as he would desire, witliout liis soliciting them to that purpose ? Men say strange things concerning the extent of his communications with other beings, whom our fathers worshipped with prayer and sacrifice. I am determined, however, to know the road by which he climbs so high and so easily towards the point to v/hich all men aspire at court, and it will go hard but he shall either share his ladder witli me, or 1 will strike its support from under him. Thee, Hereward, I have chosen to assist me in this matter, as the knights among these Frankish iniidels select, when going upon an adventure, a sturdy squire, or inferior attendant, io share the dangers and the recom- pense ; and this I am moved to as much by the shrewdness thou hast this night manifested, as by the courage vvhich thou mayst; boast, in common with, or rather beyond, thy companions." " I am obliged, and I thank your Valour," replied the Varangian, more coldly perhaps than his officer expected ; " I am ready, as ia my duty, to serve you in anything consistent v.ith God and the Em- B8 COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. peror's claims upon iny service. I would only say that, as a sworn inferior soldier, I will do notliing- contrary to the laws of the empire, and, as a sincere though ignorant Christian, I will have nothing- to do with the gods of the heathens, save to defy them in the name and strength of the holy saints." " Idiot ! '• said Achilles Tatius, " dost thou think that I, already possessed of one of the first dignities of the empire, could meditate anything contrary to the interests of Alexius Comneuus ? or, what would be scarce more atrocious, that I, the cliosen friend and ally of the reverend Patriarch Zosimus, should meddle with anything bear- ing a relation, however remote, to heresy or idolatry ? " "Truly," answered the Varangian, '* no one would be more sur- prised or grieved than I should ; but when we walk in a labyrinth, we must assume and announce that we have a steady and forward purpose, wliich is one mode at least of keeping a straight path. The people of this country have so many ways of saying the same thing, that one can hardly know at last what is their real meaning. We English, on the other hand, can only express ourselves in one set of words, but it is one out of which all the ingenuity of the world could not extract a double meaning." " 'Tis well," said his officer ; " to-morrow we will talk more of this, for which purpose thou wilt come to my quarters a little after sun- set. And, hark thee, to-morrow, while the smi is in heaven, shall bo thine own, either to sport thyself or to repose. Employ thy time in the latter, by my advice, since to-morrow night, like the present, may find us both watchers." So saying, they entered the barracks, where they parted company —the commander of the life-guards taking his way to a splendid set of apartments which belonged to him in that capacity, and the Anglo- Saxon seeking his more humble accommodations as a subaltern officer of the same corps. CHAPTER VII. Sucli forces met not, nor so vast a camp, When Agrican, with all his Nortlierii powers, Besieged Albracca, as romances tell, The city of Gallaphron, from thence to win The fairest of her sex, Angelica, His daughter, sought by many prowess'd knights, Both Paynim, and the Peers of Charlemagne. Paradise Begaimd. Early on the morning of the day following that which we have commemorated, the Imperial Council was assembled, where the number of general officers with sounding titles, disguised under a thin veil the real weakness of the Grecian empire. The commanders were numerous and the distinctions of their rank minute, but the soldiers were very few in comparison. The offices formerly filled by prefects, praetors, and questors, were t'OUM llOiiEllT OF TARLS. 69 now liekl by persons who had gradually risen into the aulhority of those officers, and who, thong-h desig-nated from their domestic duties about the Emperor, yet, from that very circumstance, pos- sessed what, in that despotic court, was the most effectual source of power. A long' train of officers entered the g'reat hall of the Castle of Blacquernal, and proceeded so far tog-ether as their difl'erent gTades admitted, while in each chamber throuo^h which they passed in succession, a certain number of the train whose rank permitted them to advance no farther, remained behind the others. Thus Avhen the interior cabinet of audience was g-ained, which was not until their passage through ten ante-rooms, five persons only found themselves in the presence of the Emperor in this innermost and most sacred recess of royalty, decorated by all the splendour of the period. The Emperor Alexius sat upon a stately throne, rich with barbaric gems and gold, and flanked on either hand, in imitation probably of Solomon's magnificence, with the form of a couchant lion in the same precious metal. Not to dwell upon other marks of splendour, a tree whose trunk seemed also of gold, shot np behind the throne, which it overcanopied with its branches. Amid the boughs were birds of various kinds curiously wrought and enamelled, and fruit composed of precious stones seemed to glisten among the leaves. Five officers alone, the highest in the state, had the privilege of entering this sacred recess when the Emperor held council. These were — the Grand Domestic, who might be termed of rank with a modern prime minister— the Logothete, or chancellor — the Protospathaire, or com- mander of the guards, already mentioned— the Acolyte, or Follower, and leader of the Varangians — and the Patriarch. The doors of this secret apartment, and the adjacent ante-chamber, were guarded by six deformed Nubian slaves, whose writhen and withered countenances formed a hideous contrast with their snow- white dresses and splendid equipment. They were mutes, a species of wretches borrowed from the despotism of the East, that they might be unable to proclaim the deeds of tyranny of which they were the unscrupulous agents. They were generally held in a kind of horror, rather than compassion, for men considered that slaves of this sort had a malignant pleasure in avenging upon others the irre- parable wrongs which had severed themselves from humanity. It was a general custom, though, like many other usages of the Greeks, it would be held childish in modern times, that by means of machinery easily conceived, the lions, at the entrance of a stranger, were made, as it were, to rouse themselves and roar, after which a wind seemed to rustle the foliage of the tree, the birds hopped from branch to branch, pecked the fruit, and appeared to fill the chamber with their carolling. This display had alarmed many an ignorant foreign ambassador, and even the Grecian counsellors theraseves were expected to display the same sensations of fear, succeeded by surprise, when they heard the roar of the lions, followed by the con- cert of the birds, although perhaps it was for the fiftieth time. On this occasion, as a proof of the urgency of the present meeting of the council, these ceremonies were entirely omitted. The speech of tlie Einperor himself seemed to supply by its com- 70 COU^■T RODEUT OF PARIS. niencemeiit the bellowing- of tlio lions, Avliile it ended in a strain more rcrierabling- the warbling- of tlie birds. In his first sentences, he treated of the audacity and unheard-of boldness of the millions of Franks, who, under the pretence of wrest- ir;g Palestine from the infidels, had ventured to invade the sacred territories of the empire. He threatened thern with such chastise- ment as his innumerable forces and ofiicers would, be afiirmed, find it easy to inflict. To all this the audience, and especially the mili- tary otHcers, gave symptoms of ready assent. Alexius, however, did not long persist in the warlike intentions which he at first avowed. The Franks, he at length seemed to re- flect, were, in profession. Christians. They might possibly be seri- ous in their pretext of the crusade, in which case their motives claimed a degree of indulg'encc, ami, although erring, a certain por- tion of respect. Their numbers also were great, and their valour could not be desi)ised by those who had seen them fight at Durazzo,' and elsewhere. They 'might also, by the permission of Supreme Providence, be, in the long run, the iristruments of advantag-e to the most sacred empire, though they approached it v.'ith so liTtle cere- mony. He had, therefore, mingling the virtues of prudence, human- ity, and g-enerosity, with that valour which must always burn in the heart of an Emperor, formed a plan, which he was about to submit to their consideration, for ])resent execution ; and, in the first place, lie requested of the Grand Domestic, to let him know what forces he might count upon on the western side of the Bosphorus. " Innumerable are the forces of the empire as the stars in heaven, or the sand on the sea-shore," answered the Grand Domestic. "That is a g-oodly answer," said the Emperor, "provided there were strangers present at this conference : but since we hold con- sultation in private, it is necessary that I know precisely to what number that army amounts which I have to rely upon. Reserve your eloquence till some fitter time, and let me know what you, at this present moment, mean by the v/ord innumerable?" The Grand Domestic paused, and hesitated for a short space; but as he became aware that the moment was one in which the Empe- ror could not be trifled with (for Alexius Comnenus was at times dangerous), he answered thus, but not without hesitation. " Impe- rial master and lord, none better knows that such an answer cannot be hastily made, if it is at the sam.e time to be correct in its results. The number of the imperial host betwixt this city and the western frontier of the empire, deducing those absent upon furlough, cannot be counted upon as amounting- to more than twenty-five thousand men, or thirty thousand at most." • Alexius struck his forohead with his hand; and the counsellors, seeing him give way to such violent expressions of grief and sur- prise, began to enter into discussions, which they -would otherwis* have reserved for a fitter place and time. " By the trust your Higiiness reposes in me," said the Logothctej T- For tlie battle of Durozzo, Oct. lOSl, in which Alexius was defeated with grea slaughter by Robert Guiscard, and escajed only by the swiftness of his horse, see jGit \0T\, ch. 56. COtWT ROBERT OF rXRIS. 71 ^ tliore has been drawn from your Highness's coifers during- the last .year, gold cnongli to pay double the number of the armed warriors whom the Grand Domestic now mentions." '•Your Imperial Highness," retorted the impeached minister, with no small animation, "will at once remember the stationary garrisons, I in addition to the movable troops, for which this figure-caster makes I no allowance." I "Peace, both of you!" said Alexius, composing himself hastily; ■ "our actual numbers are in truth less than we counted on, but let us not by wrangling augment the difficulties of the time. Let those troops be dispersed in valleys, in passes, behind ridges of hills, and ' in difficult ground, where, a little art being used in the position, can make few men supply the appearance of numbers, between this city and the western frontier of the empire. While this disposal is made, i we will continue to adjust with these crusaders, as they call them- selves, the terms on which we will consent to let them pass through our dominions : nor are we without hope of negotiating with them, so as to gain great advantage to our kingdom. We will insist that ; they pass through our country only by armies of perhaps fifty thou- i sand at once, whom Ave will successively transport into Asia, so that no greater number shall, by assembling beneath our walls, ever endanger the safety of the metropolis of the world. ' •' On tiieir way towards the banks of the Bosphorus, we v.ill sup- I ply them with provisions, if they march peaceably, and in order ; and if any straggle from their standards, or insult the country by maraud- I ing, Ve suppose our valiant peasants will not hesitate to repress 1 their excesses, and that without our giving positive orders, since mo i would not willingly be charged with anything like a breach of engagement. We suppose, also, that the Scythians, Arabs, Syrians, and other mercenaries in our service, will not suft'er our subjects to be overpowered in their own just defence; as, besides that there is no justice in stripping our own country of provisions, in order to feed strangers, we will not be surprised, nor unpardonably displeased to learn, that of the ostensible quantity of flour, some sacks should be found filled with chalk, or lime, or some such substance. It is, in- deed, truly wonderful, what the stomach of a Frank will digest com- fortably. 'Their guides, also, whom you shall choose with reference to such duty, will take care to conduct the crusaders by difficult and circuitous routes ; which will be doing them a real service, by inur- ing them to the hardships of the country and climate, M'hich they would otherwise have to face without seasoning. '• In the mean time, in your^intercourse with theu* chiefs, whom they call counts, each of whom thinks himself as great as an Empe- ror, you will take care to give no offence to their natural presump- tion,' and omit no opportunity of informing them of the weahh and bounty of our government. Sums of money may be even given to persons of note, and largesses of less avail to those under them. You. our Logothete, will take good order for this, and you, our Grand Domestic, will take care that sucli soldiers as may cut off detached parties of tlic Franks shall be presented, if possible, in savage dress, and under the show of infidels. In commending these 72 COUNT KOBEllT OF PARIS. injunctions to your care, I purpose that, the crusaders having' found the value of our friendship, and also in some sort the danger of our enmity, those whom we shall safely transport to Asia, shall be, how- ever unwieldy, still a smaller and more compact body, whom we may deal with in all Christian prudence. Thus, by using- fair words to one, threats to another, gold to the avaricious, power to the ambiti- ous, and reasons to those that are capable of listening to them, we doubt not but to prevail upon those Franks, met as they are from a thousand points, and enemies of each other, to acknowledge us as their common superior, rather than choose a leader among them- selves, when they are made aware of the great fact, that every vil- lage in Palestine, from Dan to Beersheba, is the original property of the sacred Roman empire, and that whatever Christian goes to war for their recovery, must go as our subject, and hold any conquest which lie may make, as our vassal. Vice and virtue, sense and folly, ambition and disinterested devotion, will alike recommend to the survivors of these singular-minded men, to become the feudato- ries of the empire, not its foe, and the shield, not the enemy, of your paternal Emperor." There was a general inclination of the head among the courtiers, with the Eastern exclamation of, — "Long live the Emperor ! " When the murmur of this applausive exclamation had subsided^ Alexius proceeded: "Once more, I say, that my faithful Grand Domestic, and those who act under him, will take care to commit the execution of such part of these orders as may seem aggressive, to troops of foreign appearance and language, which, I grieve to say, are more numerous in our imperial army than our natural-born and orthodox subjects." The Patriarch here interposed his opinion. — " There is a consola- tion," he said, " in the thought, that the genuine Romans in the imperial army are but few, since a trade so bloody as war is most fitly prosecuted by those whose doctrines, as well as their doings, on earth, merit eternal condemnation in the next world." " Reverend Patriarch," said the Emperor, "we would not willingly lold, with the wild infidels, that Paradise is to be gained by the sabre ; nevertheless, we hope that a Roman dying in battle for his religion and his Emperor, may find as good hope of acceptation, after the mortal pang is over, as a man who dies in peace, and with un- blooded hand." "It is enough for me to say," resumed the Patriarch, "that the Church's doctrine is not so indulgent : she is herself peaceful, and her promises of favour are for those who have been men of peace Yet think not I bar the gates of Heaven against a soldier, as such, if believing all the doctrines of our Church, and complying with all our observances; far less would I condemn your Imperial Majesty's wise precautions, both for diminishing the power and thinning the ranks of those Latin heretics, who come hither to despoil us, and plunder perhaps both church and temple, under the vain pretext that Heaven would permit them, stained with so many heresies, to reconquer that Holy Land, which true orthodox Christians, your Majesty's sacred predecessors, have not been enabled to retain from COUNT EOBEUT OF PARIS. 7^ the infidel. And well I trust that no settlement made under the Latins will be permitted by your Majesty to establish itself, in which the Cross shall not be elevated with limbs of tlie same leng-th, instead of that irregular and most damnable error which prolongs, in west- ern churches, the nether limb of that most holy emblem." " Keverend Patriarch/' answered the Emperor, " do not deem that we think lightly of your weighty scruples ; but the question is now, not in what manner we may convert these Latin heretics to the true faith, but how we may avoid being- overrun by their myriads, which resemble those of the locusts by which their approach was preceded and intimated." "Your Majesty," said the Patriarch, "will act with your usual wisdom ; for my part, I have only stated my doubts, that I may save my own soul alive." '' Our construction," said the Emperor, " does your sentiments no wrong, most reverend Patriarch; and you," addressing himself to the other c(mnsellors, "will attend to these separate charges given out for directing the execution of the commands which have been generally intimated to you. They are written out in the sacred ink, and our sacred subscription is duly marked with the fitting' tinge of g-reen and purple. Let them, therefore, be strictly obeyed. Ourselves- will assume the command of such of the Immortal Bands as remain in the city, and join to them the cohorts of our faithful Varangians. At the head of these troops, we will await the arrival of these strang- ers under the walls of the city, and, avoiding- combat while our policy can postpone it, we will be ready, in case of the worst, to take what- soever chance it shall please the Almighty to send us." Here the council broke up, and the diflerent chiefs began to exert themselves in the execution of their various instructions, civil and mihtary, secret or public, fovourable or hostile to the crusaders. The peculiar genius of the Grecian people was seen upon this occa- sion. Their loud and boastful talking corresponded with the ideas which the Emperor wished to enforce upon the crusaders concerning- the extent of his power and resources. Nor is it to be disguised, that the wily selfishness of most of those in the service of Alexius, endeavoured to find some indirect way of applying- the imperial instruction, so as might best suit their own private ends. Meantime the news had gone abroad in Constantinople of the arrival of the huge miscellaneous army of the West upon the limits of the Grecian empire, and of their purpose to pass to Palestine. A thousand reports magnified, if that was possible, an event so wonder- ful. Some said, that their ultimate view was the conquest of Arabia, the destruction of the Prophet's tomb, and the conversion of his green banner into a horse-cloth for the King' of France's brother. Others supposed that the ruin and sack of Constantinople was the real object of the war. A third class thought it v/as in order to compel the Pa- triarch to submit himself to the Pope, adopt the Latin form of the cross, and put an end to the schism. The Varangians enjoyed an addition to this wonderful news, seasoned as it everywhere was with something peculiarly suited to the prejudices of the hearers. It was gathered originally from what 74 COU>'T ROBERT OF PARLS. our friend Herewfird, who was one of their inferior officers, called serg-eants or constables, had suffered to transpire of what he had heard the preceding- evening-. Considering- that the fact must be soon matter of notoriety, he had no hesitation to give his comrades to understand that a Norman army was coming hither under Duke Robert, the son of the far-famed William the Conqueror, and with hostile intentions, he concluded, against them in particular. Like iill other men in peculiar circumstances, the Varangians adopted an explanation applicable to their own condition. These Normans, who liated the Saxon nation, and had done so much to dishonour and oppress them, were now following them, they supposed, to the foreign capital where they had found refuge, with the purpose of making- war on the bountiful prince v»'ho protected their sad remnant. Under this belief, many a deep oath was sworn in Norse and Anglo-Saxon, that their keen battle-axes should avcMge the slaughter of Hast- ings, and many a pledge, both in wine and ale, v/as quaft'ed, who should most deeply resent, aiul most eftectually revenge, the wrongs- which the Anglo-Saxons of England had received at the hand of their oppressors. Here ward, the author of this intelligence, began soon to be sorry that he had ever suffered it to escape him, so closely was he cross- examined concerning its precise import, by the inquiries of his com- rades, from whom he thought himself obliged to keep concealed the adventures of the preceding- evening-, and the place in which he had gained his information. About noon, when he was effectually tired with returning- the same answer to the same questions, and evading- similar others which were repeatedly put to him, the sound of trumpets announced the presence of the Acolyte Achilles Tatius, who came immediately, it was indus- triously whispered, from the sacred Interior, with news of tlie imme- diate approach of war. The Varangians, and the Roman bauds called Immortal, it was said, were to form a camp under the city, in order to be prompt to defend it at the shortest notice. This put the whole barracks into commotion, each man making the necessary ]«-ovision for the ap- proaching- campaign. The noise was chiefly that of joyful bustle and acclamation ; and it was so general, that Hereward, whose rank permitted him to commit to a page or esquire, the task of prepar- ing- his equipments, took the opportunity to leave the barracks, in order to seek some distant place apart from his comrades, and enjoy his solitary reflections upon the singular connection into v/hich he had been drawn, and his direct communication with the Imperial family. Passing" through the narrow streets, then deserted on account of the heat of the sun, he reached at length one of those broad terraces, M'hich, descending as it were by steps, upon the margin of the Bos- phorus, formed one of the most splendid walks in the universe, and still, it is believed, preserved as a jjublic promenade for the pleasure of the Turks, as formerly for that of the Christians. These gradu- ated terraces were planted with many trees, among which the cypress, as usual, was most g-enerally cultivated. Here bauds of the inhabi- COUNT ROBERT OF VAUVi. 75 taiits were to be seen : some passing' to and fro, with business and anxiety in their faces; some standing- still in groups, as if discusshig- the strange and weighty tidings of the day ; and some, with the in- dolent carelessness of an eastern climate, eating their noontide re- freshment in the shade, and spending their time as if their sole object was to make much of the day as it passed, and let the cares of to- morrow ansvrer for themselves. While the Varangian, afraid of meeting some acquaintance in this concourse, which would have been inconsistent with the desire of seclusion Mhich had brought him thither, descended or passecl from one terrace to another, all marked him with looks of curiosity and inquiry, considering him to be one, who, from his arms and connec- tion with the court, must necessarily know more than others con- cerning the singular invasion by numerous enemies, and from vari- ous quarters, which was the news of the day. None, however, had the hardihood to address the soldier of the guard, though all looked at him with uncommon interest. He walked from the lighter to the darker alleys, from the more closed to the more open teiTaces, with- out interruption from any one, yet not without a feeling that he must not consider himself as alone. The desire that he felt to be solitary rendered him at last somewhat watchful, so that he became sensible that he was dogged by a black slave, a personage not so unfrequent in the streets of Constantinople as to excite any particular notice. His attention, however, being at length fixed on this individual, he began to be desirous to escape his observation ; and the change of place which he had at first adopted to avoid society in general, he had now recourse to, in order to rid himself of this distant, thougli apparently watchful^ attendant. Still, however, though he by change of place had lost sight of the negro for a few minutes, it was not long ere he again discovered him^ at a distance too far for a companion, but near enough to serve all the purposes of a spy. Displeased at this, the Varangian turned short in his walk, and, cl oosing a spot where none v^'as in sight but the object of his resentment, walked suddenly up to him, and demanded wherefore, and by whose orders, he presumed to doghis footsteps. The negro answered in a jargon as bad as that in which he was ad- dressed, though of a different kind, " that he had orders to remark whither he went." " Orders from whom ? " said tlie Varangian. " From my master and yours," answered the negro, boldly. "Thou infidel villain ! " exclaimed the angry soldier, "when was it that we became fellow-servants, and who is it that thou darest to call my master?" '• One who is master of the world," said the slave, " since he com- mands his own passions." " I shall scarce command mine," said the Varangian, " if thoure- pliest to my earnest questions with thine affected quirks of philo- sophy. Once more, what dost thou want with me ? and why hast thou'^thc boldness to watch me?" " I have told thee already," said the slave, " that I do my master's commands." 76 COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. " But I must know who thy master h," said Hereward. " He must tell thee that himself," replied the negro ; " he trusts- not a poor slave like me with the purpose of the errands on which he sends me." " He has left thee a tongue, however," said the Varangian, " which some of thy countrymen would, I think, be glad to possess. Do not provoke me to abridge it by refusing me the information which I have a right to demand." The black meditated, as it seemed from the grin on his face, further evasions, when Hereward cut them short by raising the staif of his battle-axe. ''Put me not," he said, " to dishonour my- self by striking thee with this weapon, calculated for a use so much more noble." " I may not do so, valiant sir," said the negro, laying aside an impudent, half-gibing tone which he had hitherto made use of, and betraying personal fear in his manner. " If you beat the poor slave to death you cannot learn what his master hath forbid him to tell. A short walk will save your honour the stain, and yourself the trouble, of beating what cannot resist, and me the pain of enduring what I can neither retahate nor avoid." " Lead on then," said the Varangian. " Be assured thou shalt not fool me by thy fiiir words, and I will know the person who is im- pudent enough to assume the right of watching ray motions." The black walked on with a species of leer peculiar to his physiog- nomy, which might be construed as expressive either of malice or of mere humour. The Varangian followed him with some suspicion, for it happened that he had had little intercourse with the unhappy raee of Africa, and had not totally overcome the feeling of sur- prise with which he had at first regarded them, when he arrived a stranger from the north. So often did this man look back upon him during their walk, and with so penetrating and observing a cast of countenance, that Hereward felt irresistibly renewed in his mind the English prejudices, which assigned to the demons the sable colour and distorted cast of visage of his conductor. The scene into which he was guided strengthened an association which was not of itself unlikely to occur to the ignorant and martial islander. The negro led the way from the splendid terraced walks which we have described, to a path descending to the sea-shore, when a place appeared, which, far from being trimmed, like other parts of the coast, into walks of embankment, seemed, on the contrary, aban- doned to neglect, and was covered with the mouldering ruins of anti- quity, where these had not been overgrown by the luxuriant vegeta- tion of the climate. These fragments of building, occupying a sort of recess of the bay, were hidden by steep banks on each side, and although in fact they formed part of the city, yet they were not seen from any part of it, and, embosomed in the manner we have described, did not in turn command any view of the churches, palaces, towers, and fortifications, amongst which they lay. The sight of this soli- tary and apparently deserted spot, encumbered with ruins and over- grown with cypress and other trees, situated as it was in the midst COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. 77 •of fi populous city, had somethinj^ in it impressive and awful to the imagination. The ruins were of an ancient date, and in the style of a foreign people. The gig-antic remains of a portico, the mutilated fragments of statues of great size, but executed in a taste and atti- tude so narrow and barbaric as to seem perfectly the reverse of tlie ■Grecian, and the half-defaced hieroglyphics which could be 'traced •on some part of the decayed sculpture, corroborated the popular ac- count of their origin, which we shall briefly detail. According to tradition this had been a temple dedicated to the Egyptian goddess Cybele, built while the Roman empire was yet heathen, and while Constantinople was still called by the name of Byzantium. It is well known that the superstitution of the Egyp- tians — vulgarly gross in its literal meaning as well as in its mystical interpretation, and peculiarly the foundation of many wild doctrines, — was disowned by the principles of general toleration, and the system of polytheism received b}[ Rome, and was excluded by re- peated laws from the respect paid by the empire to almost every other religion, however extravagant or absurd. Nevertheless, these Egyptian rites had charms for the curious and the superstitious, and had, after long opposition, obtained a footing in the empire. Still, although tolerated, the Egyptian priests were rather con- sidered as sorcerers than as pontiffs, and their whole ritual had a nearer relation to magic in popular estimation, than to any regular system of devotion. Stained with these accusations, even among the heathen themselves, the Avorship of Egypt was held in more mortal abhorrence by the Christians than the other and more rational kinds of heathen devo- tion ; that is, if any at all had a right to be termed so. The brutal worship of Apis and Cybele was regarded, not only as a pretext for obscene and profligate pleasures, but as having a direct tendency to open and encourage a dangerous commerce with evil spirits, who were supposed to take upon themselves, at these unhallowed altars, the names and characters of these foul deities. Not only, therefore, the temple of Cybele, with its gigantic portico, its huge and in- elegant statues, and its fantastic hierogylphics, was thrown down and defaced when the empire was converted to the Christian faith, but the very ground on which it stood w^as considered as polluted and unhallowed ; and no emperor having yet occupied the site with a Christian church, the place still remained neglected and deserted as we have described it. The Varangian Plereward was perfectly acquainted with the evil reputation of the place ; and when the negro seemed disposed to advance into the interior of the ruins, he hesitated, and addressed his guide thus : — " Hark thee, my black friend, these huge fantastic images, some having dogs' heads, some cows' heads, and some no heads at all, are not held reverently in popular estimation. Your own colour, also, my comrade, is greatly too like that of Satan himself, to render you an unsuspicious companion amid ruins, in which the false spirit, it is said, daily walks his rounds. Midnight and noon are the times, it is rumoured, of his appearance. I will go no farther with you unless you assign me a fit reason for so doing." 78 COUNT ROBEKT OF PARIS. "In milking" so childish a proposal," said the v.egvo, "you take from me, in effect, all desire to g'uide you to my iiiastei-. 1 thought I spoke to a man of invincihle courag-e, and of that g-ood sense upon which courag-e is hest founded. But your valour only emboldens you to beat a black slave, who has neither streng-th nor title to resist you ; and your courag-e is not enoug-h to enable you to look without trembling" on the dark side of a wall, even when the sun is in the heavens." " Thou art insolent," said Hereward, raising- his axe. "And thou art foolish," said the negro, " to attempt to prove thy manhood and thy wisdom by the very mode which gives reason for calling them both in question. I have already said there can be little valour in beating a wretch like me ; and no man, surely, who wishes to discover his way, would begin by chasing away his guide." " I follow thee," said Hereward, stung with the insinuation of covrardice ; " but if thou leadest me into a snare, thy free talk shall not save thy bones, if a thousand of thy complexion from earth or hell, were standing ready to back thee." " Thou objectest sorely to my complexion," said the negro ; " how kuowest thou that it is, in fact, a thing to be counted and acted upon as matter of reality ? Thine own eyes daily apprise thee, that the colour of the sky nightly changes from bright to black, yet thou knowest that this is by no means owing- to any habitual colour of the heavens themselves. The same change that takes place in the hue of the heavens has existence in the tinge of the deep sea — How canst thou tell but what the difference of my colour from thine own may be owing to some deceptions change of a similar nature — not real in itself, but only creating an apparent reality ?" " Thou mayst have painted thyself, no doubt," answered the Varan- gian, upon reflection, "and thy blackness, therefore, may be only apparent; but I think thy old friend himself could hardly have pre- sented these grinning lips, with the white teeth and flattened nose, so much to the life, unless that peculiarity of Nubian physiognomy, as they call it, had accurately and really an existence; and, to save thee some trouble, my dark friend, I will tell thee, that though thou speakest to an uneducated Varangian, I am not entirely unskilled in the Grecian art of making subtle words pass upon the hearers instead of reason." " Ay ? " said the negro, doubtfully, and somewhat surprised ; " and may the slave Diogenes — for so my master has christened me— inquire into the means by which yoii reached knowledge so unusual?" "It is soon told," replied Hereward. "My countryman, Witi- kind, being a constable of our bands, retired from active service, and spent the end of a long life in this city of Constantinople. Being past all toils of battle, either those of reality, as you word it, or the pomp and fatigue of the exercising ground, the poor old man, in despair of something to pass his time, attended the lectures of the philosophers." " And what did he learn there ? " said the negro ; "for a barbarian, COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. 79 grown grey under the helmet, was not, as I tliink, a very hopeful student in our schools." "As much though, I should think, as a menial slave, wliicli I understaud to be thy condition," replied the soldier. _ " But 1 have understood from him that the masters of this idle science make it their business to substitute, in their argumentations, mere words iustead of ideas ; and as they never agree upon the precise meauing of the former, their disputes can never arrive at a fair or settled conclusiou, since they do not agree in the language in wliich they express them. Their theories, as they call them, are built on the sand, and the wind and tide shall prevail against them." " Say so to my master," answered the black, in a serious tone. " 1 will," said the Varangian ; " and he shall know me as an igno- rant soldier, having but few ideas, and those only concerning my rehgion and my military duty. But out of these opinions I will neither be beaten by a battery of sophisms, nor cheated by the arts or the terrors of the friends of heathenism, either in this world or the next." " You may speak your mind to him then yourself," said Diogenes. He stepped to a side as if to make way for the Varangian, to whom he motioned to go forward. Hereward advanced accordingly, by a half- worn and almost imper- ceptible path leading through the long rough grass, and, turning round a half-demolished shrine, which exhibited the remains of Apis, the bovine deity, he came immediately in front of the philoso- pher, Agelastes, who, sitting among the ruins, reposed his limbs on the grass. CHAPTER VIII. Through the vain webs which puzzle sophists' skill. Plain sense and honest meaning work their way ; So sink the varying clouds upon the hill, When the clear dawning brightens into dav. Dr Watts. The old man rose from the ground with alacrity, as Hereward approached. "My bold Varangian," he said, "thou who vainest men and things, not accordino- to the false estimate ascribed to them in this world, but to their real importance and actual value, thou art welcome, whatever has brought thee hither — thou art wel- come to a place where it is held the best business of philosophy to strip man of his borrowed ornaments, and reduce him to the just value of his own attributes of body and mind, singly considered." "' You are a courtier, sir," said the Saxon, " and as a permitted companion of the Emperor's Highness, you must be aware, that there are twenty times more ceremonies than such a man as I can be acquainted with, for regulating the diHerent ranks in society ; while a plain man like myself may be well excused from pusliinp; 80 COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. himself into the company of those above him, where he does not exactly know how he should comport himself." " True," said the philosopher ; " but a man like yourself, noble Hereward, merits more consideration in the eyes of a real philoso- pher, than a thousand of those mere insects, whom the smiles of a 'ell in the front of battle as at the dancing-rooni or "banquet." " Such is the custom of this pair, most noble knight," answered another Crusader, who had joined them, " and Heaven pity the poor man who has no power to keep domestic peace by an appeal to the {Stronger hand! " 1 See Note F, GoAta. H 98 COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. " Well ! " replied Raymond, "if it be rather a mortifying" reflection that the lady of our love is far past the bloom of youth, it is a conso- lation that she is too old-fashioned to beat us, when we return back with no more of youth or manhood than a long crusade has left. But come, follow on the road to Constantinople, and in the rear of this most doughty knight." CHAPTER X. Thoee were wild times — the antipodes of ours 5 Ladies were there, who oftener saw themselves In the broad lustre of a foeman's shield Than in a mirror, and who rather sought To match themselves in battle, than in dalliance To meet a lover's onset. — But though Nature Was outraged thus, she was not overcome. Feudal Times. Brenhilda, Countess of Paris, was one of those stalwart dames who willingly hazarded themselves in the front of battle, which, dur- ing the first crusade, was as common as it was possible for a very- unnatural custom to be, and, in fact, gave the real instances of the Marphisas and Bradamantes, whom the writers of romance delighted to paint, assigning them sometimes the advantage of invulnerable armour, or a spear whose thrust did not admit of being resisted, in order to soften the improbability of the weaker sex being frequently victorious over the male part of the creation. But the spell of Brenhilda was of a more simple nature, and rested chiefly in her great beauty. From a girl, she despised the pursuits of her sex ; and they who. ventured to become suitors for the hand of the young Lady of Aspra monte, to which warlike fief she had succeeded, and which perhaps encouraged her in her fancy, received for answer, that they must first merit it by their good behaviour in the lists. The father ol Brenhilda was dead ; her mother was of a gentle temper, and easily kept under management by the young lady herself. Brenhilda's numerous suitors readily agreed to terms which were too much according to the manners of the age to be disputed. A tournament was held at the Castle of Aspramonte, in which one half of the gallant assembly rolled headlong before their successful rivals, and withdrew from the lists mortified and disappointed. The success' ful party among the suitors were expected to be summoned to joust among themselves. But they were surprised at being made ac- quainted with the lady's further will. She aspired to wear armour herself, to wield a lance, and back a steed, and prayed the knights that they would permit a lady, whom they professed to honour so highly, to mingle in their games of chivalry. The young knights courteously received their young mistress in the lists, and smiled at the idea of her holding them triumphantly against so many gallant champions of the other sex. But the vassals and old servants of the COUNT ROBERT OF TARLS. 99 Count, her father, smiled to each other, and intimated a different result than the gallants anticipated. The knights who encomitered the fair Brenhilda were one by one stretched on the sand ; nor was it to be denied, that the situation of tilting- with one of the hand- s-omest women of the time, was an extremely embarrassing one. Each youth was bent to withhold his charge in full volley, to cause his steed to swerve at the full shock, or in some other way to flinch |- from doing the utmost which was necessary to gain the victory, lest, in so gaining it, he might cause irreparable injury to the beautiful opponent he tilted with. But the Lady of Aspramoute was not one who could be conquered by less than the exertion of the whole strength and talents of the victor. The defeated suitors departed from the lists the more mortified at their discomfiture, because Robert of Paris arrived at sunset, and, understanding what was going forward, sent his name to the barriers, as that of a knight who would willingly forego the reward of the tournament, in case he had the fortune to gain it, declaring, that neither lands nor ladies' charms were what he came thither to seek. Brenhilda, piqued and mortified, chose a new lance, mounted her best steed, and advanced into the lists as one determined to avenge upon the new assailant's brow the slight of her charms which he seemed to express. But whether her displeasure had somewhat interfered with her usual skill, or whether she had, like others of her sex, felt a partiality towards one whose heart was not particularly set upon gaining hers — or whether, as is often said on such occasions, her fated hour was come, so it w^as that Count Robert tilted with his usual address and good fortune. Brenhilda of Aspramonte was unhorsed and un- helmed, and stretched on the earth, and the beautiful face, which faded from very red to deadly pale before the eyes of the victor, pro- duced its natural effect in raising the value of his conquest. He would, in conformity witli his resolution, have left the castle, after having mortified the vanity of the lady ; but her mother opportunely interposed ; and when she had satisfied herself that no serious in- jury had been sustained by the young heiress, she returned her thanks to the stranger knight who had taught her daughter a lesson, wdiich, she trusted, she would not easily forget. Thus tempted to do what he secretly wished, Count Robert gave ear to those sentiments, which naturally whispered to him to be in no hurry to withdraw. He was of the blood of Charlemagne, and, what was still of more consequence in the young lady's eyes, one of the most renowned of Norman knights in that jousting day. After a residence of ten days in the castle of Aspramonte, the bride and bridegroom set out, for such was Count Robert's will, with a competent train, to our Lady of the Broken Lances, where it pleased him to be wedded . Two knights, who were waiting to do battle, as was the custom of the place, were rather disappointed at the nature of the cavalcade, which seemed to interrupt their purpose. But greatly were they surprised when they received a cartel from the betrothed couple, offering to substitute their own persons in the room of other antagonists, and congratulat- ing themselves in commencing their married life in a manner so eon- 100 COUiNT ROBEllT OF PARIS. sistenfc with that which they head hitherto led. They were victorioua as usual ; and the only persons having- occasion to rue the complais- ance of the Count and his bride, were the two strangers, one of whom broke an arm in the rencontre, and the other dislocated a col- lar-bone. Count Robert's course of knight-errantry did not seem to be in the least intermitted by his marriage ; on the contrary, when he was called upon to support his renown, his wife was often known also in military exploits, nor was she inferior to him in thirst after fame. They both assumed the cross at the same time, that being then the predominating folly in Europe. The Countess Brenhilda was now above six-and-twenty years old, with as much beauty as can well fall to the share of an Amazon. A figure, of the largest feminine size, was surmounted by a noble coun- tenance, to which even repeated v/arlike toils had not given more than a sunny hue, relieved by the dazzling whiteness of such parts of her face as were not usually displayed. As Alexius gave orders that his retinue should return to Constan- tinople, he spoke in private to the Follower, Achilles Tatius. Tlie Satrap answered with a submissive bend of the head, and separated ■with a few attendants from the main body of the Emperor's train. The principal road to the city was, of course, iilled with the troops, and with the numerous crow^ds of spectators, all of whom were incon- venienced in some degree by the dust and heat of the weather. Count Robert of Paris had embarked his horses on board of ship, and all his retinue, except an old squire or valet of his own, and an attendant of his wife. He felt himself more incommoded in this crowd than he desired, especially as his wife shared it with him, and began to look among the scattered trees which fringed the shores, down almost to the tide-mark, to see if he could discern any bypath which might carry them more circuitously, but more pleasantly, to the city, and afford them at the same time, what was their principal object in the East, strange sights, or adventures of chivalry. A broad and beaten path seemed to promise them all the enjoyment which shade could give in a w\arm climate. The ground through which it wound its way was beautifully broken by the appearance of temples, churches, and kiosks, and here and there a fountain distributed its silver produce, like a benevolent individual, who, self-denying to him- self, is liberal to all others who are in necessity. The distant sound of the martial music still regaled their way ; and, at the same time, as it detained the populace on the high-road, prevented the strangers from becoming incommoded Vv'ith fellow-travellers. Rejoicing in the abated heat of the day — wondering, at the same time, at the various kinds of architecture, the strange features of the landscape, or accidental touches of manners exhibited by those who met or passed them upon their journey, they strolled easily onwards. One figure particularly caught the attention of the Countess Bren- hilda. This was an old man of great stature, engaged, apparently, so deeply wdth the roll of parchment wdiich he held in his hand, that he paid no attention to the objects which were passing around him. Deep thought appeared to reign on his brow, and his eye was : COUNT KOBERT OF PARIS. 101 of that piercing kind which seems designed to search and winnow the frivolous from the edifying part of human discussion, and limit its inquiry to the last. Raising his eyes slowly from the parchment on wliich he had been gazing, the look of Agelastes — for it was the sage himself^encountered those of Count Robert and his lady, and addressing them with the kindly epithet of " my children," he asked if they liad missed their road, or whether there was anything in which I he could do them any pleasure. " We are strangers, father," was the answer, " from a distant country, and belonging to the army which has passed hither upon pilgrimage ; one object brings us here in common, we hope, with all that host. We desire to pay our devotions where the great ransom was paid for us, and to free, by our good swords, enslaved Palestine, from the usurpation and tyranny of the infidel. When we have said this, we have announced our highest human motive. Yet Robert of Paris and his Countess would not willingly set their foot on a land, save Avhat should resound its echo. They have not been accustomed to move in silence upon the face of the earth, and they would pur- chase an eternal life of fame, though it were at the price of mortal existence." "You seek, then, to barter safety for fame," said Agelastes, "though you may, perchance, throw death into the scale by which i you hope to gain it ? " "Assuredly," said Count Robert ; "nor is there one wearing such 1 a belt as this, to whom such a thought is stranger." "And as I understand," said Agelastes, "your lady shares with your honourable self in these valorous resolutions ? — Can this be? " "You may undervalue my female courage, father, if such is your will," said the Countess ; " but I speak in presence of a witness who can attest the truth, when I say that a man of half your years had not doubted the truth with impunity." ; " Nay, Heaven protect me from the lightning of your eyes," said i Agelastes, " whether in anger or in scorn. I bear an segis about myself against what I should else have feared. But age, with its incapacities, brings also its apologies. Perhaps, indeed, it is one like me whom you seek to find, and in that case I should be happy to render to you such services as it is my duty to oifer to all worthy knights." " I have already said," replied Count Robert, " that after the ac- complishment of my vow," — he looked upwards, and crossed himself, — " there is nothing on earth to which I am more bound than to celebrate my name in arms as becomes a valiant cavalier. When men die obscurely, they die for ever. Had my ancestor Charles never left the paltry banks of the Saale, he had not now been mych better known than any vine-dresser who wielded his pruning-hook in the same territories. But he bore him like a brave man, and his \ name is deathless in the memory of the worthy." " Young man," said the old Grecian, " although it is but seldom that such as you, whom I was made to serve and to value, visit this country, it is not the less true that I am well qualified to serve you I in the matter Avhich you have so much at heart. My acquaintance 102 COUNT EGBERT OF PARIS. with nature has been so perfect and so long-, that, during- its contiuii- ancCj she has disappeared, and another world has been spread before me, in wliich she has but little to do. Thus the curious stores which I have assembled are beyond the researches of other men, and not to be laid before those whose deeds of valour are to be bounded by the ordinary probabilities of everyday nature. No romancer of your romantic country ever devised such extraordinary adventures out of his own imagination, and to feed the idle wonder of those who sat listening around, as those which I know, not of idle invention, but of real positive existence, with the means of achieving and accomplish- ing" the conditions of each adventure." "If such be your real profession," said the French Count, "you have met one of those whom you chiefly search for; nor will my Countess and I stir farther upon our road until you have pointed out to us some one of those adventures which it is the business of errant- knights to be industrious in seeking out." So saying, he sat down by the side of the old man; and his lady, with a degree of reverence which had something in it almost divert- ing-, followed his example. "We have fallen right, Brenhilda," said Count Robert; "our guardian angel has watched his charge carefully. Here have we come among an ignorant set of pedants, chattering- their absurd lan- guage, and holding more important the least look that a cowardly Emperor can give, than the best blow that a good knight can deal. Believe me, I was well-nigh thinking that we had done ill to take the cross — God forgive such an impious doubt ! Yet here, when we were even despairing to find the road to fame, we have met with one of those excellent men whom the knights of yore were wont to find sitting by springs, by crosses, and by altars, ready to direct the wan- dering knight where fame was to be found. Disturb him not, my Brenhilda," said the Count, " but let him recall to himself his stories of the ancient time, and thou shalt see he will enrich us with the treasures of his information." "If," repHed Agelastes, after some pause, "I have waited for a longer term than human life is granted to most men, I shall still be overpaid by dedicating what remains of existence to the service of a pair so devoted to chivalry. What first occurs to me is a story of our Greek country, so famous in adventures, and which I shall briefly detail to you : — "Afar hence, in our renowned Grecian Archipelago, amid storms and whirlpools, rocks which, changing their character, appear to 13recipitate themselves against each other, and billows that are never in a pacific state, lies the rich island of Zulichium, inliabited, not- withstanding its wealth, by a very few natives, ^vho live only upon the sea-coast. The inland part of the island is one immense moun- tain, or pile of mountains, amongst wdiich, those who dare approach near enough, may, we are assured, discern the moss-grown and anti- quated towers and pinnacles of a stately, but ruinous castle, the habitation of the sovereign of the isiand,'in which she has been en- chanted for a great many years. "A bold knight, who came upon a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, made COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. 10$ a VOW to deliver this unhappy victim of pain and sorcery ; feelingv with justice, vehemently ofleuded, that the fiends of darkness should exercise any authority near the Holy Land, which might be termed the very fountain of lig-ht. Two of the oldest inhabitants of the island undertook to guide him as near to the main gate as they durst, nor did they approach it more closely than the length of a bow-shot. Here, then, abandoned to himself, the brave Frank set forth upon his enterprise, with a stout heart, and Heaven alone to friend. The fabric which he approached showed, by its gigantic size, and splendour of outline, the power and wealth of the potentate who had erected it. The brazen gates unfolded themselves as if with hope and pleasure; and aerial voices swept around the spires and turrets, congratulating the genius of the place, it might be, upon the expected approach of its deliverer. '•'The knight passed on, not unmoved with wonder, though un- tainted by fear ; and the Gothic splendours which he saw were of a kind highly to exalt his idea of the beauty of the mistress for whom a prison-house had been so richly decorated. Guards there were in Eastern dress and arms, upon bulwark and buttress, in readiness, it appeared, to bend their bows ; but the v/arriors were motionless and silent, and took no more notice of the armed step of the knight than if a monk or hermit had approached their guarded post. They were living, and yet, as to all power and sense, they might be considered among the dead. If there was truth in the old tradition, the sun had shone and the rain had fallen upon them for more than four hundred changing seasons, without their being sensible of the genial warmth of the one or the coldness of the other. Like the Israelites in the desert, their shoes had not decayed, nor their vestments waxed old. As Time left them, so and without alteration was he again to find them. " The philosopher began now to recall what he had heard of the cause of their enchantment. " The sage to whom this potent charm is imputed was one of the Magi who followed the tenets of Zoroaster. He had come to the court of this youthful Princess, who received him with every atten- tion which gratified vanity could dictate, so that in a short time her awe of this grave personage was lost in the sense of ascenocfi^icy which her beauty gave her over him. It was no difficult matter— m fact, it happens every day— for the beautiful woman to lull the wise man into what is not inaptly called a fool's paradise. The sage was induced to attempt feats of youth which his years rendered ridiculous; he could command the elements, but the common course of nature was beyond his power. When, therefore, he exerted his magic strength, the mountains bent and the seas receded ; but when the philosopher attempted to lead forth the Princess of Zulichium in the youthful dance, youths and maidens turned their heads aside lest they should make too manifest the ludicrous ideas with which they were impressed. " Unliappily, as the aged, even the wisest of them, will forget themselves, so the young naturally enter into an alliance to spy out, ridicule, and enjoy their foibles. Many were the glances which the Princess sent among her retinue, intimating the nature of the 104 COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. amusement which she received from the attentions of her formidable lover. In process of time she lost her caution, and a glance was de- tected, expressing- to the old man the ridicule and contempt in whicb he had been all along held by the object of his affections. Earth has no passion so bitter as love converted to hatred ; and while the sage bitterly regretted what he had done, he did not the less resent the light-hearted folly of the Princess by whom he had been duped. " If, however, he was angry, he possessed the art to conceal it. Not a word, not a look, expressed the bitter disappointment which he had received. A shade of melancholy, or rather gloom, upon his brow, alone intimated the coming storm. The Princess became somewhat alarmed; she was besides extremely good-natured, nor had her intentions of leading the old man into what would render him ridiculous been so accurately planned with malice prepense, as they were the effect of accident and chance. She saw the pain which he suffered, and thought to end it by going up to him, when about to retire, and kindly wishing him good-night. " ' You say well, daughter,' said the sage, ' good-night — but who, of the numbers who hear me, shall say good-morning ? ' " The speech drew little attention, although two or three persons to whom the character of the sage was known, fled from the island that very night, and by their report made known the circumstances attending the first infliction of this extraordinary spell on those who remained within the Castle. A sleep like that of death fell upon them, and was not removed. Most of the inhabitants left the island ; the few who remained were cautious how they approached the Castle, and watched until some bold adventurer should bring that happy awakening which the speech of the sorcerer seemed in some degree to intimate. " Never seemed there a fairer opportunity for that awakening to take place than when the proud step of Artavan de Hautlieu was placed upon those enchanted courts. On the left lay the palace and donjon-keep ; but the right, more attractive, seemed to invite to the apartment of the women. At a side door, reclined on a couch, two guards of the haram, with their naked swords grasped in their hands, and features fiendishly contorted between sleep and dissolu- tion, seemed to menace death to any who should venture to approach. This threat deterred not Artavan de Hautlieu. He approached tlie entrance, when the doors, like those of the great entrance to the Castle, made themselves instantly accessible to him. A guard-room of the same effeminate soldiers received him, nor could the strictest examination have discovered to him whether it was sleep or death which arrested the eyes that seemed to look upon and prohibit his advance. Unheeding the presence of these ghastly sentinels, Arta- van pressed forward into an inner apartment, where female slaves of the most distinguished beauty were visible in the attitude of those who had already assumed their dress for the night. There was much in this scene which might have arrested so young a pilgrim as Artavan of Hautlieu; but his heart was fixed upon achieving the freedom of the beautiful Princess, nor did he suffer himself to be withdrawn from that object by any inferior consideration. He passed COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. 105 on, therefore, to a little ivory door, which, after a moment's pause, as if in maidenly hesitation, gave way like the rest, and yielded access to the sleeping- apartment of the Princess herself A soft light, resembling that of evening, penetrated into a chamber where every- thing seemed contrived to exalt the luxury of slumber. The heaps of cushions, which formed a stately bed, seemed rather to be touched than impressed by the form of a nymph of fifteen, the renowned Princess of Zulichium." " Without interrupting you, good father," said the Countess Bren- hilda, "it seems to me that we can comprehend the picture of a woman asleep without much dilating upon it, and that such a subject is little recommended either by our age or by yours." " Pardon me, noble lady," answered Agelastes, " the most ap- proved part of my story has ever been this passage, and while I now suppress it in obedience to your command, bear notice, I pray you, that I sacrifice the most beautiful part of the tale." "Brenhilda," added the Count, "I am surprised you think of in- terrupting a story which has hitherto proceeded with so much fire ; the telling of a few words more or less will surely have a much greater influence upon the sense of the narrative, than such an addition can possibly possess over our sentiments of action." " As you will," said his lady, throwing herself carelessly back upon the seat ; " but methinks the worthy father protracts this discourse, till it becomes of a nature more trifling than interesting." " Brenhilda," said the Count, " this is the first time I have re- marked in you a woman's weakness." "I may as well say, Count Robert, that it is the first time,'* answered Brenhilda, "that you have shown to me the inconstancy of I your sex." " Gods and goddesses," said the philosopher, " was ever known a quarrel more absurdly founded ! The Countess is jealous of one whom her husband probably never will see, nor is there any prospect that the Princess of Zulichium will be hereafter better known to the modern world, than if the curtain hung before her tomb." "Proceed," said Count Robert of Paris ; " if Sir Artavanof Haut- lieu has not accomplished the enfranchisement of the Princess of Zulichium, I make a vow to our Lady of the Broken Lances, " "Remember," said his lady interfering, "that you are already under a vow to free the Sepulchre of God ; and to that, methinks, all lighter engagements might give place." " Well, lady — well," said Count Robert, but half satisfied with this interference, " I will not engage myself, you may be assured, on any adventure which may claim precedence of the enterprise of the Holy Sepulchre, to which we are all bound." " Alas ! " said Agelastes, " the distance of Zulichium from the speediest route to the Sepulchre is so small, that " " Worthy father," said the Countess, " we will, if it pleases you, hear your tale to an end, and then determine what we will do. We Norman ladies, descendant^ of the old Geinians, claim a voice with our lords in the council which precedes the battle ; nor has our as- sistance in tlie conflict been deemed altogether useless." 106 COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. The tone in wliicli this was spoken conveyed an awkward innuendo to the philosopher, who began to foresee that the guidance of the Norman knight woukl be more difficult than ho had foreseen, while his consort remained by his side. He took up, therefore, his oratory on somewhat a lower key than before, and avoided those warm descriptions which had given such offence to the Countess Brenhilda. " Sir Artavan de Hautlieu, says the story, considered in what way he should accost the sleeping damsel, when it occurred to him in what manner the charm would be most likely to be reversed. I am in your judgment, fair lady, if he judged wrong in resolving that the method of his address should be a kiss upon the lips." The colour of Brenhilda was somewhat heightened, but she did not deem the observation worthy of notice. "Never had so innocent an action," continued the philosopher, " an effect more horrible. The delightful light of a summer evening ■was instantly changed into a strange lurid hue, which, infected with sulphur, seemed to^breath suffocation through the apartment. The rich hangings, and splendid furniture of the chamber, the very walls themselves, were changed into huge stones tossed together at random, like the inside of a wl'd beast's den, nor was the den without an in- habitant. The beautiful and innocent lips to which Artavan de Hautlieu had approached his own, were now changed into the hideous and bizarre form, and bestial aspect of a fiery dragon. A moment she hovered upon the wing, and it is said, had Sir Artavan found courage to repeat his salute three times, he would then have remained master of all the wealth, and of the disenchanted princess. But the opportunity was lost, and the dragon, or the creature who seemed such, sailed out at a side window upon its broad pennons, uttering loud wails of disappointment." Here ended the story of Agelastes. " The Princess," he said, " is still supposed to abide her doom in the Island of Zulichium, and several knights have undertaken the adventure ; but I know not whetlier it was the fear of saluting the sleeping maiden, or that of approaching the dragon into which she was transformed, but so it is, the spell remains "unachieved. I know the way, and if you say the word, you may be to-morrow on the road to the castle of en- chantment." The Countess heard this proposal with the deepest anxiety, for she knew that she might, by opposition, determine her husband irrevocably upon folloAving out the enterprise. She stood therefore with a timid and bashful look, strange in a person whose bearing was generally so dauntless, and prudently left it to tlie uninfluenced mind of Count Robert to form the resolution which should best please him. "Brenhilda," he said, taking her hand, "fame and honour are dear to thy husband as ever they were to knight who buckled 'a brand upon his side. Thou hast done, perhaps, I may say, for me, what I might in vain have looked for from ladies of thy condition ; and therefore thou mayst well expect a casting voice in such points of deliberation. — Why dost thou wander by the side of a foreign and unhealthy shore, instead of the banks of the lovely Seine?— Why COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. 107 doBt thou wear a dress unusual to thy sex ?— Why dost thou seek death, and think it little in comparison of shame ? — Why ? but that the Count of Paris may have a bride worthy of him. — Dost thou think that this aftection is thrown away ? No, by the saints ! Thy knig-ht repays it as he best oug'ht^ and sacrifices to thee every thought which thy affection may less than entirely approve ! " Poor Brenhilda, confused as she was by the various emotions with wliicl\ she was agitated, now in vain endeavoured to maintain the heroic deportment which her character as an Amazon required from her. She attempted to assume the proud and lofty look which was properly her own, but failing in the effort, she threw herself into the Count's arms, hung round his neck, and wept like a village maiden, whose true love is pressed for the wars. Her husband, a little ashamed, while he was much moved by this burst of affection in one to whose character it seemed an unusual attribute, was, at the same time, pleased and proud that he could have awakened an affection so genuine and so g'eutle in a soul so high-spirited and so unbending. "Not thus,'*' he said, "my Brenhilda! I would not have it thus, either for thine own sake or for mine. Do not let this wise old man suppose that thy heart is made of the malleable stuff which forms that of other maidens ; and apologise to him, as may well become thee, for having- prevented ray undertaking the adventure of Zuli- chium, which he recommends." It was not easy for Brenhilda to recover herself, after having afforded so notable an instance how nature can vindicate her rights, with whatever rigour she may have been disciplined and tyrannised over. With a look of ineffable affection, she disjoined herself from her husband, still keeping- hold of liis hand, and turning- to the old man with a countenance in which the half-efiaced tears were suc- ceeded by smiles of pleasure and of modesty, she spoke to Agelastes as she would to a person whom she respected, and towards whom she had some offence to atone. "Father," she said respectfully, "be not angry with me that I should have been an obstacle to one of the l3est knights that ever spurred steed, undertaking the enterprise of thine enchanted Princess ; but the truth is, that in our land, where knighthood and religion agree in permitting only one lady love, and one lady wife, we do not quite so willingly see our husbands run into danger — especially of that kind where lonely ladies are the parties relieved— and— and kisses are the ransom paid. I have as much con- fidence in my Robert's fidelity, as a lady can have in a loving knight, but still " "Lovely lady," said Agelastes, who, notwithstanding his highly artificial character, could not help being moved by the simple and sincere aftection of the handsome young' pair, "you have done no evil. The state of the Princess is no worse than it was, and there cannot be a doubt that the knight fated to relieve her, will appear at the destined period." The Countess smiled sadly, and shook her head. "You do not know," she said, "how powerful is the aid of which I have unhappily deprived this unfortunate lady, by a jealousy which I now feel to have been alike paltry and unworthy ; and, such is m.y regret, that I 108 COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. could find in my heart to retract my opposition to Count Robert's undertaking" this adventure." She looked at her husband with some anxiety, as one that had made an offer she would not willingly see accepted, and did not recover her courage until he said, decidedly, " Brenhilda, that may not be." " And why, then, may not Brenhilda herself take the adventure," continued the Countess, " since she can neither fear the charms of the Princess nor the terrors of the dragon ? " " Lady," said Agelastes, " the Princess must be awakened by the kiss of love, and not by that of friendship." "A sufficient reason," said the Countess, smiling, "why a lady may not wish her lord to go forth upon an adventure of which the condi- tions are so regulated." "Noble minstrel, or herald, or by whatever name this country calls you," said Count Robert, " accept a small remuneration for an hour pleasantly spent, though spent, unhappily, in vain. I should make some apology for the meanness of my offering, but French knights, you may have occasion to know, are more full of fame than of wealth." "Not for that, noble sir," replied Agelastes, "would I refuse your munificence; a besant from your worthy hand, or that of your noble- minded lady, were centupled in its value, by the eminence of the per- sons from whom it came. I would hang it round my neck by a string of pearls, and when I came into the presence of knights and of ladies, I would proclaim that this addition to my achievement of armorial distinction, was bestowed by the renowned Count Robert of Paris, and his unequalled lady." The Knight and the Countess looked on each other, and the lady, taking from her finger a ring of pure gold, prayed the old man to accept of it, as a mark of her esteem and her husband's. " With one other condition," said the philosopher, "which I trust you will not find altogether unsatisfactory. I have, on the way to the city by the most pleasant road, a small kiosk, or hermitage, where I sometimes receive my friends, who, I venture ta say, are among the most respectable personages of this empire. Two or three of these will probably honour my residence to-day, and partake of the provision it afffords. Could I add to these the com- pany of the noble Count and Countess of Paris, I should deem my poor habitation honoured for ever." " How say you, my noble wife?" said the Count. " The company of a minstrel befits the highest birth, honours the highest rank, and adds to the greatest achievements ; and the invitation does us too much credit to be rejected." "It grows somewhat late," said the Countess; "but we came not here to shun a sinking sun or a darkening sky, and I feel it my duty, as well as my satisfaction, to place at the command of the good father every pleasure which it is in my power to offer to him, for having been the means of your neglecting his advice." " The path is so short," said Agelastes, " that we had better keep our present mode of travelling, if the lady should not want the as- sistance of horses." " No horses on my account," said the Lady Brenhilda. " My wait- ing-woman, Agatha, has what necessaries I may require ; and for the COUNT ROBERT OF TARIS. 109 rest, no knight ever travelled so little embarrassed with Lag-g-ag-e as my husband." Agelastes, therefore, led the way through the deepening wood, which was freshened by the cooler breath of evening, and his guests accompanied him. ^-^ a V M. H 'k ->> CHAPTER XIl i Library, Without a ruin, broken, tangled, cui Witliin it was a little paradise, Xx (Jt ,. ^ .^ Where Taste had made her dwelling. StStimg^' (mllfOrTJ* ' ^ First-born of human art, moulded ter images^**;;;;;;;^^ -■^.:,„J^-'^ And bade men mark and worship. ""' Anomjmous. The Count of Paris and his lady attended the old man, whose ad- vanced age, his excellence in the use of the French language, which he spoke to admiration, — above all, his skill in applying it to poetical and romantic subjects, which was essential to v/hat was then termed history and belles lettres, — drew from the noble hearers a degree of applause, which, as Agelastes had seldom been vain enough to con- sider as his due, so, on the part of the Knight of Paris and his lady, had it been but rarely conferred. They had walked for some time by a path which sometimes seemed to hide itself among the woods that came down to the shore of the Propontis, sometimes emerged from concealment, and skirted the open margin of the strait, while, at every turn, it seemed guided by the desire to select a choice and contrast of beauty. Variety of scenes and manners enlivened, from their novelty, the landscape to the pilgrims. By the sea-shore, nymphs were seen danchig, and shepherds piping, or beating the tambourine to their steps, as repre- sented in some groups of ancient statuary. The very faces had a singular resemblance to the antique. If old, their long robes, their attitudes, and magnificent heads, presented the ideas which distin- guish prophets and saints ; while, on the other hand, the features of the yoiiDg recalled the expressive countenances of the heroes of an- tiquity, and the charms of those lovely females by whom their deeds were inspired. But the race of the Greeks was no longer to be seen, even in its native country, unmixed, or in absolute purity; on the contrary, they saw groups of persons with features which argued a different descent. In a retiring bosom of the shore, which was traversed by the path, the rocks, receding from the beach, rounded off a spacious portion of level sand, and, in some degree, enclosed it. A party of heathen Scythians whom they beheld, presented the deformed features of the demons they v/ere said to worship— flat noses with expanded nostrils, which seemed to admit the sight to their very brain ; faces which ex- tended rather in breadth than length, with strange unintellectual_ eyes placed in the extremity ; figures short and dwarfish, yet garnished 110 COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. witli legs and arras of astonishing" sinewy streng-tb, disproportioned to their bodies. As the travellers passed, the savages held a species of tournumentj as the Count termed it. In this tliey exercised them- selves by darting at each other long reeds, or canes, balanced for the purpose, which, in this rude sport, they threv/ with such force, as not unfrequently to strike each other from their steeds, and otherwise to cause serious damage. Some of the combatants being-, for the time, out of the play, devoured with greedy looks the beauty of the Countess, and eyed her in such a manner, that she said to Count Robert, — " I have never known fear, my husband, nor is it for me to acknowledge it now ; but if disgust be an ingredient of it, these misformed brutes are qualified to inspire it." "What, ho, Sir Knight!" exclaimed one of the infidels, "your wife, or your lady love, has committed a fault against the privileges of the Imperial Scythians, and not small will be the penalty she has incurred. You may go your way as fast as you will out of this place, which is, for the present, our hippodrome, or atmeidan, call it which you will, as you prize the Roman or the Saracen language; but for your wife, if the sacrament has united you, believe my word, that she parts not so soon or so easy." " Scoundrel heathen," said the Christian Knight, " dost thou hold that language to a Peer of France ? " Agelastes here interposed, and using the sounding language of a Grecian courtier, reminded the Scythians (mercenary soldiers, as they seemed, of the empire), that all violence ag'ainst the European pilgrims was, by the Imperial orders, strictly prohibited under pain of death. " I know better," said the exulting" savage, shaking one or two javelins with broad steel heads, and wings of the eagle's feather, which last were dabbled in blood. " Ask the wings of ray javelin," he said, " in whose heart's blood these feathers have been dyed. They shall reply to you, that if Alexius Comnenus be the friend of the European pilgrims, it is only while he looks upon them ; and we are too exemplary soldiers to serve our Emperor otherwise than he wishes to be served." " Peace, Toxartis," said the philosopher, " thou beliest thine Em- peror." " Peace thou ! " said Toxartis, " or I will do a deed that misbecomes a soldier, and rid the world of a prating old man," So saying", he put forth his hand to take hold of the Countess's veil. With the readiness which frequent use had given to the warlike lady, she withdrew herself from the heathen's grasp, and with her trenchant sword dealt him so sufficient a blow that Toxar- tis lay lifeless on the plain. The Count leapt on the fallen leader's steed, and crying his war-cry, " Son of Charlemagne, to the res- cue ! " he rode amid the rout of her*then cavaliers with a battle-axe, which he found at the saddle-bow of the deceased chieftain, and, wielding it with remorseless dexterity, he soon slew or wounded, or compelled to flight, the objects of bis resentment ; nor was there any of them who abode an instant to support the boast which they had made. COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. Ill " The despicable churls ! " said the Countess to Ag-elastes ; " it irks me that a drop of such coward blood should stain the hands of a noble knig-ht. They call their exercise a tournament, although in their whole exertions every blow is aimed behind the back, and not one has the courag'e to throw his windlestraw wliile he perceives that of another pointed against himself." " Such is their custom," said Agelastes ; " not perhaps so much from cowardice as from habit, in exercising before his Imperial Majesty. I have seen that Toxartis literally turn his back upon the mark when he bent his bow in full career, and when in the act of galloping' the farthest from his object, he pierced it through the very- centre with a broad arrow." " A force of such soldiers," said Count Robert, who had now re- joined his friends, " could not, methinks, be very formidable, where there was but an ounce of g-enuine courag-e in the assailants." "Meantime, let us pass on to my kiosk," said Ag-elastes, "lest the fugitives find friends to encourag-e them in thoughts of re- venge." " Such friends," said Count Robert, " methinks the insolent heathens ought not to find in any land which calls itself Christian ; and if I survive the conquest of the Holy Sepulchre, I shall make it my first business to inquire by what right your Emperor retains in his service a band of Paynim and unmannerly cut-throats, who dare offer injury upon the highway which ought to be sacred to the peace of God and the king, and to noble ladies and inoffensive pilgrims. It is one of a list of many questions which, my vow accomplished, I will not fail to put to him ; ay, and expecting an answer, as they say, prompt and categorical." " You shall gain no answer from me, though," said Agelastes to himself. "Your demands, Sir Knight, are over peremptory, and imposed under too rigid conditions, to be replied to by those who can evade them." He changed the conversation, accordingly, with easy dexterity ; and they had not proceeded much farther before they reached a spot, the natural beauties of which called forth the admiration of his foreigu companions. A copious brook, gushing out of the wood- land, descended to the sea wdth no small noise and tumult ; and as if disdaining a quieter course, which it might have gained by a little circuit to the right, it took the readiest route to the ocean, plung- ing over the face of a lofty and barren precipice which overhung" the sea-shore, and from thence led its little tribute, with as much noise as if it had the stream of a full river to boast of, to the waters of the Hellespont. The rock, we have said, was bare, unless in so far as it was clothed with the foaming waters of the cataract ; but the banks on each side were covered with plane-trees, walnut-trees, cypresses, and other kinds of large timber proper to the East. The fall of water, always agreeable in a warm chmate. and generally produced by artificial means, was here natural, and had been chosen, something like the Sibyl's temple at Tivoli, for the seat of a goddess to whom the invention of Polytheism had assigned a sovereignty over the de- 112 COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. pavtment uroiind. The shrine was small and circular, like many of the lesser temples of the rustic deities, and enclosed by the wall of an outer court. After its desecration it had probably been con- verted into a luxurious summer retreat by Ag-elastes, or some Epi- curean philosopher. As the building", itself of a light, airy, and fan- tastic character, was dimly seen through the branches and foliag-e on the edg-e of the rock, so the mode by which it was accessible was not at first apparent amongst the mist of the cascade. A pathway, a good deal hidden by vegetation, ascended by a gentle acclivity, and prolonged by the architect by means of a few broad and easy marble steps, making part of the orig-inal approach, conducted the pas- senger to a small, but exquisitely lovely velvet lawn, in front of the turret or temple we have described, the back part of which build- ing- overhung the cataract. CHAPTER XII. The parties met. The wily, wordy Greek, Weighing each word, and canvassing each syllable ; Evading, arguing, equivocating. And the stern Frank came with his two-hand sword, Watching to see wliich way the balance sways. That he may throw it in and turn the scales. Palestine. At a sig-nal made by Ag-elastes the door of this romantic retreat was opened by Diogenes, the ne^ro slave, to whom our readers have been already introduced ; nor did it escape the wily old man that the Count and his lady testified some wonder at his form and linea- ments, being the first African perhaps whom they had ever seen so closely. The philosopher lost not the opportunity of making- an impression on their minds, by a display of the superiority of his knowledge. "This poor being-," he observed, " is of the race of Ham, the un- dutiful son of Noah ; for his transgressions ag-ainst his parent he was banished to the sands of Africa, and was condemned to be the father of a race doomed to be the slaves of the issue of his more dutiful brethren.'' The knig-ht and his lady gazed on the wonderful appearance before thpm, and did not, it may be believed, think of doubting- the inform- ation, which was so much of a piece with their prejudices, while their opinion of their host was g-reatly augmented by the supposed extent of his knowledge. '• It g-ives pleasure to a man of humanity/' continued Agelastes, "when, in old age or sickness, v/e must employ the services of others, which is at other times scarce lawful, to choose his assistants out of a race of beings, hev/ers of v/ood and drawers of water— from their birth upwards destined to slavery ; and to whom, therefore, by employing- them as slaves, we render no injury, but carry into COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. 113 effect, in a slight degree, the intentions of the Great Being- who made us all." '* Are there many of a race," said the Countess, " so singularly unhappy in their destination ? I have hitherto thought the stories of black men as idle as those -which minstrels tell of fairies and ghosts." " Do not believe so," said the philosopher ; " the race is numerous as the sands of the sea, neither are they altogether unhappy in dis- charging the duties which tJieir fate has allotted them. Those who are of worse character suffer even in this life the penance due to their guilt ; they become the slaves of the cruel and tyrannical, are beaten, starved, and mutilated. To those whose moral characters are better, better masters are provided, who share with their slaves, as with their children, food and raiment and the other good things which they themselves enjoy. To some. Heaven allots the favour of kings and of conquerors, and to a few, but those the chief favour- ites of the species, hath been assigned a place in the mansions of philosophy, where, by availing themselves of the lights which their masters can afford, they gain a prospect into that world which is the residence of true happiness." " Methinks I understand you," replied the Countess, " and 'if so, 1 ought rather to envy our sable friend here than to pity him, for having been allotted in the partition of his kind to the possession of his present master, from whom, doubtless, he has acquired the desirable knowledge wliich you mention." " He learns, at least," said Agelastes, modestly, " what I can teach, and, above all, to be contented with his situation. — Diogenes, my I good child," said he, changing his address to the slave, " thou freest jThave company — What does the poor hermit's larder afford, with which he may regale his honoured guests." Hitherto they had advanced no farther than a sort of outer room, or hall of entrance, fitted up with no more expense than miglit have suited one who desired at some outlay, and more taste, to avail him- (Self of the ancient building for a sequestered and private retirement. The chairs and couches were covered with Eastern wove mats, and were of the simplest and most primitive form. But on touching a pring, an interior apartment was displayed, which had considerabl« pretension to splendour and magnificence. The furniture and hangings of this apartment were of straw- coloured silk, wrought on the looms of Persia, and crossed with embroidery, which produced a rich yet simple effect. The ceiling- was carved in Arabesque, and the four corners of the apartment were formed into recesses for statuary, Avliich had been produced in a better age of the art than that which existed at the period of our story. In one nook, a shepherd seemed to withdraw himself, as if ashamed to produce his scantily-covered person, while he was_ will- ing to afford the audience the music of the reed which he held in his hand. Three damsels, resembling the Graces in the beautiful pro- )ortions of their limbs, and the slender clothing which they wore, urked in difierent attitudes, each in her own niche, and seemed but to await the first sound of the music to bound forth from thence and I 114 COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. join in the frolic dance. The subject was beautiful, yet somewhat lig-ht, to ornament the study of such a sage as Agelastes represented himself to be. He seemed to be sensible that this might attract observation — " These figures," he said, " executed at the period of the highest excellence of Grecian art, were considered of old as the choral nymphs assembled to adore the goddess of the place, waiting but the music to join in the worship of the temple. And, in trutii, the wisest may be interested in seeing how near to animation the genius of these wonierful men could bring the inflexible marble. Allow but for the absence of the divine afflatus, or breath of animation, and an unenlightened heathen might suppose the miracle of Prome- theus was about to be realised. But we," said he, looking upwards, " are taught to form a better judgment between what man can do and the productions of the Deity." Some subjects of natural history were painted on the walls, and the philosopher fixed the attention of his guests upon the half-rea- soning elephant, of which he mentioned several anecdotes, which they listened to with great eagerness. A distant strain was here heard, as if of music in the woods, pene- tratino" by fits through the hoarse roar of the cascade, which, as it sunk immediately below the windows, filled the apartment with its deep voice. " Apparently," said Agelastes, " the friends whom I expected are approachino', and bring with them the means of enchanting another Sr-nse. It IS well they do so, since wisdom tells us that we best honour the Deity by enjoying the gifts he has provided us." These words called the attention of the philosopher's Frankish guests to the preparations exhibited in this tasteful saloon. These were made for an entertainment in the manner of the ancient Romans, and couches, which were laid beside a table ready decked, announced that the male guests, at least, were to assist at the ban- quet in the usual recumbent posture of the ancients ; while seats, placed among the couches, seemed to say that females were ex- pected, who would observe the Grecian customs, in eating seated. The preparations for good cheer were such as, though limited in extent, could scarce be excelled in quality, either by the si)lendid dishes which decked Trimalchio's banquet of former days, or the lighter delicacies of Grecian cookery, or the succulent and highly- spiced messes indulged in by the nations of the East, to whichever they happened to give the preference ; and it was with an air of some vanity that Agelastes asked his guests to share a poor pilgrim's meal. " We care little for dainties," said the Count ; " nor does our pre- sent course of life as pilgrims, bound by a vow, allow us much choice on such subjects. Whatever is food for soldiers suffices the Countess and myself; for, with our will, we would at every hour be ready for battle, and the less time we use in preparing for the field, it is even so much the better. Sit then, Brenhilda, since the good man will have it so, and let us lose no time in refreshment, lest we waste that which should be otherwise employed." COU>"T ROBERT OF PARIS. 115 "A moment's forgiveness," said Agelastes, "until the arrival of my other friends, whose music you may now hear is close at hand, and who will not long-, I may safely promise, divide you from your meal." "For that," said the Count, "there is no haste; and since you seem to account it a part of civil manners, Brenhilda and I can with ease postpone our repast, unless you will permit us, what I own would he more pleasing*, to take a morsel of bread and a cup of water presently ; and, thus refreshed, to leave the space clear for your more curious and more famihar guests." " The saints above forbid ! " said Agelastes ; " guests so honoured never before pressed these cushions, nor could do so, if the sacred family of the imperial Alexius himself even now stood at the gate." He had hardly uttered these words when the full-blown peal of a trumpet, louder in a tenfold degree than the strains of music they had before heard, was now sounded in the front of the temple, pierc- ing through the murmur of the waterfall, as a Damascus blade penetrates the armour, and assailing the ears of the hearers, as the sword pierces the flesh of him who wears the harness. " You seem surprised or alarmed, father," said Count Robert. " Is there danger near, and do you distrust our protection ? " "No," said Agelastes, "that would give me confidence in any ex- tremity; but these sounds excite awe, not fear. They tell me that some of the Imperial family are about to be my guests. Yet fear nothing, my noble friends — they, M'hose look is life, are ready to shower their favours with profusion upon strangers so worthy of honour as they will see here. Meantime, my brow must touch my threshold, in order duly to welcome them." So saying, he hurried to the outer door of the building. " Each land has its customs," said the Count, as he followed his host, with his wife hanging on his arm ; " but, Brenhilda, as they are so various, it is little wonder that they appear unseemly to each other. Here, however, in deference to my entertainer, I stoop my crest, in the manner which seems to be required." So saying, he followed Agelastes into the anteroom, w^here a new scene awaited them. CHAPTER XIII. Agelastes gained his threshold before Count Robert of Paris and his lady. He had, therefore, time to make his prostrations before a iuige animal, then unknown to the western world, but now univer- sally distinguished as the elephant. On its back was a pavilion or palanquin, within which were enclosed the august persons of the Empress Irene, and her daughter Anna Coranena. Nicephorus Briennius attended the Princesses in the command of a gallant body of light horse, whose splendid armour would have given more pleasure to the crusader, if it had possessed less an air of useless 116 COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. wealth and eifeminate magnificence. But the effect which it pro- duced in its appearance was as brilliant as could well be conceived. The officers alone of this corps de garde followed Nicephorus to the platform, prostrated themselves while the ladies of the Imperial house descended, and rose up ag-ain under a cloud of waving- plumes and flashing lances, when they stood secure upon the platform in front of the building. Here the somewhat aged, but commanding form of the Empress, and the still juvenile beauties of the fair his- torian, were seen to great advantage. In the front of a deep back- ground of spears and waving crests, stood the sounder of the sacred trumpet, conspicuous by his size and the richness of his apparel ; he kept his post on a rock above the stone staircase, and, by an occa- sional note of his instrument, intimated to the squadrons beneath that they should stay their progress, and attend the motions of the Empress and the wife of the Caesar. The fair form of the Countess Brenhilda, and the fantastic appear- ance of her half masculine garb, attracted the attention of the ladies of Alexius' family, but was too extraordinary to command their ad- miration. Agelastes became sensible there was a necessity that he should introduce his guests to each other, if he desired they should meet on satisfactory terms. "May I speak," he said, "and live? The armed strangers whom you find now with me are worthy com- panions of those myriads, whom zeal for the sufferino" inhabitants of Palestine has brought from the western extremity of Europe, at once to enjoy the countenance of Alexius Comnenus, and to aid him, since it pleases him to accept their assistance, in expelling the Paynims from the bounds of the sacred empire, and garrison those regions in their stead, as vassals of his Imperial Majesty." " We are pleased," said the Empress, " worthy Agelastes, that you should be kind to those who are disposed to be so reverent to the Emperor. And we are rather disposed to talk with them ourselves, that our daughter (whom Apollo hath gifted with the choice talent of recording what she sees) may become acquainted with one of those female warriors of the West of whom we have heard so much by common fame, and yet know so little with certainty." "Madam," said the Count, "I can but rudely express to you what I have to find fault with in the explanation which this old man hath given of our purpose in coming hither. Certain it is, we neither owe Alexius fealty, nor had we the purpose of paying him any when we took the vow upon ourselves which brought us against Asia. We came because we understood that the Holy Land had been torn from the Greek Emperor by the Pagans, Saracens, Turks, and other infidels, from whom we are come to win it back. The wisest and most prudent among us have judged it necessary to acknowledge the Emperor's authority, since there was no such safe way of passing to the discharge of our vow, as that of acknowledging fealty to him, as the best mode of preventing quarrels among Christian States. We, though independent of any earthly king, do not pretend to be greater men than they, and therefore have condescended to pay the same homage." The Empress coloured several times with indignation in the course COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. 117 of tills speech, which, in more passages than one, -was at variance with those imperial maxims of the Grecian court, which held its (lig-nity so high, and plainly intimated a tone of opinion which was depreciating to the Emperor's power. But the Empress Irene had received instructions from her imperial spouse to beware how she gave, or even took, any ground of quarrel with the crusaders, who, though coming in the appearance of subjects, were, nevertheless, too punctilious and ready to take fire, to render them safe discussers of delicate differences. She made a graceful reverence accordingly, as if she had scarce understood what the Count of Paris had explained so bluntly. At this moment the appearance of the principal persons on either liand attracted, in a wonderful degree, the attention of the other party, and there seemed to exist among them a general desire of further acquaintance, and, at the same time, a manifest difficulty in expressing such a wish. Agelastes — to begin with the master of the house — had risen from the ground indeed, but without venturing to assume an upright pos- ture : he remained before the Imperial ladies with his body and head still bent, his hand interposed between his eyes and their faces, like a man that would shade his eyesight from the level sun, and awaited in silence the commands of those to whom he seemed to think it disrespectful to propose the slightest action, save by testifying in general that his house and his slaves were at their unlimited com- mand. The Countess of Paris, on the other hand, and her warlike husband were the peculiar objects of curiosity to Irene and her ac- complished daughter, Anna Comnena; and it occurred to both these Imperial ladies that they had never seen finer specimens of human strength and beauty ; but, by a natural instinct, they preferred the manly bearing of the husband to that of the wife, which seemed to her own sex rather too haughty and too masculine to be altogether pleasing. Count Robert and his lady had also their own object of attention in the newly arrived group, and, to speak truth, it was nothing else than the peculiarities of tlie monstrous animal which they now saw, for the first time, employed as a beast of burden in the service of the fair Irene and her daughter. The dignity and splendour of the elder Princess, the grace and vivacity of the younger, were alike lost in Brenhilda's earnest inquiries into the history of the elephant, and the use which it made of its trunk, tusks, and huge ears, upon diff"erent occasions. Another person who took a less direct opportunity to gaze on Brenhilda with a deep degree of interest was the Caesar, Nicephorus. This Prince kept his eye as steadily upon the Prankish Countess as he could well do, without attracting the attention, and exciting per- haps the suspicions, of his wife and mother-in-law ; he therefore en- deavoured to restore speech to an interview which would have been awkward without it. "It is possible," \\e said, ''beautiful Countess, that tliis being your first visit to the Queen of the world, you have never hitherto seen the singularly curious animal called the elephant." '"' Pardon me," said the Countess, " I have been treated by this 118 COUNT ROBERT OF TARIS. learned g-entleman to a sight, and some account of that wonderful creature." By all who heard this observation, the Lady Brenhilda was sup- posed to have made a satirical thrust at the philosopher himself, who, in the imperial court, usually went by the name of the Ele- phant. " No one could describe the beast more accurately than Agelas- tes," said the Princess, with a smile of intellig-ence, which went round her attendants. ''He knows its docility, its sensibility, and its fidelity," said the philosopher, in a subdued tone. " True, good Agelastes," said the Princess ; " we should not criti- cise the animal which kneels to take us up. — Come, lady of a foreign land," she continued, turning to the Frank Count, and especially his Countess— "and you her gallant lord! When you return to your native country, you shall say you have seen the Imperial family par- take of their food, and in so far acknowledge themselves to be of the same clay with other mortals, sharing their poorest wants, and relieving them in the same manner." " That, gentle lady, I can well believe," said Count Kobert ; " my curiosity would be more indulged by seeing this strange animal at his food." " You will see the elephant more conreniently at his mess within doors," answered the Pnncess, looking at A^elastes. _ " Lady," said Brenhilda, " 1 would not willingly refuse an invita- tion given in courtesy, but the sun has waxed low unnoticed, and we must return to the cit^'." " Be not afraid," said the fair historian ; " you shall have the ad- vantage of our Imperial escort to protect you in your return." "Fear? — afraid? — escort? — protect? — These are words I know not. Know, lady, that my husband, the noble Count of Paris, is my sufficient escort;' and even v>'ere he not with me, Brenhilda de Aspra- monte fears nothing, and can defend herself" ''Fair daughter," said Agelastes, "if I may be permitted to speak, you mistake the gracious intentions of the Princess, who expresses Jierself as to a lady of her own land. What she desires is to learn from you some of the most marked habits and manners of the Franks, of which you are so beautiful an example ; and in return for such information the illustrious Princess would be glad to pro- cure your entrance to those spacious collections, where animals from all corners of the habitable world have been assembled at the com- mand of our Emperor Alexius, as if to satisfy the wisdom of those sages to whom all creation is known, from the deer so small in size that it is exceeded by an ordinary rat, to that huge and singular in- habitant of Africa that can browse on the tops of trees that are forty feet high, while the length of its hind-legs does not exceed the half of that wondrous height." " It is enough," said the Countess, v/ith some eagerness ; but Age- lastes had got a point of discussion after his own mind. "There is also," he said, "that huge lizard, which, resembling in shape the harmless inhabitant of the moors of other countries, is in COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. 119 EgTpt a monster thirty feet in lengtli, clothed in impenetrable scales, and moaning over his prey when he catches it, with the hope and purpose of drawiiig others within his danger, by mimicking the lamentations of humanity." "Say no more^ fatlier!" exclaimed the lady. "My Robert, we will go — will we not, where such objects are to be seen? " '' There is also," said Agelastes, who saw that he would gain his Eoint by addressing himself to the curiosity of the strangers, " th© uge animal, wearing on its back an invulnerable vestment, having' on its nose a horn, and sometimes two, the folds of whose hide are of the most immense thickness, aud which never knight was able to wound." " We will go, Robert— will we not ? " reiterated the Countess. "Ay," replied the Count, "and teach these Easterns how to judge of a knight^'s sword, by a single blow of my trust;y Tranchefer." "And who knows," said Brenhilda, "since this is a land of enchant- ment, but what some person, who is languishing in a foreign shape, may have their enchantment unexpectedly dissolved by a stroke of the good weapon?'' " Say no more, father ! " exclaimed the Count. " We will attend this Princess, since such she is, were her whole escort bent to oppose our passage, instead of being by her command to be our guard. For know, all who hear me, thus much of the nature of the Franks, that when you tell us of danger and difficulties, you give us the same desire to travel the road where they lie, as other men have in seek- ing either pleasure or profit in the paths in which such are to be found." As the Count pronounced these words, he struck his hand upon his Tranchefer, as an illustration of the manner in which he pur- posed upon occasion to make good his way. The courtly circle startled somewhat at the clash of steel, and the fiery look of the chivalrous Count Robert. The Empress indiilged her alarm by re- treating into the inner apartment of the pavilion. With a grace, wdiich was rarely deigned to any but those in close alliance with the Imperial family, Anna Comnena took the arm of the noble Count. "I see," she said, "tliat the Imperial Mother has honoured the house of the learned Agelastes, by leading the way j therefore, to teach you Grecian breeding must fall to my share." Saying this, she conducted him to the inner apartment. ^ "Fear not for your wife," she said, as she noticed the Frank Iook round ; " our husband, like ourselves, has pleasure in showing atten- tion^ to tne stranger, and will lead the Countess to our board. It is not the custom of the Imperial family to eat in company with strangers ; but we thank Heaven for having instructed us in that civility, which can know no degradation in dispensing with ordinary rules to do honour to strangers of such merit as yours. I know it will be my mother's request, that you will take your places without ceremony ; and also, although the grace be somewhat particular, I am sure that it will have my Imperial fathers approbation." " V>Q it as your ladyship lists," said Count Robert. " There are few men to whom I would yield place at the board, if they had not gone 120 COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. "before me in the battle-field. To a lady, especially so fair a one, I willingly yield my place, and bend my knee, whenever I have the good hap to meet her." The Princess Anna, instead of feeling- herself awkward in the dis- charge of the extraordinary, and, as she might have thought it, de- grading office of ushering a barbarian chief to the banquet, felt, on the contrary, flattered, at having bent to her purpose a heart so ob- stinate as that of Count Robert, and elated, perhaps, with a certain degree of satisfied pride while under his momentary protection. The Empress Irene had already seated herself at the head of tlie table. She looked with some astonishment, when her daughter and son-in-law, taking their seats at her right and left hand, invited the Count and Countess of Paris, the former to recline, the latter to sit at the board, in the places next to themselves ; but she had received the strictest orders from her husband to be deferential in every respect to the strangers, and did not think it right, therefore, to interpose any ceremonious scruples. The Countess took her seat, as indicated, beside the Csesar ; and the Count instead of reclining in the mode of the Grecian men, also seated himself in the European fashion by the princess. " I will not lie prostrate," said he, laughing, " except in considera- tion of a blow weighty enough to compel me to do so ; nor then either, if I am able to start up and return it." The service of the table then began, and, to say truth, it appeared to be an important part of the business of the day. The officers who attended to perform their several duties of deckers of the table, sewers of the banquet, removers and tasters to the Imperial family, thronged into the banqueting room, and seemed to vie with eack other in calling upon Agelastes for spices, condiments, sauces, and wines of various kinds, the variety and multiplicity of their demands being apparently devised ex preposito^ for stirring the patience of the philosopher. But Agelastes, who had anticipated most of their re- quests, however unusual, supplied them completely, or in the great- est part, by the ready agency of his active slave Diogenes, to whom, at the same time, he contrived to transfer all blame for the absence of such articles as he was unable to provide. " Be Homer my witness, the accomplished Virgil, and the curious felicity of Horace, that, trifling and unworthy as this banquet was, my note of directions to this thrice unhappy slave gave the instruc- tions to procure every ingredient necessary to convey to each dish its proper gusto. — Ill-omened carrion that thou art, wherefore placedst thou the pickled cucumber so far apart from the boar's head ? and why are these superb congers unprovided with a requisite quantity of fennel ? The divorce betwixt the shell-fish and the Chian wine, in a presence like this, is worthy of tlie divorce of thine own soul from thy body ; or, to say the least, of a lifelong residence in the Pistrinum." While thus the philosopher proceeded with threats, curses, and menaces against his slave, the stranger might have an opportunity of comparing the little torrent of his domestic eloquence, which the manners of the times did not consider as ill-bred, with the louder and deeper share of adulation towards his guests. They COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. 121 miiig'led like tlie oil Avith the vineg-ar and pickles which Diogenes mixed for the sauce. Thus the Count and Countess had an oppor- tunity to estimate the happiness and the felicity reserved for those slaves, whom the omnipotent Jupiter, in the plenitude of compassion for their state, and in guerdon of their g'ood morals, had dedicated to the service of a philosopher. The share they themselves took in the banquet, was finished with a degree of speed which g-ave surprise not only to their host, but also to the Imperial guests. The Count helped himself carelessly but of a dish which stood near him, and partaking' of a draught of wine, without inquiring" whether it was of the vintage which the Greeks held it matter of conscience to mingle with that species of food, he declared himself satisfied; nor could the obliging' entreaties of his neighbour, Anna Comnena, in- duce him to partake of other messes represented as being' either delicacies or curiosities. His spouse eat still more moderately of the food which seemed most simply cooked, and stood nearest her at the board, and partook of a cup of crystal water, which she slightly ting'ed with wine, at the persevering' entreaty of the Osesar. They then re- Jinquished the farther business of the banquet, and, leaning back upon their seats, occupied themselves in watching- the liberal credit done to the feast by the rest of the guests present. A modern synod of gourmands would hardly have equalled the Imperial family of Greece seated at a philosophical banquet, whether in the critical knowledge displayed of the science of eating- in all its branches, or in the practical cost and patience with which they exer- cised it, the ladies, indeed, did not eat much of any one dish, but they lasted of almost all that were presented to them, and their name was Legion. Yet, after a short time, in Homeric phrase, the rage of thirst and hung-er was assuaged, or, more probably, the Princess Anna Comnena was tired of being- an object of some inattention to the guest who sat next her, and who, joining his high military cha- racter to his very handsome presence, was a person by whom few ladies would willingly be neglected. There is no new guise, says our father Chaucer, but what resembles an old one ; and the address of Anna Comnena to the Frankish Count might resemble that of a modern lady of fashion, in her attempts to eng-age in conversation the exquisite, who sits by her side in an apparently absent fit. " We have piped unto you," said the Princess, " and you have not danced ! We have sung- to you the jovial chorus of Evoe, evoe, and you will neither worship Comus nor Bacchus! Are we then to judge you a follower of the Muses, in whose service, as well as in that of Phoebus, we ourselves pretend to be enlisted?" " Fair lady," replied the Frank, " be not offended at my stating once for all, in plain terms, that I am a Christian man, spitting at, and bidding defiance to, Apollo, Bacchus, Comus, and all other heathen deities whatsoever." " O ! cruel interpretation of my unwary words ! " said the Prin- cess ; " I did but mention the gods of music, poetry, and eloquence, worshipped by our divine philosophers, and whose names are still used to distinguish the arts and sciences over which they presided — and the Count interprets it seriously into a breach of the second 122 COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. commandment ! Our Lady preserve me, we must take care how wo speak, when our words are so sharply interpreted." The Count laug-lied as the Princess spoke. " 1 had no offensive meaning", madam," he said, *'nor would I wish to interpret j'our words otherwise than as being most innocent and praise-worthy. T shall suppose that your speech contained all that was fair and blame- less. You are, I have understood, one of those who, like our worthy host, express in composition the history and feats of the warlike time in which you live, and give to the posterity which shall succeed us, the knowledge of the brave deeds which have been achieved in our day. I respect the task to which you have dedicated yourself, and know not how a lady could lay after ages under an obligation to her in the same degree, unless, like my wife, Brenhilda, she were herself to be the actress of deeds which she recorded. And, by the way, she now looks towards her neighbour at the table, as if she were_ about to rise and leave him ; her inclinations are towards Constantinople, and, with your ladyship's permission, I cannot allow her to go thitlier alone." "That you shall neither of you do," said Anna Comnena; "since we all go to the capital directly, and for the purpose of seeing those wonders of nature, of which numerous examples have been collected by the splendour of my Imperial father — If my husband seems to have given offence to the Countess, do not suppose that it was in- tentionally dealt to her ; on the contrary, you will find the goodman, when you are better acquainted with him, to be one of those simple persons who manage so unhappily what they mean for civilities, that those to whom they are addressed receive them frequently in another sense." Tlie Countess of Paris, however, refused again to sit down to the table from which she had risen, so that Agelastes and his Imperial guests saw themselves under the necessity either to permit the strangers to depart, which they seemed unwilling to do, or to detain them by force, to attempt which might not perhaps have been either safe or pleasant ; or, lastly, to have waived the etiquette of rank and set out along with them, at the same time managing their dignity, so as to take the initiatory step, though the departure took place upon the motion of their wilful guests. Much tumult there v/as — bustling, disputing, and shouting— among the troops and officers who v/ere thus moved from their repast, two hours at least sooner than had been experienced upon similar occasions in the memory of the oldest among them. A different arrangement of the Imperial party likewise seemed to take place by mutual consent. Nicephorus Briennius ascended the seat upon the elephant, and remained there placed beside his august mother-in-law. Agelastes, on a sober-minded palfrey which permitted him to prolong his philo- sophical harangues at his own pleasure, rode beside the Countess Brenhilda, whom he made the principal object of his oratory. The fair historian, though she usually travelled in a litter, preferred upon this occasion a spirited horse, which enabled her to keep pace with Count llobert of Paris, on v>-hose imagination, if not his feelings, she seemed to have it in view to work a marked impression. The con- COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. 123 Tcrsation of the Empress with her son-iii law requires no special de- tail. It was a tissue of criticisms upon the manners and behaviour of of the Franks, and a hearty wish that they mig-ht be soon transported from the realms of Greece, never more to return. Such was at least the tone of the Empress, nor did the Csesar find it convenient to ex- press any more tolerant opinion of the strangers. On the other hand, Agelastes made a long- circuit ere he ventured to approach the sub- ject which he wished to introduce. He spoke of the menagerie of the Emperor as a most superb collection of natural history ; he ex- tolled different persons at court for having encouraged Alexius Com- neuus in this wise and philosophical amusement. But, finally, the praise of all others was abandoned that the philosopher might dvv^ell upon that of Nicephorus Briennius, to whom the cabinet or collection of Constantinople was indebted, he said, for the principal treasures it contained. " I am glad it is so," said the haughty Coimtess, witliout lowering her voice or afi'ecting any change of manner ; " I am glad that he understands some things better worth understanding than whispering with stranger young women. Credit me, if he gives much license to his tong-ue among such women of my country as these stirring times may brmg hither, some one or other of them will fling him into the cataract which dashes below." " Pardon me, fair lady," said Agelastes ; " no female heart could meditate an action so atrocious against so fine a form as that of the Caesar Nicephorus Briennius." "Put it not on that issue, father," said the oflended Countess; " for, by my patroness Saint, our Lady of the Broken Lances, had it not been for regard to these two ladies, who seemed to intend some respect to my husband and myself, that same Nicephorus should have been as perfectly a Lord of the Broken Bones as any C£ssar who has borne the title since the great Julius ! " The philosopher, upon this explicit information, began to enter- tain some personal fear for himself, and hastened, by diverting the conversatioD, which he did with great dexterity, to the story of Hero and Leander, to put the afiront received out of the head of this un- scrupulous Amazon. Meantime, Count Robert of Paris was engrossed, as it may be termed, by the fair Anna Comuena. She spoke on all subjects, on some better, doubtless, others worse, but on none did she suspect herself of any deficiercy ; while the good Count wished heartily within himself that his companion had been safely in bed with the enchanted Princess of Zulichium. She performed, right or wrong, the part of a panegyrist of the Normans, until at length the Count, tired of hearing her prate of she knew not exactly what, broke in as follows : — " Lady," he said, " notwithstanding I and my followers are some- times so named, yet we are not Normans, who ome hither as a numerous and separate body of pilgrims, under the command of tlieir Duke Robert, a valiant, though extravagant, thoughtless, and weak man. I say nothing against the fame of these Normans. They conquered, in our fathers' days, a kingdom fav stronger than 124 COUNT ROBEUT OF PARIS. their own, Avliicli men call England; 1 sec that you entertain some of the natives of Avhich country in your pay, under the name of Var- ang'ians. Although defeated, as 1 said, by the Normans, they are, nevertheless, a brave race ; nor would we think ourselves much dis- honoured by mixing in battle with them. Still we are the valiant Franks, who had their dwelling on the eastern banks of the Rhine and of the Saale, who were converted to the Christian faith by the celebrated Clovis, and are sufficient, by our numbers and courage, to reconquer the Holy Land, should all Europe besides stand neutral in the contest." There are few things more painful to the vanity of a person like the Princess, than the being detected in an egregious error, at the moment she is taking credit to herself for being peculiarly accurately informed. " A false slave, who knew not what he was saying, 1 suppose," said the Princess, " imposed upon me the behef that the Varangians were the natural enemies of the Normans. I see him marching there by the side of Achilles Tatius, the leader of his corps. — Call him hither, you officers ! — Yonder tall man, I mean, with the battle-axe upon his shoulder." Ilereward, distinguished by liis post at the head of the squadron, was summoned from thence to the presence of the Princess, where he made his military obeisance with a cast of sternness in his aspect, as liis glance lighted upon the proud look of the Frenchman who rode beside Anna Comnena. " Did I not understand thee, fellow," said Anna Comnena, '' to have informed me, nearly a month ago, that the Normans and the Franks were the same people, and enemies to the race from which you spring ? " " The Normans are our mortal enemies, Lady," answered Here- ■Nvard, " by whom we were driven from our native land. The Franks are subjects of the same Lord-Paramount with the Normans, and therefore they neither love the Varangians, nor are beloved by them." " Good fellow," said the French Count, " you do the Franks wrong, and ascribe to the Varangians, although not unnaturally, an undue degree of importance, when you suppose that a race which has ceased to exist as an independent nation for more than a generation, can be either an object of interest or resentment to such as we are." " I am no stranger," said the Varangiaii, " to the pride of your heart, or the precedence which you assume over those who have been less fortunate in war than yourselves. It is God who casteth down and who buildeth up, nor is there in the world a prospect to which the Varangians would look forward with more pleasure than that a hundred of their number should meet in a fiiir field, either with the oppressive Normans, or their modern compatriots, the vain Frenchmen, and let God be the judge which is most worthy of victory." "You take an insolent advantage of the chance," said the Count of Paris, " which gives you an unlooked-for opportunity to brave a rifihlemnn *' COUNT nOBERT OF PAIlIS. 125 "It is my sorrow and shame," said the Varangian, " tliat that opportunity is not complete ; and that there is a chain around me which forbids me to say, Slay me, or I'll kill thee before we part from this spot ! " " Why, thou foolish and hot-brained churl," replied the Count, " what right hast thou to the honour of dying- by my blade ? Thou art mad, or hast drained the ale-cup so deeply that tliou knowest not what thou thinkest or sayest." " Thou liest ! " said the Varangian ; '" though such a reproach be the utmost scandal of thy race." The Frenchman motioned his hand quicker than light to his sword, but instantly withdrew it, and said with dignity, " thou canst not offend me." " But thou," said the exile, " hast offended me in a matter which can only be atoned by thy manhood." '' Where and how ? " answered the Count ; '"' although it is need- less to ask the question which thou canst not answer rationally." "Thou hast this day," answered the Varangian, "put a mortal affront upon a great prince, whom thy master calls his ally, and "by ^hom thou hast been received with every rite of hospitality. Him thou hast affronted as one peasant at a merry-making would do shame to another, and this dishonour thou hast done to him in the very face of his own chiefs and princes, and the nobles from every court of Europe." " It was thy master's part to resent my conduct," said the French- man, " if in reality he so much felt it as an affront." " But that," said Hereward, " did not consist with the manners of his country to do. Besides that, we trusty Varangians esteem our- selves bound by our oath as much to defend our Emperor, while the service lasts, on every inch of his honour as on every foot of his territory ; I therefore tell thee. Sir Knight, Sir Count, or whatever thou callest thyself, there is mortal quarrel between thee and the Varangian guard ever and until thou hast fought it out in fair and manly battle, body to body, with one of the said Imperial Varan- gians, when duty and opportunity shall permit : — and so God schaw tlie right ! " As this passed in the French language, tlie meaning escaped the understanding of such Imperialists as were within hearing at the time ; and the Princess, who waited v/ith some astonishment till the Crusader and the Varangian had finished their conference, when it was oyer, said to him with interest, " I trust you feel that poor man's situation to be too much at a distance from your own, to admit of your meeting him in v/hat is termed knightly battle ? " " On such a question," said the knigjit, ""l have but one answer to any lady who does not, like my Brenhilda, cover lierself with a sliield, and bear a sword by her side, and the heart of a knight in her bosom." " And suppose for once,'*said the Princess Anna Comnena, "that I possessed such titles to your confidence, what would your answer be to me ? " ''There can be little reason for concealing it," said the Count. 126 COU^'T ROBERT OF PARIS. " The Varang'iau is a brave man, and a strong" one ; it is contrary to my vow to shun liin challeng-e, and perhaps I shall derog-ate from ray rank by accepting' it ; but the world is wide, and he is yet to be born who has seen Robert of Paris shun the face of mortal man. By means of some g-allant officer among- the Emperor's guards, this poor fellow, who nourishes so strange an ambition, shall learn that he shall have his wish g-ratified." " And then ? " said Anna Comnena. " Why, then," said the Count, " in the poor man's own lang-uage, Ood schaw the right ! " " Which is to say," said the Princess, " that if my father has an officer of his guards honourable enough to forward so pious and reasonable a purpose, the Emperor must lose an all}', in whose faith he puts confidence, or a most trusty and fiiithful soldier of his per- sonal guard, who has distinguished himself upon many occasions ? " "I am happy to hear," said the Count, " that the man bears such a character. In truth, his ambition ought to have some foundation. The more I think of it, the rather am I of opinion that there is something generous, rather than derogatory, in giving to the poor exile, whose thoughts are so high and noble, those privileges of a man of rank, which some who were born in such lofty station are too cowardly to avail themselves of. Yet despond not, noble Princess ; the challenge is not yet accepted of, and if it was, the issue is in the hand of God. As for me, whose trade is war, the sense that 1 have something so serious to transact with this resolute man, will keep me from other less honourable quarrels, in which a lack of occupation might be apt to involve me." The Princess made no farther observation, being resolved, by pri- vate remonstrance to Achilles Tatius, to engage him to prevent a meeting which might be fatal to the one or the other of two brave men. The town now darkened before them, sparkling, at the same time, through its obscurity, by the many lights which illuminated the houses of the citizens. The royal cavalcade held their way to the Golden Gate, where the trusty centurion put his guard under ^rms to receive them. " We must now break off, fair ladies," said the Count, as the party, having now dismounted, were standing together at the private gate of the Blacquernal Palace, " and find as we can, the lodgings Avhich we occupied last night." " Under your favour, no," said the Empress. " You must be con- tent to take your supper and repose in quarters more fitting your rank ; and," added Irene, " with no worse quartermaster .than one of the Imperial family who has been your travelling companion." This the Count heard, with considerable inclination to accept the Iiospitality which was so readily offered. Although as devoted as a • man could v/ell be to the charms of his Brenhilda, the very idea never having entered his head of preferring another's beauty to hers, yet, nevertheless, he had naturally felt himself flattered by the attentions of a woman of eminent beauty and very high rank ; and the praises with which the Princess had loaded him had not_ entirely fallen to the ground. He was no longer in the humour in which COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. 127 the morniiig' Iiaci found Iiim, disposed to outrag-e the feeliiifjs of the Emperor, and to insult his dig-nity ; but, flattered by the adroit sycophancy which the old philosopher had learned from the schools, and the beautiful Princess had been gifted with by nature, he as- sented to the Empress's proposal ; the more readily, perhaps, that the darkness did not permit him to see that there was distinctly a shade of displeasure on the brow of Brenhilda. Whatever the cause, she cared not to express it, and the married pair had just entered that labyrinth of passag'es through which Hereward had formerly Avandered, when a chamberlain and a female attendant, richly dressed, bent the knee before them, and oifered them the means and place to adjust their attire, ere they entered the Im- perial presence. Brenhilda looked upon her apparel and arms, spotted with the blood of the insolent Scythian, and Amazon as she M^as, felt the shame of being' carelessly and improperly dressed. The arms of the knight were also bloody and in disarrangement. " Tell my female squire, Agatha, to give her attendance,"' said the Countess. " She alone is iu the habit of assisting- to unarm and to attire me." " Now, God be praised," thought the Grecian lady of the bed- chamber, " that I am not called to a toilet where smiths' hammers and tongs are like to be the instruments most in request 1 " " Tell Marcian, my armourer," said the Count, " to attend with the silver and blue suit of plate and mail which I won in a wager from the Count of Thoulouse."^ " Might I not have the honour of adjusting' your armour," said a splendidly dressed courtier, with some marks of the armourer's pro- fession, '■ sine^ I have put on that of the Emperor himself? — may his name be sacred ! " " And how many rivets hast thou clenched upon the occasion with this hand," said the Count, catching- hold of it, " which looks as if it bad never been washed, save with milk of roses, and with tliis childish toy?" pointing' to a hammer with ivory haft and silver head,-which, stuck into a milk-white kid-skin apron, the official wore as badges of his duty. The armourer fell back in some confusion. " His grasp," he said to another domestic, " is like the seizure of a vice ! " While this little scene passed apart, the Empress Irene, her daughter, and her son-in-law, left the company, under pretence of making a necessary change in their apparel. Immediately after, Agelastes was required to attend the Emperor, and the strangers were conducted to two adjacent chambers of retirement, splendidly fitted up, and placed for the present at their disposal, and that of their attendants. There we shall for a time leave them, assiiming', with the assistance of their own attendants, a dress which their ideas regarded as most fit for a g'reat occasion ; those of the Grecian court willingly keeping* apart from a task which they held nearly as for- midable as assisting- at the lair of a royal tiger or his bride. ^ Ag'elastes found the Emperor sedulously arranging his most splendid court dress ; for, as in the court of Pekin, the chaug'e of 1 See Note G. Rcxymond. 128 COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. ceremonial attire was a great part of the ritual observed at Con- stantinople. " Thou hast done well, wise Ag-elastes," said Alexius to the philos- opher, as he approached with abundance of prostrations and genu- flexions—" Thou hast done well, and we are content with thee. Less tlian thy wit and address must have failed in separating- from their company this tameless bull, and unyoked heifer, over whom, if we obtam influence, we shall command, by every account, no small interest among those who esteem them the bravest in the host." " My humble understanding-," said Agelastes, " had been infinitely inferior to the management of so prudent and sagacious a scheme, had it not been shaped forth and suggested by the inimitable wisdom of your most sacred Imperial Highness." " We are aware," said Alexius, " that we had the merit of blocking' forth the scheme of detaining- these persons, either by their choice as allies, or by main force as hostages. Their friends ere yet they have missed them, will be engaged in war with the Turks, and at no liberty, if the devil should suggest such an undertaking, to take arms against the sacred empire. Thus, Agelastes, we shall obtain hostages at least as important and as valuable as that Count of Ver- mandois, whose liberty the tremendous Godfrey of Bouillon extorted from us by threats of instant war," " Pardon," said Agelastes, " if I add another reason to those whicli of themselves so happily support your august resolution. It is possible tliat we may, by observiog- the greatest caution and courtesy towards these strangers, win them in g-ood earnest to our side." " I conceive you, I conceive you" — said the Emperor ; " and this very night I will exhibit myself to this Count and his lady in the royal presence-chamber, in the richest robes which our wardrobe can furnish. The lions of Solomon shall roar, the golden tree of Comnenus shall display its wonders, and the feeble eyes of these Franks shall be altogether dazzled by the splendour of the empire. These spec- tacles cannot but sink into their minds, and dispose them to become the allies and servants of a nation so much more powerful, skilful, and wealthy than their own. — Thou hast something to say, Agelastes. Years and long- study have made thee wise ; though we have given our opinion, thou mayst speak thine own, and live." Thrice three times did Agelastes press his brow against the hem of the Emperors garment, and great seemed his anxiety to find such words as might intimate his dissent from his sovereign, yet save him from the informality of contradicting him expressly. " These sacred words, in which your sacred Highness has uttered your most just and accurate opinions, are undeniable, and incapable of contradiction, were any vain enough to attempt to impugn them. Nevertheless, be it lawful to say, that men show the wisest arguments in vain to those v/ho do not understand reason, just as you would in vain exhibit a curious piece of limning to the blind, or endeavour to bribe, as scripture saith, a sow by the ofi'er of a precious stone. The fault is not, in such case, in the accuracy of your sacred reasoning, but in the obtuseness and perverseness of the barbarians to whom it is applied." COUKT ROBERT OF PARIS. 12J; "Speak more plainly," said the Emperor; "how often must we tell tliee, that in cases in Avhicli we really want counsel, we know vre must be contented to sacrifice ceremony?" " Then in plain words," said Agelastes, " these European barbari- ans are like no others under the cope of the universe, either on the things on which they look with desire, or on those which they con- sider as discouraging'. The treasures of this noble empire, so far as they aftected their wishes, would merely inspire them with the desire to ^0 to war with a nation possessed of so much wealth, and who, in I then- self-conceited estimation, were less able to defend, than they themselves are powerful to assail. Of such a description, for instance, is Boheraond of Tarentum, — and such a one is many a crusader less able and sagacious thL'.n he ; — for I think I need not tell your Impe- rial Divinity, that he holds his own self-interest to be the devoted guide of his whole conduct through this extraordinary war ; and that, therefore, you can justly calculate his course, when once you are aware from which point of the compass the wind of avarice and self- interest breathes M'ith respect to him. But there are spirits among tlie Franks of a very different nature, and who must be acted upon ' by very different motives, if we would make ourselves masters of their actions, and the principles by which they are governed. If it were lawful to do so, I would request your Majesty to look at the manner by which an artful juggler of your court achieves his imposi- tion upon the eyes of spectators, yet heedfully disguises the means jby which he attains his object. This people— I mean the more lofty- minded of these crusaders, who act up to the pretences of the doctrine which they call chivalry — despise the thirst of gold, and gold itself, unless to hilt their swords, or to furnish forth some necessary ex- penses, as ahke useless and contemptible. The man who can be moved by the thirst of gain, they contemn, scorn, and despise, and liken him, in the meanness of his objects, to the most paltry serf that ever followed the plough or wielded the spade. On the other hand, if it happens that they actually need gold, they are sufficiently un- oeremonious in taking it where they can most easily find it. Thus, they are neither easily to be bribed by giving them sums of gold, nor to be starved into compliance by withholding what chance may render ecessary for them. In the one case, they set no value upon the gift of a little paltry yellow dross ; on the other, they are accustomed to take what they want." " Yellow dross ! " interrupted Alexius. " Do they call that noble metal, equally respected by Roman and barbarian, by rich and poor, by great and mean, by churchmen and laymen, which all mankind iire fighting for, plotting for, planning for, intriguing for, and damn- ing themselves for, both soul and body — by the opprobrious name of yellow dross ? They are mad, Agelastes, utterly mad. Perils and 'dangers, penalties and scourges, are the only arguments to which men who are above the universal influence which moves all others, jan possibly be accessible." " Nor are they," said Agelastes, " more accessible to fear than they ire to self-interest. They are indeed, from their boyhood, brouglft ap to scorn those passions which influence ordinary rainds, whether 130 COUNT ROBERT OF TARIS. l)y means of avarice to impel, or of fear to hold back. So much h this the case, that what is enticing" to other men, must, to interest them, have the piquant sauce of extreme dang-er. I told, for instance, to this very hero, a legend of a Princess of Zulichium, who lay ou an enchanted couch, beautiful as an angel, awaiting the chosen knig'ht who should, by dispelling* her enchanted slumbers, become master of her person, of her kingdom of Zulichium, and of her countless treasures ; and would your Imperial Majesty believe me, I could scarce get the g-allant to attend to my legend, or take any interest in the adventure, till I assured him he would have to encounter a wing-ed dragon, com- pared to which the largest of those in the Frank romances was but like a mere dragonfly? " " And did this move the gallant? " said the Emperor. " So much so," replied the philosopher, " that had I not unfortu- nately, by the earnestness of my description, awakened the jealousy of his Penthesilea of a Countess, he had forgotten the craisade and all belong-ing to it, to go in quest of Zulichium and its slumbering- sovereig-n." "Nay, then," said the Emperor, "we have in our empire (make us sensible of the advantage !) innumerable tale-tellers who are not possessed in the slightest deg-ree of that noble scorn of g-old which is proper to the Franks, but shall, for a brace of besants, lie with the devil, and beat him to boot, if in that manner we can gain, as mari- ners say, the weathergag-e of the Franks," " Discretion," said Agelastes, " is in the highest degree necessary. Simply to lie is no very great matter ; it is merely a departure from the truth, which is little diflferent from missing a mark at archery, •where the whole horizon, one point alone excepted, will alike serve the shooter's purpose ; but to move the Frank as is desired, requires a perfect knowledge of his temper and disposition, great caution and presence of mind, and the most versatile readiness in changing from one subject to another. Had I not myself been somewhat i alert, I might have paid the penalty of a false step in your Majesty's j service, by being flung into my own cascade by the virago whom I offended." "A perfect Thalestris!" said the Emperor; "I shall take care jj what oflfence I give her." " If I might speak and live," said Agelastes, " the Csesar Nicepho- rus Briennius had best adopt the same precaution." " Nicephorus," said the Emperor, "must settle that with our daughter. I have ever told her that she gives him too much of thafc: history, of M'hich a page or two is suflEiciently refreshing ; but by our own self we must swear it, Agelastes, that, night after night, hearing nothing else, would subdue the patience of a saint ! — Forget, good Agelastes, that thou hast heard me say such a thing — more especially, remember it not when thou art in presence of our Imperial wife audi daughter. " "JSTor were the freedoms taken by the Csesar beyond the bounds: of an innocent gallantry," said Agelastes; "but the Countess, I must needs say, is dangerous. Slie killed this day the Scythian Toxartis, bv what seemed a mere fillip on the head." COUNT EGBERT OF PARIS. 131 " Hall ! " said the Emperor ; " I knew tliat Toxartis, and he was like enough to deserve his death, being- a bold unscrupulous marauder. Take notes, however, how it happened, the names of witnesses, &cc., that, if necessary, we may exhibit the fact as a deed of aggression on the part of the Count and Countess of Paris, to the assembly of the crusaders." " I trust," said Agelastcs, " your Imperial Majesty will not etisily resign the golden opportunity of gaining to your standard persons •whose character stands so very high in chivalry. It would cost you but little to bestow upon them a Grecian island, worth a hundred of their own paltry lordship of Paris ; and if it were given under the condition of their expelling the infidels or the disaffected who may have obtained the temporary possession, it would be so much the more likely to be an acceptable offer. I need not say that the whole knowledge, wisdom, and skill of the poor Agelastes is at jour Im- perial Majesty's disposal." The Emperor paused for a moment, and then said, as if on full consideration, " Worthy Agelastes, I dare trust thee in this difficult and somewhat dangerous matter ; but I will keep my purpose of exhibiting to them the lions of Solomon, and the golden tree of our Imperial house." " To that there can be no objection," returned the philosopher; *' only remember to exhibit few guards, for these Franks are like a fiery horse ; when in temper he may be ridden with a silk thread, but when he has taken umbrage or suspicion, as they would likely do if they saw many armed men, a steel bridle would not restrain him." "I will be cautious," said the Emperor, "in that particular, as well as others. — Sound the silver bell, Agelastes, that the officers of our wardrobe may attend." " One siDgle word, while your Highness is alone," said Agelastes. "Will your Imperial Majesty transf'er to me the direction of your menagerie, or collection of extraordinary creatures ? " " You make me wonder," said the Emperor, taking a signet, bear- ing upon it a lion, with the legend, Vicit Leo ex tinbu Judce. " This," he said, " will give thee the command of our dens. And nov/, be can- did for once with thy master — for deception is thy nature even with me — by what charm wilt thou subdue these untamed savages ? " " By the power of falsehood," replied Agelastes, with deep rever- ence. " I believe thee an adept in it," said the Emperor. " And to which of their foibles wilt thou address it?" " To their love of fame," said the philosopher ; and retreated back- I wards out of the royal apartment, as the officers of the wardrobe entered to complete the investment of the Emperor in his Imperial I habiliments. -''';ll* i I' J^, #• ' ' r i Lihrnrti, 132 COUNT EGBERT OF PARIS. CHArTER XIV. 1 will converse with iroii-witted fools, And unrespective boys ; none are for me, That look into me with considerate eyes ; — High-reaching Buckingham grows circumspect llicharcl III. As tlicy parted from each other, the Emperor and philosopher had each their own anxious thoughts on the interview which had passed between them ; thoug-hts which they expressed in broken sentences and cjacuhitions, though for the better understanding of the degree of estimation in which they held each other, we will give them a more regular and intelligible form. ^'Thus, then," half muttered half said Alexius, but so low as to hide his meaning from the officers of the wardrobe, who entered to do their office, — " thus, tlien, this bookworm — this remnant of old heathen philosophy, who hardly believes, so God save me, the truth of the Christian creed, has topp'd his part so well that he forces his Emperor to diasemble in his presence. Beginning by being the buf- foon of the court, he has wormed himself into all its secrets, made liimself master of all its intrigues, conspired with my own son-in-law against me, debauched my guards,— indeed so woven his web of de- ceit, that my life is safe no longer, than he believes me the imperial dolt which I have effected to seem, in order to deceive him ; fortu- nate that even so I can escape his cautionary anticipation of ray dis- pleasure, by avoiding to precipitate his measures of violence. But were this sudden storm of the crusade fairly passed over, the ungrate- ful Csesar, the boastful coward Achilles Tatius, and the bosom ser- pent Agelastes, shall know whether Alexius Comnenus has been born their dupe. When Greek meets Greek, comes the strife of subtlety, as well as the tug of war." Thus saying, he resigned himself to the officers of his wardrobe, who proceeded to ornament him as the solem- nity required. " I trust him not," said Agelastes, the meaning of whose gestures and exclamations we, in like manner, render into a connected mean- ing. " I cannot and do not trust him— he somewhat overacts his part. He has borne himself upon other occasions with the shrewd wit of his family the Comneni ; yet he now trusts to the effect of his trumpery lions upon such a shrewd people as the Franks and Nor- mans, and seems to rely upon me for the character of men with whom he has been engaged in peace and war for man^ years. This can be but to gain my confidence; for there were imperfect looks and broken sentences, which seemed to say, ' Agelastes, the Emperor knows thee, and confides not in thee.' Yet the plot is successful and undiscovered, so far as can be judged ; and were I to attempt to »^cede now, I were lost for ever. A little time to carry on this in- i?rigue with the Frank, when possibly, by the assistance of this gallant, Alexius shall exchange the crown for a cloister, or a still narrower COUNT ROBERT OF TARIS. 133 abode; and then, Ag'elastes, thou deservest to be blotted from the roll of philosophers, if thou canst not push out of the throne the con- ceited and luxurious Csesar, and reig'u in his stead, a second Marcus Antoninus, when the wisdom of thy rule, lono- unfelt in a vrorld wliich has been guided by tyrants and voluptuaries, shall soon obliterate recollection of the manner in which thy power was acquired. To work then— be active and be cautious. The time requires it, and the prize deserves it." While these thoughts passed through his mind, he arrayed himself, by the assistance of Diogenes, in a clean suit of that simple apparel in which he always frequented the court ; a garb as unlike that of a candidate for royalty, as it was a contrast to the magnificent robes with which Alexius was now investing himself. In their separate apartments, or dressing-rooms, tlie Count of Paris and his lady put on the best apparel which they had prepared to meet such a chance upon their journey. Even in Franc% Robert w^as seldom seen in the peaceful cap and sweeping mantle, whose high plumes and flowing folds were the garb of knights in times of peace. lie was now arrayed in a splendid suit of armour, nil except the head, which was bare otherwise than as covered by his curled locks. The rest of his person was sheathed in the complete mail of the time, richly inlaid with silver, which contrasted with the azure in which the steel was damasked. His spurs were upon his heels — his sword was by his side, and his triangular shield was suspended round his neck, bearing, painted upon it, a number oi fleurs-de-lis semees, as it is called, upon the field, being the origin of those lily flowers which aftertimes were reduced to three only, and Avhich were the terror of Europe, until they suffered so many reverses in our own time. The extreme height of Count Kobert's person adapted him for a garb which had a tendency to make persons of a lower stature appear rather dwarfish and thick when arrayed cajy-d-pie. The features, with their self-collected composure, and noble contempt of whatever could have astounded or shaken an ordinary mind, formed a well- fitted capital to the excellently proportioned and vigorous frame which they terminated. The Countess Avas in more peaceful attire ; but her robes Avere short and succinct, like those of one Avho might be called to hasty exercise. The upper part of her dress consisted of more than one tunic, sitting close to the body, Avhile a skirt, descending from the girdle, and reaching to the ankles, embroidered elegantly but richly, completed an attire Avhich a lady might haA'e worn in much more modern times. Her tresses Avere covered Avitli a light steel head-piece, though some of them, escaping, played round her face, and gave relief to those handsome features Avhich might otherwise have seemed too formal, if closed entirely Avithin the A'erg'e of steel. Over these under garments Avas flung a rich veh'et cloak of a deep green colour, descending from the head, Avhere a species of hood Avas loosely acljusted over the helmet, deeply laced u|>on its verges and seams, and so long as to sAveep the ground be- hind. A dagger of rich materials ornamented a girdle of curious goldsmith's Avork, and Avas the only oftensive Aveapon Avhich, notAvith- standing her military occupation, she bore upon this occasion. 134 COUNT robeut of pakis. The toilet — as modern times would say— of the Countess, was not nearly so soon ended as that of Count Robert, who occupied his time, as husbands of every period are apt to do, in little sub-acid com- plaints between jest and earnest, upon tlie dilatory nature of ladies, and the time which they lose in dofiing' and donnin<^ their g-arments. But when the Countess Brenhilda came forth in the pride of loveli- ness, from the inner chamber where she had attired herself, her husband, who was still her lover, clasped her to his breast, and ex- pressed his privileg-e by the kiss which he took as of right from a creature so beautiful. Chiding- him for his folly, yet almost return- ing- the kiss which she received, Brenhilda began now to wonder how they were to find their way to the presence of the Emperor. The query was soon solved, for a g-entie knock at thQ door an- nouncea Ag-elastes, to whom, as best acquainted with the Frankish manners, had been committed, by the Emperor, the charg-e of intro- ducing the noble strangers. A distant sound, like that of the roar- ing of a lion, or not unsimilar to a large and deep §'ong of modern times, intimated the commencement of the ceremonial. The black slaves upon g-uard, who, as hath been observed, were in small num- bers, stood ranged in their state dresses of white and gold, bearing in one hand a naked sabre, and in the other a torch of white wax, which served to guide the Count and Countess through the passages that led to the interior of the palace, and to the most secret hall of audience. The door of this sanctum sanctorum was lower than usual, a simple stratagem devised by some superstitious officer of the Imperial house- hold, to compel the lofty-crested Frank to lower his body, as he pre- sented himself in the Imperial presence. Robert, when the door flew open, and he discovered in the background the Emperor seated upon his throne amidst a glare of light, which was broken and reflected in ten thousand folds by the jewels with which his vest- ments were covered, stopt short, and demanded the meaning of introducing him through so low an arch ? Agelastes pointed, to the Emperor by way of shifting from himself a question which he could not have answered. The mute, to apologise for his silence, yaAvned, and showed the loss of his tongue. "Holy Virgin!" said the Countess, "what can these unhappy Africans have done to have deserved a condemnation which involves so cruel a fate ? " "The hour of retribution is perhaps come," said the Count, in a displeased tone, while Agelastes, with such hurry as time and place permitted, entered, making his prostrations and genuflexions, little doubting that the Frank must follow him, and to do so must lower his body to the Emperor. The Count, however, in the height of displeasure at the trick which he conceived had been intended him, turned himself round, and entered the presence-chamber with his back purposely turned to the sovereign, and did not face Alexius until lie reached the middle of the apartment, when he was joined by the Countess, who had made her approach in a more seemly man- ner. The Emperor, who had prepared to acknowledge the Count's expected homage in the most gracious manner, found himself now COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. 135 cren more uupleasantly circumstanced than when this uncompromis- ing- Frank had usurped the royal throne in the course of the day. The officers and nobles v/ho stood around, though a very select number, were more numerous than usual, as the meeting- was not held for counsel, but merely for state. These assumed such an ap- pearance of mingled displeasure and confusion as might best suit with the perplexity of Alexius, while the wily features of the Nor- man-Italian, Bohemond of Tarentum, who was also present, had a singular mixture of fantastical glee and derision. It is the misfor-* tune of the weaker on such occasions, or at least the more timid, to be obliged to take the petty part of winking hard, as if not able to see what they cannot avenge. Alexius made the signal that the ceremonial of the grand recep- tion should immediately commence. Instantly the lions of Solomon, which had been newly furbished, raised their heads, erected their manes, brandished their tails, until they excited the imagination of Count Robert, who, being already on fire at the circumstances of his reception, conceired tlie bellowing of these automata to be the actual annunciation of immediate assault. Whether the lions whose forms he beheld were actually lords of the forest, — whether they were mortals who had suffered transformation, — whether they were pro- ductions of the skill of an artful jugo-ler, or profound naturalist, the Count neither knew nor cared. Alt that he thought of the danger was, that it was worthy of his courage ; nor did his heart permit him a moment's irresolution. He strode to the nearest lion, which seemed in the act of springing up, and said, in a tone loud and formidable as its own, '•' How now, dog ! " At the same time he struck the figure with his clenched fist and steel gauntlet with so much force that its liead burst, and the steps and carpet of the throne were covered with wheels, springs, and other machinery, which had been the means of producing its mimic terrors. On this display of the real nature of the cause of his anger, Count Robert could not but feel a little ashamed of having given wav to passion on such an occasion. He was still more confused when Bohemond, descending from his station near the Emperor, addressed him in the Frank language : — " You have done a gallant deed, truly, Count Robert, in.freeing the court of Byzantium from an object of fear which has long been used to frighten peevish children and un- ruly barbarians ! " Enthusiasm has no greater enemy than ridicule. "Why, then," said Count Robert, blushing deeply at the same time, "did they exhibit its fantastic terrors to me ? I am neither child nor barbarian." "Address yourself to the Emperor, then, as an intelligent man," answered Bohemond. " Say something to him in excuse of your conduct, and show that our bravery has not entirely run away with our common sense. And hark you also, while I have a moment's speech of you, — do you and your wife heedfully follow my example at supper ! " These words were spoken with a significant tone and corresponding look. The opinion of Bohemond, from his long intercourse, both in peace and war, with the Grecian Emperor, gave him great influence with 136 CuU^l KOBERT OF PARIS. the other crusaders, and Count Robert yielded to his advice. He turned towards the Emperor with something liker an obeisance than he had hitherto paid. " I crave your pardon," he said, " for breaking- that g'ikled piece of pageantry; but, in sooth, the wonders of sorcery, and the portents of accomplished and skilful jugglers, are so numer- ous in this country, that one does not clearly distinguish what is true from what is false, or what is real from what is illusory." The Emperor, notwithstanding the presence of mind for which he was remarkable, and the courage in which he was not held by his countrymen to be deficient, received this apology somewhat awk- wardly. Perhaps the rueful complaisance with which he accepted the Count's apology might be best compared to that of a lady of the present day when an awkward guest has broken a valuable piece of chine. He muttered something* about the machines having been long preserved in the Imperial family, as being made on the model of those which guarded the throne of the wise King of Israel; to which the blunt plain-spoken Count expressed his doubt, in reply, whether the wisest prince in the world ever condescended to frighten his subjects or guests by the mimic roarings of a wooden lion. " If," said he, "I too hastily took it for a living creature, I have had the worst, by damaging" my excellent gauntlet in dashing to pieces its timber skull." The Emperor, after a little more had been said, chiefly on the same subject, proposed that they should pass to the banquet-room. Marshalled, accordingly, by the grand sewer of the Imperial table, and attended by all present, excepting the Emperor and the imme- diate members of his family, the Frankish guests were guided through a labyrinth of apartments, each of which was filled with wonders of nature and art, calculated to enhance their opinion of the wealth and grandeur which had assembled together so much that was won- derful. Their passage being necessarily slow and interrupted, gave the Emperor time to change his dress, according to the ritual of Jiis court, which did not permit his appearing twice in the same vesture before the same spectators. He took the opportunity to summon Agelastes into his presence, and, that their conference miglit be secret, he used, in assisting' his toilet, the agency of some of the mutes destined for the service of the interior. The temper of Alexius Comnenus was considerably moved, although it was one of the peculiarities of his situation to be ever under ^^e necessity of disguising the emotions of his mind, and of affecting, in presence of his subjects, a superiority to human passion, which he was far from feeling. It was therefore with gravity, and even re- prehension, that he asked, "By whose error it was that the wily Bohemond, half-Italian, and half-Norman, was present at this inter- view ? Surely, if there be one in the crusading army likely to con- duct that foolish youth and his wife behind the scenes of the exhibi- tion by which we hoped to impose upon them, the Count of Taren- tum, as he entitles himself, is that person." " It was that old man," said Agelastes, " (if I may re])ly and live), Michael Cantacuzene, who deemed that his presence was peculiarly desired ; but he returns to the camp this very night." COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. 137 "Yes," said Alexius, "to inform Godfrey, and the rest of the crusaders, that one of the boldest and most highly esteemed of tlieir number is left, with his wife, a hostag-e in our Imperial city, and to bring- back, perhaps, an alternative of instant war, unless "they are delivered up ! " " If it is your Imperial Ilig'hness's will to think so," said Ag-elas- tes, "you can suffer Count Robert and his wife to return to the camp with the Italian-Norman." " What ?" answered the Emperor, "and so lose all the fruits of an enterprise, the preparations for which have already cost us so much in actual expense ; and, were our heart made of the same stuff with that^ of ordinary mortals, v/ould have cost us so much more in vexation and anxiety ? No, no ; issue warning- to the crusadera, who are still on the hither side, that farther rendering- of homag-e is dispensed with, and that they repair to the quays on the banks of the Bosphorus, by peep of light to-morrow. Let our ndmiral, as he values his head, pass every man of them over to the A'arthcr side before noon. Let there be largesses, a princely banquet on the fiirther bank — all that may increase their anxiety to pass. Then, Agelastes, we will trust to ourselves to meet this additional danger, either by bribing the venality of Bohemond, or by bidding- defiance to the crusaders. Their forces are scattered, and the chief of them, with the leaders themselves, are all now — or by far the greater part — on the east side of the Bosphorus. — And now to the banquet ! seeing that the change of dress has been made sufficient) to answer the statutes of the household ; since our ancestors cliose to make rules for exhibiting us to our subjects, as priests exhibit their images at their shrines ! " "Under grant of life," said Agelastes, "it was not done incon- siderately, but in order that the Emperor, ruled over by the same laws from father to son, might ever be regarded as something be- yond the common laws of humanity— the divine image of a saint, therefore, rather than a human being." "We know it, good Agelastes," answered the Emperor, with a smile, " and we are also aware that many of our subjects, like the wor- shippers of Bel in holy writ, treat us so far as an image, as to assist us in devouring the revenues of our provinces, which are gathered in our name, and for our use. These things we now only touch lightly, the time not suiting them." Alexius left the secret council accordingly, after the order for the passage of the crusaders had been written out and subscribed in due form, and in the sacred ink of the Imperial chancery. ^Icantime, the rest of the company had arrived in a hall, whicii, like the other apartments in the palace, was most tastefully as well as gorgeously fitted up, except that a table, which presented a princely banquet, might have been deemed faulty in this respect, that the dishes, which were most splendid, both in the materials of which they were composed, and in the viands which they held, were elevated by means of feet, so as to he upon a level with female guests as they sat, and with men as they lay recumbent at the ban- quet which it offered. 138 COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. Around stood a luimber of black slaves richly attired, wliile the grand sewer, Michael Cantacuzene, arranged tiie strangers with his golden wand, and conveyed orders to them, by signs, that all should remain standing around the table, until a signal should be given. The upper end of the board, thus furnished, and thus surrounded, was hidden by a curtain of muslin and silver, which fell from the top of the arch under which the upper part seemed to pass. On this curtain the sewer kept a wary eye ; and when he observed it slightly shake, he waved his wand of office, and all expected the result. As is self-moved, the mystic curtain arose, and discovered behind it a throne eight steps higher than the end of the table, decorated in the most magnificent manner, and having placed before it a small table of ivory inlaid with silver, behind which was seated Alexius Comnenus, in a dress entirely different from what he had worn in the course of the day, and so much more gorgeous than his former vest- ments, that it seemed not unnatural that his subjects should pros- trate themselves before a figure so splendid. His wife, liis daughter, and his son-in-law the Ceesar, stood behind him with faces bent to the ground, and it was with deep humility, that, descending from the throne at the Emperor's command, they mingled with the guests of the lower table, and, exalted as they were, proceeded to the festive board at the signal of the grand sewer. So that they could not be said to partake of the repast with the Emperor, nor to be placed at the Imperial table, although they supped in his presence, and were encouraged by his repeated request to them to make good cheer. Ko dishes presented at the lower table were offered at the higher; but wines, and more delicate sorts of food, which arose before the Emperor as if by magic, and seemed designed for his own proper use, were repeatedly sent, by his special directions, to one or other of the guests whom Alexius delighted to honour — among these the Franks being particularly distinguished. The behaviour of Bohemond was on this occasion particularly remarkable. Count Robert, who kept an eye upon him, both from his recent words, and owing to an expressive look which he once or twice darted towards him, observed, that in no liquors or food, not even those sent from the Emperor's OAvn table, did this astucious prince choose to indulge. A piece of bread, taken from the canister at random, and a glass of pure water, was the only refreshment of which he was pleased to partake. His alleged excuse was, the veneration due to the Holy Festival of the Advent, M'hicli chanced to occur that very night, and v,-liich both the Greek and Latin rule agree to hold sacred. "I had not expected this of you, Sir Bohemond," said the Em- peror, " that you should have refused my personal hospitality at my own board, on the very day on which you honoured me by entering into my service as vassal for the principality of Antioch." "Antiochis not yet conquered," said Sir Bohemond; "and con- science, dread sovereign, must always have its exceptions, in what- • ever temporal contracts v>^e may engage." " Come, gentle Count,'"' said the Emperor, Avho obviously regarded COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. 139 Boi'iemond's inhospitable liumour as something arising' more from suspicion than devotion. '•' we invite, thoug^h it is not our custom^ our chifdren, our noble g-uests, and our principal officers here present, to a general carouse. Fill the cups called the Nine Muses ! let them be brimful of the wine which is said to be sacred to the Imperial lips ! " At the Emperor's command the cups were filled ; they were of pure g'old, and there was richly engraved upon each the effigy of the IMuse to whom it was dedicated. " You at least " said the Emperor, " my gentle Count Robert, you and your lovely lady, will not have any scruple to pledge your Im- perial host ? " "' If that scruple is to imply suspicion of the provisions with which we are here served, I disdain to nourish such," said Count Robert. " If it is a sin which I commit by tasting wine to-night, it is a venial one ; nor shall I greatly augment my load by carrying it, with the rest of my trespasses, to the next confessional." " Will you then, Prince Bohemond, not be ruled by the conduct of your friend ?" said the Emperor. " Methinks," replied the Norman-Italian, '•' my friend might have done better to have been ruled by mine ; but be it as his wisdom pleases. _ The flavour of such exquisite wine is sufficient for me." So saying, he emptied the wine into another goblet, and seemed alternately to admire the carving of the cup, and the flavour of what it had lately contained. " You are right, Sir Bohemond," said the Emperor ; " the fiibric of that cup is beautiful ; it was done by one of the ancient gravers of Greece. The boasted cup of Nestor, which Homer has handed dov/n to us, was a good deal larger perhaps, but neither equalled these in the value of the material, nor the exquisite beauty of the workmanship. Let each one, therefore, of my stranger guests, accept of the cup which he either has or might have drunk out of, as a recollection of me ; and may the expedition against the infidels be as propitious as their confidence and courage deserve ! " " If I accept your gift, mighty Emperor," said Bohemond, " it is only to atone for the apparent discourtesy, when my devotion com- pels me to decline your Imperial pledge, and to show you that we part on the most intimate terms ot friendship." _So saying, he bowed deeply to the Emperor, who answered hini with a smile, into which was tlirown a considertible portion of sarcastic expression. " And I," said the Count of Paris, " having taken upon my con- science the fault of meeting your Imperial pledge, may stand excused from incurring the blame of aiding to dismantle your table of these curious drinking cups. We empty them to your health, and we can- not in any other respect profit by them." '•' But Prince Bohemond can," said the Em.peror ; " to whose quar- ters they shall be carried, sanctioned by your generous use. And we have still a set for you, and for your lovely Countess, equal to that of the Graces, though no longer matching in number the nymphs of Parnassus. — The evening bell rings, and calls us to re- 140 COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. member the hour of rest, that we may be ready to meet the labours of to-morrow." The party then broke up for the eveniii*^. Bohemond left the palace that night, not forg-etting" the Muses, of whom he was not in general a devotee. The result was, as the wily Greek had intended, that he had established between Bohemond and the Count, not in- deed a quarrel, but a kind of difference of opinion ; Bohemond feel- ing that the fiery Count of Paris must think his conduct sordid and avaricious, while Count Robert was far less inclined than before to rely on him as a counsellor. CHAPTER XV. The Count of Paris and his lady were that night lodged in tlie Imperial Palace of Blacquernal. Their apartments were contiguous, but the commimication between them was cut off for the night by the mutual door being locked and barred. They marvelled somewhat at this precaution. The observance, however, of the festival of the Church, was pleaded as an admissible, and not unnatural, excuse for this extraordinary circumstance. Neither the Count nor his lady entertained, it may be believed, the slightest personal fear for any- thing which could happen to them. Their attendants, Marcian and Agatha, having assisted their master and mistress in the performance of their usual offices, left them, in order to seek the places of repose assigned to them among persons of their degree. The preceding day had been one of excitation, and of much bustle and interest; perhaps, also, the wine, sacred to the Imperial lips, of which Count Robert had taken a single, indeed, but a deep draught, was more potent than the delicate and high-flavoured juice of the Gascogne grape, to which he was accustomed ; at any rate, it seemed to liim that, from the time he felt that he had slept, daylight ought to have been broad in his chamber when he awaked, and yet it was still darkness almost palpable. Somewhat surprised, he gazed eagerly around, but could discern nothing, except two balls of red light which shone from among the darkness with a self-emitted brilliancy, like the eyes of a wild animal while it glares upon its prey. The Count started from bed to put on his armour, a necessary precaution if what he saw should really be a wild creature and at liberty : but the instant he stirred, a deep «-rowl was uttered, sucli as the Count had never heard, but which might be compared to the sound of a thou- sand monsters at once; and, as the symphony, Avas heard the clash of iron chains, and the springing of a monstrous creature towards the bedside, which appeared, however, to be withheld by some fastening from attaining the end of its bound. The roars which it uttered now ran thick on each otlier. They were most tremendous, and must have been heard throughout the whole palace. The creature seemed to gather itself many yards nearer to the bed than by its glaring eye- balls it appeared at first to be stationed, and how much nearer, or COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. 141 vihsit dog-roc of motion, might place him within the monster's reach, the Count was totally uncertain. Its hreathing- was even heard, and Count Robert thought he felt the heat of its respiration, while his defenceless limbs might not be two yards distant from the fangs ! which he heard grinding against each other, and the claws which tore up fragments of wood from the oaken floor. The Count of Paris was one of the bravest men who lived in a time when bravery was the universal property of all who claimed a drop of noble blood, and the knight was a descendant of Charlemagne. He was, however, a man, and therefore cannot be said to have endured unappalled a sense of danger so unexpected and so extraordinary. But his was not a sudden alarm or panic, it was a calm sense of extreme peril, qualified by a resolution to exert his faculties to the uttermost, to save his life if it were possible. He withdrew himself within the bed, no longer a place of rest, being thus a few feet further from the two o'laring eyeballs which remained so closely fixed upon him, that, in spite of his courage, nature painfully suggested the bitter imagin- ation of his limbs being mangled, torn, and churned with their life- blood, in the jaws of some monstrous beast of prey. One saving thought alone presented itself — this might be a trial, an experiment. of the philosopher Agelastes, or of the Emperor his master, for the purpose of proving the courage of which the Christians vaunted so highly, and punishing the thoughtless insult which the Count had been unadvised enough to put upon the Emperor the preceding day. " Well is it said," he reflected in his agony, " beard not the lion in his den ! Perhaps even now some base slave deliberates whether I have yet tasted enough of the preliminary agonies of death, and whether he shall yet slip the chain which keeps the savage from doing his work. But come death when it Avill, it shall never be said that Count Robert was heard to receive it with prayers for compas- sion, or with cries of pain or terror." He turned his face to the wall, and waited, with a strong mental exertion, the death which he con- ceived to be fast approaching. His first feelings had been unavoidably of a selfish nature. The danger was too instant, and of a description too horrible, to admit of any which involved a more comprehensive view of his calamity ; and other reflections of a more distant kind, were at first swallowed up in the all-engrossing thought of immediate death. But as his ideas became clearer, the safety of his Countess rushed upon his mind— what might she now be sufiering! and, while he was subjected to a trial so extraordinary, for what were her weaker frame and female courage reserved ? Was she still within a few yards of him, as when he lay down the last night ? or had the barbarians, who had devised for him a scene so cruel, availed themselves of his and his lady's incautious confidence, to inflct upon her some villany of the same kind, or even ^et more perfidious? Did she sleep or wake, or could she sleep within the close hearing of that horrible cry, which shook all around ? He resolved to utter her name, warning her, if possible to be upon her guard, and to answer without venturing rashly into the apartment which contained a guest so horribly perilous. 142 COUNT ROBERT OF PAPaS. He uttered, therefore, his wife's name, but in trembling- accents, fis if he had been afraid of the savage beast overhearing' him. " Brenhilda ! Brenhilda ! — there is danger — awake, and speak to me, but do not arise. " There was no answer. — "What am I become," he said to himself, "that I call upon Brenhilda of Aspramonte, like a child on its sleeping- nurse, and all because there is a wild-cat in the same room with me ? Shame on thee, Count of Paris ! Let thy arms be rent, and thy spurs be hacked from thy heels ! — What ho !" he cried aloud, but still with a tremulous voice, " Brenhilda, we are beset, the foe are upon us !— Answer me, but stir not.'' A deep grov/1 from the monster which g-arrisoned his apartment was the only answer. The sound seemed to say, " Thou hast no hope!" and it ran to the knight's bosom as the g-enuine expression of despair. "Perhaps, however, I am still too cold in making- my misery known. What ho ! my love ! Brenhilda ! " A voice, hollow and disconsolate as that which might have served an iriiiabitant of the grave, answered as if from a distance. " What disconsolate wretch art thou, who expectest that the living can answer thee from the habitations of the dead?" "I am a Christian man, a free noble of the kingdom of France," answered the Count. " Yesterday the captain of five hundred men, the bravest in France — the bravest, that is, who breathe mortal air — vand I am here without a glimpse of light, to direct m.e how to avoid the corner in which lies a wild tiger-cat, prompt to spring upon and to devour me." " Thou art an example," replied the voice, "and wilt not long be the last, of the changes of fortune. I, who am now suffering in my third year, was that mighty Ursel, who rivalled Alexius Comnenus for the Crown of Greece, was betrayed by my confederates, and being deprived of that eyesight which is the chief blessing of human- ity, I inhabit these vaults, no distant neighbour of the wild animals by whom they are sometimes occupied, and whose cries of joy I hear when unfortunate victims like thyself are delivered up to their fury;" "Didst thou not then hear," said Count Robert, in return, ''a warlike guest and his bride conducted hither last night, with sounds as it might seem of bridal music?— 0, Brenhilda! hast thou, so young— so beautiful— been so treacherously done to death by means BO unutterably horrible ! " " Think not," answered Ursel, as the voice had called its owner, " that the Greeks pamper their wild beasts on such lordly fare. For their enemies, which term includes not only all that are really such, but all those whom they fear or hate, they have dungeons whose locks never revolve ; hot instruments of steel, to sear the eyeballs in the head; lions and tigers, when it pleases them to make a speedy end_ of their captives — but these are only for the male prisoners. While for the women — if they be young and beautiful, the princes of the land have places in their bed and bower ; nor are they employed, like the captives of Agamemnon's host, to draw water from an argive spring, but are admired and adored by those whom fate Ims mado the lords of their destiny." COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. 143 " Such shall never be the doom of Brenliilda ! " exclaimed Count Robert ; " her husband still lives to assist her, and should he die, she knows well how to follow him without leaving a blot in the epitaph of either." The captive did not immediately reply, and a short pause ensued, which was broken by Ursel's voice. "Stranger," he said, "what noise is that I hear?" "Nay, I hear nothing-," said Count Robert. " But I do," said Ursel. " The cruel deprivation of my eyesight renders my other senses more acute." " Disquiet not thyself about the matter, fellow prisoner," answered the Count, " but wait the event in silence." Suddenly a light arose in the apartment, lurid, red, and smoky. The knight had bethought him of a flint and match which he usually carried about him, and with as little noise as possible had lighted the torch by the bedside; this he instantly applied to the curtains of the bed, which being of thin muslin, were in a moment in flanaes. The knight sprung, at the same instant, from his bed. The tiger, for such it was, terrified at the flame, leaped backwards as far as his chain would permit, heedless of anything save this new object of ter- ror. Count Robert upon this seized on a massive w^ooden stool, which was the only ofi"ensive weapon on which he could lay his hand, and, marking at those eyes which now reflected the blaze of fire, and which had recently seemed so appalling, he discharged against them this fragment of ponderous oak, with a force which less resembled human strength than the impetus with which an engine hurls a stone. He had employed his instant of time so well, and his aim was so true, that the missile went right to the mark and with incredible force. The skull of the tiger, Avhich might be, perhaps somewhat exaggerated if described as being of the very largest size, was frac- tured by the blow, and with the assistance of his dagger, which had fortunately been left with him, the French Count despatched the monster, and had the satisfaction to see him grin his last, and roll, in the agony of death, those eyes which v/ere lately so formidable. Looking around him he discovered, by the light of the fire which he had raised, that the apartment in which he now lay was different from that in which he had gone to bed overnight ; nor could there be a stronger contrast between the furniture of both than the flicker- ing half-burnt remains of the thin muslin curtains and the strong, bare, dungeon-looking walls of the room itself, or the very service- able wooden stool, of which he had made such good use. • The knight had no leisure to form conclusions upon such a sub- ject. He hastily extinguished the fire, which had, indeed, nothing that it could lay hold of^ and proceeded, by the hght of the flambeau, to examine the apartment and its means of entrance. It is scarce necessary to say that he saw no communication with the room of Brenhilda, which convinced him that they had been separated the evening before under pretence of devotional scruples, in order to . accomplish some most villanous design upon one or both of them. Hif- own part of the night's adventure we have already seen, and sucress so far over so formidable a danger, gave him a trembling 144 COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. hope tlmt Breiiliildn, by licr own worth and valour, would be able to defend herself ag'ain.st all attacks of fraud or force, until he. could find his way to her rescue. " I should have paid more re^^'ard," he said, *•' to Boheraond's caution last nig'lit, who, I think, intimated to me as plainly as if he had spoken it in direct terms, that that same cup of wine was a drug-g-ed potion. But, then, fie upon him for an avaricious hound ! how was it possible I should think he suspected any such thing- when he spoke not out like a man, but, for sheer coldness of heart or base self-interest, suflFered me to run the risk of being" poisoned by the wily despot ? " Here he heard a voice from the same quarter as before. '• Ho, there ! Ho, strang-er ! Do you live, or have you been murdered ? What means this stifling smell of smoke ? For God's sake, an- swer him who can receive no information from eyes, closed, alas, for ever ! " "1 am at liberty," said the Count, "and the monster destined to devour me has groaned its last. I would, my friend Ursel, since such is thy name, thou hadst the advantage of thine eyes, to have borne witness to yonder combat; it had been worth thy while, though thou shouldst have lost them a minute afterwards, and it would have greatly advantaged whoever shall have the task of com- piling my history." While he gave a thought to that vanity which strongly ruled him, he lost no time in seeking some mode of escape from the dungeon, for by that means only might he hope to recover his Countess. At last he found an entrance in the wall, but it was strongly locked and bolted. " I have found the passage," he called out ; and its direction is the same in which thy voice is heard — But how shall I undo the door ? " " I'll teach thee that secret," said Ursel. " I would I could as easily unlock each bolt that withholds us from the open air ; but, as for thy seclusion within the dungeon, heave up the door by main strength, and thou shalt lift the locks to a place where, pushing then the door from thee, the fastenings will find a grooved passage in the wall, and the door itself will open. Would that I could indeed see thee, not only because, being a gallant man, thou must be a goodly sight, but also because I should thereby know that I was not cavern ed in darkness for ever." While he spoke thus, the Count made a bundle of his armour, from which he missed nothing except his sword, Tranchefer, and then proceeded to try what efforts he could make, according to the blind man's instructions, to open the door of his prison-house. Pushing in a direct line was, he soon found, attended with no efl'ect ; but when he applied his gigantic strength, and raised the door as high as it would go, he had the satisfaction to find that the bolts yielded, though reluctantly. A space had been cut so as to allow them to move out of the socket into which they had been forced ; and without the turn of a key, but by a powerful thrust for- wards, a small passage was left open. The knight entered, bearing his armour in his hand. " I hear thee," said Ursel, " stranger ! and am aware thou art COUNT nOBEIlT OF VAV.lS. 145 come into my place of captivit}'. For three 3-cars have I been em- ph^yed in cutting- tliese g-rooves, corres])onding- to tlie sockets which hold these iron bolts, and preserving- the ki:iowledg'e of the secret from the prison-keepers. Twenty such bolts, perhaps, must be sawn through ere my stops shall approach the upper air. What prospect is there that I shall have strength of mind sufficient to continue the task ? Yet, credit me, noble stranger, I rejoice in having been thus far aiding- to thy deliverance; for if Heaven blesses not, in any farther degree, our aspirations after freedom, we may still be a comfort to each other while tyranny permits our mutual life." Count Robert looked around and shuddered that a liuman being" should talk of anything- approaching- to comfort connected with his residence in what seemed a living- tomb. Ursel's dungeon was not above twelve feet square, vaulted in the roof, and strongly built in the walls by stones which tlie cliisel had morticed closely tog-ether. A bed, a coarse footstool, like that which Robert had just launched at tlie head of the tiger, and a table of equally massive materials, were its only articles of furniture. On a long- stone, above the bed, were these few but terrible words : " Zedekias Ursel, imprisoned here on the Ides of March, a.d. . Died and interred on the spot"' — A blank was left for filling up the period. The figure of the captive could hardly be discerned amid the wildness of his dress and dishabille. The hair of his head, uncut and uncombed, descended in elf-locks, and ming-led with a beard of extravagant length. "Look on me," said the captive, "and rejoice that thou canst yet see the wretched condition to which iron-hearted tyranny can reduce a fellow-creature, both in mortal existence and in future hope." " Was it thou," said Count Robert, Avhose blood ran cold in his veins, '' that hadst the heart to spend thy time in sawing- through the blocks of stone by which these bolts are'secured?" " Alas ! " said IJrsel, " what could a blind man do ? Busy I must be, if 1 would preserve my senses. Great as the labour vvas, it was to me the task of three years; nor can you wonder that I should have devoted to it my whole time, when I had no other means of occupying- it. Perhaps, and most likely, my dung-eon does not admit the distinction of day and night ; but a distant cathedral clock told me how hour after hour fled away, and found me exjjcnding- them in rubbing- one stone against ariother. But when the door gave way, I found I had only cut an access into a prison more strong than that which held me. I rejoice, nevertheless, since it has brought us to- g-ether, given thee an entrance to my dung-eon, and me a companion in my misery." "Think better than that," said Count Robert, "think of liberty- think of revenge! I cannot beHeve such unjust treachery will end successfully, else needs must I say, the heavens are less just than priests tell us of. How art thou supplied with food in this dung-eou of thine?" "A warder," said Ursel, "and who, I think, understands not the Greek language— at least he never either answers or addresses mo h 146 COUNT llOBERT OF TAKIS. — briiig-s a loaf and a pitcher of water, enough to supply my miser- able life till two days are past. I must, therefore, pray that you will retire for a space into the next prison, so that the warder may have no means of laiowing- that we can hold correspondence together." "I see not," said Count Robert, "by what access the barbarian, if he is one, can enter my dungeon without passing through yours ; but no matter, I will retire into the inner or outer room, whichever it happens to be, and be thou then well aware that the warder will have some one to grapple Avith ere he leaves his prison work to-day. Meanwhile, think thyself dumb as thou art blind, and be assured thai the oft'er of freedom itself would not induce me to desert the cause of a companion in adversity." "Alas," said the old man, "I hsten to thy promises as I should to those of the morning gale, which tells me that the sun is about to rise, although I know that I at least shall never behold it. Thou art ' one of those wild and undespairing knights, whom for so many years the west of Europe hath sent forth to attempt impossibilities, and from thee, therefore, I can only hope for such a fabric of relief as an idle boy would blow out of soap-bubbles." " Think better of us, old man," said Count Robert, retiring ; least let me die with my blood warm, and believing it possible for me to be once more united to my beloved Breuhilda." So saying', he retired into his own cell, and replaced the door, so that the operations of Ursel, wliich indeed were only such as three years' solitude could have achieved, should escape observation when again visited by the warder. " It is ill luck," said he, when once more •witliin his own prison— for that in which the tiger had been secured, he instinctively concluded to be destined for him— "It is ill luck that I had not found a young and able fellow-captive, instead of one de- crepit by imprisonment, blind, and broken down past exertion. But God's will be done ! I will not leave behind me the poor wretch whom I have found in such a condition, though he is perfectly unable to assist me in accomplishing my escape, and is rather more likely to retard it. Meantime, before we put out the torch, let us see, if by close examination, we can discover any door in the wall save that to the blind man's dungeon. If not, I much suspect that my descent lias been made through the roof. That cup of wine — tliat Muse, they called it, had a taste more like medicine than merry compan- ions' pledge." He began, accordingly, a strict survey of the walls, which he r& solved to conclude by extinguishing the torch, that he might take the person who should enter his dungeon darkling and by surprise. For a similar reason, he dra^'gcd into the darkest corner the carcass of the tiger, and covered it with the remains of the bed-clothes, sv/earing at the same time, that a half-tiger should be his crest in future, if he had the fortune, which his bold heart would not sufter him to doubt, of getting through the present danger. "But," he added, " if these necromantic vassals of hell shall raise the devil upon me, what shall I do then ? And so great is the chance, that methinka I would fain dispense with extinguishing the flambeau. Yet it ia childish for one dubbed in the chapel of Our Lady of the Broken COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. 147 Lances, to make niucli difierence between a lig-lit room and a dark one. Let tliem come, as many fiends as the cell can hold, and we shall see if we receive them not as becomes a Christian knight : and surely, Our Lady, to whom I was ever a true votary, will hold it an acceptable sacrifice that I tore myself from ray Brenhilda, even for a single moment, in honour of her advent, and thus led the way for our woeful separation. Fiends ! I defy ye in tlie body as in the spirit, and I retain the remains of this flambeau until some more convenient opportunity," He dashed it against the wall as he spoke, and then quietly sat down in a corner, to watch what should next happen. Thought after thought chased each other through his mind. His confidence in his wife's fidelity, and his trust in her uncommon strength and activity, were the greatest comforts which he had ; nor could her danger present itself to him in any shape so terrible, but that he found consolation in these rellections : " She is pure," he said, " as the dew of heaven, and heaven will not abandon its own. " CHAPTER XVL strange ape of mau ! who loathes thee while he scorns thee ; Half a reproach to us and half a jest. What fancies can be ours ere we havejjleasure lu viewing our own form, our pride and passions, Reflected in a shape grotesque as thine ! Anonymous. CouKT RoBEUT OP Paris having ensconced himself behind the ruins of the bed, so that he could not well be observed, unless a strong light was at once flung upon the place of his retreat, waited with anxiety how and in what manner the warder of the dungeon, charged with the task of bringing food to the prisoners, should make himself visible ; nor was it long ere symptoms of his approach began to be heard and observed. A light vras partially seen, as from a trap-door Ojjening in the roof, and a voice was heard to utter these words in Anglo-Saxon, '■ Leap, sirrah ; come, no delay ; leap, n]y good Sylvan, show your Jionour's activity." A strange cliuckling hoarse voice, in a language totally unintelligible to Count Robert, was lieard to respond, as if disputing the orders Vv^hich were received. "What, sir," said his companion, "you must contest the point, must you ? Nay, if thou art so lazy, I must give your honour a lail- der, and perhaps a kick to hasten your journey." Something, theri of very great size, in the form of a human being, jumped down from the trap-door, though the height might be above fourteen feet. This figure was gigantic, being upwards of spven feet high. In its left hand it held a torch, and in its right a skein of fine silk, whiph un- winding itself as it descended, remained unbroken, though it was easy to conceive it could not have aftorded a creature so large any support i»^ liis descent from the roof. He alighted with perfect 143 COUNT KOBERT OF V.KUIS. safety and activity upon liis feet, and, as if rebounding" from the lioor,'^he sprung' u]nvards again, so as almost to touclithe roof. In this last gambaiid the torch wliich he bore was extinguished; but this extraordinary warder whirled it round his head with infinite velocity, so that it again ig'nited. The bearer, who appeared to intend tlie accomplishment of this object, endeavoured to satisfy himself that it Avas really attained by api)roaching-, as if cautiously, its left hand to the flame of the torch. This practical experiment seemed attended with consequences which the creatin-e had not expected, for it howled with pain, shaking' the burnt hand, and chattering- as if bemoaning- itself. " Take heed there, Sylvanus ! " said the same voice in Ang-lo- Saxon, and in a tone of rebuke. " IIo, there! mind thy duty, Sylvan ! Carry food to tlie blind man, and stand not there to play thyself, lest I trust thee not ag-ain alone on such an errand ! '"■' The creature — for it would have been rash to have termed it a man — turning- its eye upwards to the place from whence the voice came, answered with a dreadful g'rin and shaking- of its fist, yet pre- sently beg-an to undo a parcel, and rummag'e in the pockets of a sort of jerkin and pantaloons which it wore, seeking-, it api)eared, a bunch of "keys, which at length it produced, while it took from the pocket a loaf of bread. Heating- the stone of the wall, it aflixed the torch to it by a piece of wax, and then cautiously looked out for the en- trance to the old man's dung-eon, which it opened with a key selected from the bunch. Within the passage it seemed to look for and dis- cover the handle of a pump, at which it filled a pitcher that it bore, and l3ringing- back the fragments of the former loaf, and remains of the pitcher of Avater, it ate a little, as if it were in sport, and very soon making- a frightful g'rimace, flung- the frag-ments away. The Count of Paris, in the meanwhile, Avatched anxiously the proceed- ing's of this unknown animal. His first thought Avas that tlie crea- ture, Avhose limbs Avere so much larger than humanity, Avhose grim- aces Avere so frightful, and Avliose activity seemed supernatural, could be no other than the Devil himself, or some of his imps, whose situa- tion and office in those gloomy regions seemed by no means hard to conjecture. The human voice, however, Avhicli he had heard, Avas less that of a necromancer conjuring a fiend than that of a person giving commands to a Avild animal, over whom he had, by training, obtained a great superiority. "A shame on it," said the Count, "if I suffer a common jackan- apes,— for such I take this devil-seeming beast to be, although twice as large as any of its fellows Avhom I have ever seen, — to throw au obstacle in the Avay of my obtaining daylight and freedom ! Let us but Avatch, and the chance is that Ave make that furry gentleman our guide to the upper regions." Meantime the creature, Avhich rummaged about everyAvhere, at length discovered the body of the tiger, — touched it, stirred it, with many strange motions, and seemed to lament and Avonder at its death. At once it seemed struck with the idea that some one must have slain it, and Count Robert had the mortification to see it once more select the key, and spring towards the door of Ursel's ijrison COU.NT ROBERT OF PARIS. 14S with such alacrity, that litul its intention hccn to stran^^e him, ifc would have acconiplislied its purpose before the interference of Count Robert could have prevented its reveng'e taking- place. Apparently, however, it reflected, that for reasons which seemed satisfactor}', the death of the tiger could not be caused by the unfor- tunate Ursel, but had been accomplished by some one concealed within the outer prison. Slowly gTumbling', therefore, and chattering" to itself, and peeping- anxiously into every corner, the tremendous creature, so like, yet so very unlike to the human form, came stealing- along' the walls, mov- ing- whatever he thought could seclude a man from his observation. Its extended leg-s and arms were protruded forward v/ith great strides, and its sharp eyes, on the watch to discover the object of its search, kept prying', with the assistance of the torch, into every corner. Considering- the vicinity of Alexius's collection of animals, the reader, by this time, can have little doubt that the creature in ques- tion, v.hose appearance seemed to the Count of Paris so very proble- matical, was a s])ecimen of that g'ig-antic species of ape — if it is not indeed some animal more nearly allied to ourselves— to wliich, I believe, naturalists have given the name of the Ourang" Outang-. This creature dilFers from the rest of its fraternity in being- com- paratively more docile and serviceable; and though possessing- the power of imitation which is common to the whole race, yet making- use of it less in mere mockery than in the desire of improvement and instruction perfectly unknown to his brethren. The aptitude which it possesses of acquiring- infurmiation is surprisingly great, and probabl}', if ])laced in a favourable situation, it might admit of being domesticated in a considerable degree; but such advantages the ardour of scientific curiosity has never afforded this creature. Tlie last Ave have heard of was seen, we believe, in the Island of Sumatra — it was of great size and strength, and upwards of seven feet high. It died defending desperately its innocent life against a ])arty of Europeans, who, we cannot help thinking, might have better employed the superiority which their knowledge gave thciu over the ])oor native of the forest. It was probably this creature, seldom seen, but when once seen never forgotten, which occasioned the ancient belief in the god Pan, with his sylvans and satyrs. Nay, but for the gift of speech, which wc cannot su]q)ose any of the family to liave attained, we should have believed the satyr seen by St Anthony in tlie desert to have belonged to this tribe. Vv^e can, therefore, the more easily credit the annals which attest that the collection of natural history belonging to Alexius Comncnus preserved an animal of this kind, which had been domesticated and reclaimed to a surprising extent, and sliowed a degree of intelligence never perhaps to be attained in any other case. These explanations beirig premised, we return to the thread of our story. The animal advanced with long noiseless steps ; its sliadow on the wall, when it lield the torch so as to make it visible to the Frank, forming' another fiend-resembling mimicry of its own large figure and extravagant-looking members. Count Robert remained in his lurking-hole, in no liun-y to begin a strife of which it Avas im]iossible 150 COUNT liOBERT OF PARIS. to foretell the end. In the n^eaii time, the man of the Avoods came nigh, and every step by which lie approached caused the Count's lieart to vibrate almost audibly, at the idea of meeting danger of a nature so strange and new. At length the creature approached the bed — his hideous eyes were fixed on those of the Count ; and, as much surprised at seeing him as Robert was at the meeting, he skipped about fifteen paces backwards at one spring, with a cry of instinctive terror, and then advanced on tiptoe, holding his torch as far forward as he could, between him and the object of his fears, as ]f to examine him at the safest possible distance. Count Robert caught up a fragment of the bedstead, large enough to form a sort of club, with which lie menaced the native of the wilds. Apparently this poor creature's education, like education of most kinds, had not been acquired without blows, of which the recollection was as fresli as that of the lessons which they enforced. Sir Robert of Paris was a man at once to discover and to avail himself of the advantage obtained by finding that he possessed a degree of ascend- ancy over his enemy which he had not suspected. He erected his warlike figure, assumed a step as if triumphant in the lists, and advanced threatening his enemy witli his club, as he would have menaced his anta^'onist with the redoubtable Tranchefer. The man of the woods, on the other h.and, obviously gave way, and converted his cautious advance into a retreat no less cautious. Yet apparently the creature had not renounced some plan of resistance: he chat- tered in an angry and hostile tone, held out his torch in opposition, and seemed about to strike the crusader with it. Count Robert, however, determined to take his opponent at advantage, while his fears influenced him, and for this purpose resolved, if possible,_to deprive him of his natural superiority in strength and agility, which his singular form showed he could not but possess over the humaai species. A master of his weapon, therefore, the Count menaced his savage antagonist with a stroke on the right side of his head, but suddenly averting the blow, struck hiui with his whole force on the left temple, and in an instant was kneeling above him, when, drawing his dagger, he was about to deprive him of life. The Ourang Outang, ignorant of the nature of this new weapon v/ith which he was threatened, attempted, at one and the same mo- ment, to rise from the g'round, overthrow his antagonist, and wrench the dagger from his grasp. In the first attempt he would probably have succeeded; and as it was, he gained his knees, and seemed likely to prevail in the struggle, when he became sensible that the knight, drawing his ])oniard sharply through his grasp, had cut his paw severe!}', and seeing him aim the trenchant weapon at his throat, l3ecame probably aware that his enemy had liis life at command. He suffered himself to bo borne backwards without further resistance, with a deep wailing and melancholy cry, having in it something human, which excited compassion. He covered his eyes with the unwounded hand, as if he would have hid from his own sight the death which seemed approaching him. Count Robert, notv/ithstandiug his military frenzy, was, in ordinary matters, a calm-tempered and mild man, antl particularly benevolent COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. 151 to the lower classes of creation. The thought rashecl througli his mind, " Why take from this uufortimate monster the breath which is in its nostrils, after which it cannot know another existence ? And then, may it not be some prince or knig-ht changed to this grotesque shape, that it may help to guard these vaults, and the wonderful adventures that attach to them ? Should I not, then, be guilty of a crime by slaying him, when he has rendered himself, rescue or no rescue, which im nas done as completely as his transformed figure permits ; and if he be actually a bestial creature, may he not have some touch of gratitude? I have heard the minstrels sing the lay of Androcles and the Lion. I will be on my guard with him. " _ So saying, he rose from above the man of the woods, and permitted him also to arise. The creature seemed sensible of the clemency, for he muttered in a low and supplicfting tone, which seemed at once to crave for mercy and to return thanks for what he had already experienced. He wept, too, as he saw the blood dropping from his wound, and with an anxious countenance, which had more of the human now that it was composed into an expression of pain and melancholy, seemed to await in terror the doom of a being more powerful than himself. The pocket which the knight wore under his armour, capable of containing but few things, had, however, some vulnerary balsam, for which its owner had often occasion, a little lint, and a small roll of linen: these the knight took out, and motioned to the animal to hold forth his wounded hand. The man of the woods obeyed witli hesitation and reluctance, and Count Robert appliedthe balsam and the dressings, acquainting' his patient, at the same time, in a severe tone of voice, that perhaps he did wrong in putting to his use a bal- sam compounded for the service of the noblest knights ; but that, if he saw the least sign of his making an ungrateful use of the benefit lie had conferred, he would bury the dagger, of whicli lie had felt tlie efficacy, to the very handle, in his body. The Sylvan looked "fixedly upon Count Robert, almost as if he understood the language used to him, and, making one of its native murmurs, it stooped to the earth, kissed the feet of the kniglit, and, embracing his knees, seemed to swear to him eternal gratitude and fidelity. Accordingly, when the Count retired to the bed and assumed his armour, to await the reopening of the trap-door, the animal sat down by his side, directing its eyes in the line with his, and seemed quietly to wait till the door should open. After waiting about an liour, a slight noise was heard in the upper chamber, and the wild man plucked the Frank by the cloak, as if to call his attention to what was about to happen. The same voice v;hich had before spoken, was, after a whistle or two, heard to call, " Sylvan, Sylvan ! where loitcrest thou? Come instantly, or, by the rood, thou slialt abye thy sloth ! " The poor monster, as Trinculo might have called him, seemed per- fectly av,'{ire of the meaning of this threat, and showed his sense of it by pressing close to the side of Count Robert, making at the sanxi time a kind of vvhining, entreating, it would seem, the knight's pro- tection. Forgetting the great improbability there was, even in hia 152 COUXT ROBERT OF TAKK. own opinion, that the creature could understand him, Count Robert said, " Wliy, my friend, thou hast ah'eady learned the principal court prayer of this country, by which men entreat permission to speak and live. Fear nothing-, poor creature — I am thy protector." " Sylvan ! what, ho ! " said the voice again ; " Avhom hast thou g'ot for a companion?— some of the fiends, or ghosts of murdered men, who, they say, are frequent in these dungeons ? or dost thou converse with the oldblind rebel Grecian?— or, finally, is it true that men say of thee, that thou canst talk intelligibly when thou Avilt, and only gibberest and chatterest for fear thou art sent to work ? Come, thou lazy rascal! tliou shalt have the advantage of the ladder to ascend by, though tliou needst it no more than a daw to ascend the steeple of the Catliedral of St Sophia.^ Come along tlien," he said, putting u ladder down the trap-door, " and put me not to the trouble of de- scending to fetch thee else, by St Switbin, it shall be the worse for thee. Come alonj spare the whip." The animal, apparently, was moved by tliis rhetoric, for, with a doleful look, wliich Count Robert saw by means of the nearly extin- guished torch, he seemed to bid him farewell, and to creep away to- wards the ladder with the same excellent good-will wherewith a con- demned crimimil performs the like evolution. But no sooner did the Count look angry, and shake the formidable dagger, than the intelli- gent animal seemed at once to take his resolution, and clenching his iiands firmly together in the fashion of one who has made up his mind, he returned from the ladder's foot, and drew up behind Count Robert, — with the air, however, of a deserter, who feels himself but little at home when called into the field against his ancient com- mander. In a short time the warder's patience was exhausted, and despair- ing of the Sylvan's voluntary return, he resolved to descend in quest of him. Down tlie ladder he came, a bundle of keys in one hand, the other assisting' his descent, and a sort of dark lantern, whose bottom was so fashioned that he could wear it upon his head like a hat. He had scarce stept on the floor, when he was surrounded by the nervous arms of the Count of Paris. At first the warder's idea was, that he was seized by tlie recusant Sylvan. " How now, villain ! " he said ; '•' let me go, or thou shalt die the death." " Thou diest tliyself," said the Count, who, between the surprise and his own skill in wrestling', felt fully his advantage in the struggle. "Treason ! treason ! " cried the vrarder, hearing by the voice that n stranger liad mingled in the contest; " help, ho ! above there! help, Hereward — Varangian! — Anglo-Saxon, or whatever accursed name tlnni callest thA'sclf ! " While he s]wke tlius, tlic irresistible grasp of Count Robert seized his throat, and choked his utterance. "They fell heavily, the jailor undermost, upon the floor of the dungeon, and Robert of Paris, the necessity of wliose case excused the action, plunged his dagger in 1 Xov/ tlie chief mosque cf the Ottoman cainta]. COUNT nOBEllT OF PAllIS. 1J,3 the tlivoiifc of tlio ip.ifortunate. Just as he did so, a iioisG of nvmoiir •was heard, and rattling- down the ladder, our acquaintance llcreward stood on the floor of the dung-eon. The lig'ht, which had rolled from the head of the warder, continued to show him streaming- with blood, and in the death-grasp of a stranger. Hereward hesitated not to fly to his assistance, and, seizing upon the Count of Paris at the same advantag'e which that knigdit had gained over his own adversary a moment before, held him forcibly down with his face to the earth. Count Robert was one of the strong-est men of that military age; but then so was tlie Varangian ; and save that the latter liad obtained a decided advantage by having his antagonist beneath him, it could not certainly have been conjectured which way the combat was to go. " Yield ! as your own jargon goes, rescue or no rescue," said the Varangian, " or die on the point of my dagger ! " '•' A French. Count never yields," answered Robert, who began to conjecture with what sort of person he was engaged, '"'above all to a vagabond slave like thee ! " With this he made an effort to rise, so sudden, so strong, so powerful, that he had almost freed himself from the Varangian's g'rasp, had not Plereward, by a violent exertion of his great strength, preserved the advantage he had gained, and raised his poniard to end the strife for ever; but a loud chuckling' laugh of an unearthly sound was at this instant heard. The Varan- gian's extended arm was seized with vigour, while a rough arm em- bracing his throat, turned him over on his back, and gave the French Count an opportunity of springing' up. "Death to thee, wretch!'"' said the Varangian, scarce knov-'iug" whom he threatened; but the man of the woods apparently had an awful recollection of the prowess of human beings. He fled, there- fore, swiftly up the ladder, and left Hereward and his deliverer to light it out with what success chance might determine between them. The circumstances seemed to argue a desperate combat; both were tall, strong, and courageous, both had defensive armour, and the fatal and des])erate poniard was their only offensive weapon. They paused facing each other, and examined eagerly into their respective means of defence before hazarding- a blow, which if it missed, its attaint v.'ould certainly be fatally requited. During' this deadly pause, a gleam shone from the trap-door above, as the Vvild and alarmed vis- age of the man of the woods was seen peering down by the light of a newly kindled torch which he held as low into the dungeon as he well could. " Fight bravely, comrade," said Count Robert of Paris, " for wq no longer battle in ])rivate : this respectable person having' chosen to constitute himself judge of the field." Hazardous as his situation was, the Varangian looked up, and was so struck with the wild and terrified expression which the creature had assumed, aiul the strife between curiosity and terror which its grotesque features exhibited, that he could not help bursting- into a fit of laughter. "Sylvan is among those," said Hereward, " who would rather hold the candle to a dance Si? formidable than join in it himself.'' 154 COUNT ROBERT OF PARI?'. "Is there then," said Count Robert, "any absolute necessity that (liou and I perform this dance at all ? " " None but our own pleasure," answered Hereward, " for I suspect there is not between us any legitimate cause of quarrel demanding- to be foU^^lit out in such a place, and before such a spectator. ThoM art, if I mistake not, the bold Frank, who was yesternight imprisoned in this place with a tiger, chained within no distant spring' of his bed ? " " I am," answeretl the Count. " And where is the animal who was opposed to thee ? '' "He lies yonder," answered the Count, "never again to be the object of more terror than the deer whom he may b.ave preyed on in his day." lie pointed to the body of the tiger, v.liich Hereward, examined by the light of the dark lantern already mentioned. " And this, then, was thy handiwork ? " said the wondering Anglo- Saxon. " Sooth to say it was," answered the Count, with indifference. " And thou hast slain my comrade of this strange watch ? " said the Varangian. " Mortally wounded him at the least," said Courit Robert. " With your patience,- I will be beholden to you for a moment's truce, while I examine his wound," said Hereward. "Assuredly," answered the Count; "blighted be the arm which ^:h:ikes a foul blov/ at an open antagonist ! " Without demanding further securit)-, the Varangian quitted his posture of defence and precaution, and set himself, by the assistance of the dark lantern, to examine the wound of the first warder who appeared on the field, who seemed, by his Roman military dress, to be a soldier of the bands called Immortals. He found him in the death-agony, but still able to speak. " So, Varangian, thou art come at last, — and it is to thy sloth or treachery tliat I am to impute my fate? — Nay, answer me not! — The stranger struck me over the collar-bone — had we lived long- together, or met often, I had done the like by thee, to wipe out the memory of certain transactions at the Golden Gate. — I know the use of the knife too well to doubt the effect of a blow aimed over the collar-bone by so strong a hand— I feel it coming. The Immortal, so called, becomes now, if priests say true, an immoi'tal indeed, and Sebastes (-^f Mytilene's bow is broken ere his quiver is half emptied." The robber Greek sunk back in Hereward's arms, and closed his life with a groan, which was the last sound he uttered. The Var- angian laid the body at length on the dungeon lloor. " This is a perplexed matter" — he said ; " I am certainly not called upon to put to death a brave man, although my national enemy, because he hath killed a miscreant who was privately meditating my own murder. Neither is th^s a place or a light by which to fight as becomes the champions of tv.'o nations. Let that quarrel be still for the present. — How say you then, noble sir, if we adjourn th.e present dispute till we effect your deliverance from the "dungeons of the Blacquernal, and your restoration to your own friends and followers? If a poor Varangian should be of service to you in this matter, COUNT UOREtrr OV PAIJIS. 155 would you, when it was settled, refuse to meet him in fair figlit, with Yom- national weapons or his own?" "If," said Count Robert, "whether friend or enemy, thou wilt extend thy assistance to my wife, w'ho is also imprisoned somewhere in this inhospitable palace, be assured, that whatever be thy rank, whatever be thy country, whatever be thy condition, Robert of Paris Avill, at thy choice, proffer thee his right hand in friendship, or raise it ag'ainst thee in fair and manly battle — a strife not of hatred, but of honoiu' and esteem ; and this I vov/ by the soul of Charlemagne, my ancestor, and by the shrine of my patroness, Our Lady of the Broken Lances." "Enoug'h said," replied Hereward. "I am as much bound to the assistance of your Lady Countess, being- a poor exile, as if 1 were the first in the ranks of chivalry ; for if anything- can make the cause of worth and bravery yet more obligatory, it must be its being' united with that of a helpless and suffering- female." "I oug-ht," said Count Robert, " to be here silent, without loading- thy g-enerosity with farther requests, yet thou art a man, whom, if fortune has not smiled at thy birth, by ordaining' thee to be born within the ranks of noblesse and knighthood, yet Providence hath done thee more justice by g-iving- thee a more g'allant heart than is always possessed, I fear, by those wlio are inwoven in the g'ayest wreath of chivalry. There lingers here in these dung-eons, for I can- not say he lives — a blind old man, to whom for three years everything" beyond his prison has been a universal blot. His food is bread and water, his intercourse limited to the conversation of a sullen warder, and if death can ever come as a dehverer, it must be to this dark old man. What sayst thou ? Shall he, so unutterably miserable, not profit by perhaps the only opportunity of freedom that may ever occur to him ? " " By St Dunstan," answered the Varangian, " thou keepest over truly the oath thoti hast taken as a redresser of wrong-s ! Thine oavu case is w-ell-nig'h desperate, and thou art willing' to make it utterly so by uniting- with it that of every unhappy person whom fate throws in tliy way!" " The more of human misery we attempt to relieve," said Robert of Paris, " the more v;e shall carry with us the blessing- of our merci- ful saints, and Our Lady of the Broken Lances, who views w'itli so niuch pain every species of human suffering- or misfortune, save that which occurs within the enclosiu-e of the lists. But come, valiant Anglo-Saxon, resolve me on my request as speedily as thou canst. Tliere is something- in thy face of candour as well as sense, and it is with no small conlidence that I desire to see us set fovth in quest of my beloved Countess, who, when her deliverance is once achieved, will be a powerful aid to us in recovering- that of others." " So be it, then," said the Varangian ; " we will proceed in quest of the Countess Brenhilda; and if, on recovering- her, we fnid our- selves strong- enough to procure the freedmu of the dark old man, my cowardice, or v.'ant of compassion, shall never stop the attempt." 156 coUxVx noEEtiT OF PAr.is. CHAPTER XVII. 'Tis stJ-anpc that, in tlie dark siilpliureoiis mine, AVhorc wild ambition piles its ripeniii;^ stores Of slumbering thunder, Love will iiUeri)ose His tiny torch, and cause tl-.2 stern explosion To burst, when the deviser's least aware. Anonymous. About noon of the same day, Ag-elastes met with Achilles Tatius, the commander of the Varang-ian g-uard in those ruins of the Egyp- tian temple in which we formerly mentioned Ilereward having- had an interview with the ])hilosopher. They met, as it seemed, in a very different humour. Tatius Wixs gdoomy, melancholy, and downcast; while tlie philosoplier maintained tlie calm indiiference which pro- cured f(n" him, and in some sort deserved, tlie title of tlie Elephiint. '•Thou hlenchest, Achilles Tatius," said tlie philosopher, "now that thou hast frankly o])posed thyself to all tlie dangers which stood between thee and g-reatness. Thou art like the idle boy who turned the miil-stream upon the machine, and that done, instead of making- a ]3roper use of it, was terrified at seeing' it in motion." " Thou dost me wrong', Ag-elastes," answered the Acolyte, " foul wrong- ; I am hut like the mariner, who, altliougli determined u))on liis voyag'e yet cannot forbear a sorrowing" g'lance at the sliore, before he parts with it, it may be, for ever." " It may have lieeu rig-ht to think of this, but pardon me, valiant Tatius, when I tell you the account sliould have been made up before ; and the grandson of Alg-uric the Ilun ought to iiave computed cliances and consequences ere he stretched his hand to his master's diadem." " Hush ! for Heaven's sake," said Tatius, looking' round ; " that, tliou knowest, is a secret betv/een our two selves; for if jSFicephorus, the Csosar, should learn it, where were we and our conspiracy ? " '■ Our bodies on the g-ibbet, probably," answered Agelastes, "and our souls divorced from them, and in the M'ay of discovering- the secrets which thou hast liitherto taken upon trust." " Vv'ell," said Achilles, "and should not the consciousness of tlie possibility of this fate render us cautious ? " "Cautious men if you will," answered Ag'elastes, "but not timid children." " Stone walls can hear," said the Follower, lowering- liis voice. "Dionysius the tyrant, I liave read had an ear which conveyed to him the secrets spoken within his state-prison at Syracuse." " And that Ear is still stationary at Syracuse," said the pliiloso])her, " Tell me, my most simple friend, art thou afraid it has been trans- ported hither in one night, as the Latins believe of Our Lady's house ofLoretto?" " No," answered Achilles, "but in an affair so important too much caution cannot be used." " Well, thou most cautious of candidates for empire, and most COUXT ROBERT OF PARIS. ' 157 co1 J of miliiiiry leaders, know that tlie Cicsar, deeiiiiiig', I think, tliat there is no chance of the empire falling' to any one hut himself, hath taken in his head to consider his succession to Alexius as a matter of course, whenever the election takes place. In consequence, as matters of course are usually matters of indifference, he has left all thoug-hts of securing his interest upon this material occasion to thee and to me, while the foolish voluptuary hath himself run mad— for what think you ? Something- between man and woman — female m her lineaments, her limbs, and a part at least of her g-arments ; but, so help me St George, most masculine in the rest of her attire, in her ])ropensities, and in her exercises." " The Amazonian wife, thou meanest," said Achilles, " of that iroii- handed Frank, who dashed to pieces last night the golden lion of Solomon with a blow of his fist ? By St Georg'e, th-e least which can come of such an amour is broken bones." " That," said Agelastes, '' is not quite so improbable as that Diony- sius's Ear should fly hither from Syracuse in a single night; but he is presumptuous in respect of the influence which his supposed good looks have gained him among the Grecian dames." " He was too presumptuous, I suppose," said Achilles Tatius, " to make a ])roper allowance for his situation as Csesar, and the prospect of his bein.^' Emperor," " Meantime," said Agelastes, " I have promised him an interview with his Bradamante, who may perhaps reward his tender ei)ithets of Zo6' hai x>syche} by divorcing' his amorous soul from his unrivalled person." '■'Meantime," said the Follower, " thou obtainesf, I conclude, such orders and warrants as the CVesar can give for the furtherance of our plot ? " "Assuredly," said Agelastes, "it is an o])portunity not to be lost. This love fit, or mad fit, has blinded him ; and without exciting too much attention to the progress of the plot, we can thus in safety conduct matters our own way, without causing' malevolent remarks ; and though I am conscious that, in doing' so, 1 act somewhat at variance with my age and character, yet the end being' to convert a Avorthy Follower into an Imperial Leader, I shame me not in pro- curing' that interview with the lady, of v/hicli the Ceesar, as they term ])im, is so desirous. What progress, meanwhile, hast thou made with the Varangians, who are, in respect of execution, the very arm of our design?" '•' Scarce so good as I could wish," said Achilles Tatius ; " yet I have made siu'e of some two or three score of those whom I found most accessible ; nor have I any doubt, that, when the Cajsar -is set aside, their cry will be for Achilles Tatius." '■'And what of the gallant who assisted at our prelections ? " said Agelastes : "your Edward, as Alexius termed him ?" '' I have made no impression upon him," said the Follower ; " and I am sorry for it, for he is one whom his comrades think well of, and would gladly follow. ^Meantime I have placed him as an additional 1 " Life and Soul." 153 COUNT IIOBEIIT OP PA UTS. sentinel. upon the iron-witted Count of Pari.s, whom, ])otli liaviiig" an inveterate love of battle, he is very likely to put to death ; and if it is afterwards challenged by the erusaders as a cause of war, it is only delivering- up the Varangian, whose personal .hatred will needs be represented as having occasioned the catastrophe. All this being prepared beforehand, how and when shall we deal with the Emperor ?" " For that," said Agelastes, " we must consult the Csesar, Avho, although his expected happiness of to-day is not more certain than the state preferment that he expects to-morrow, and although liis ideas are much more anxiously fixed upon his success with this said Countess than his succession to the empire, Avill, nevertheless, expect to be treated as the head of the enterprise for accelerating the latter. But, to speak my opinion, valiant Tatius, to-morrow will be the last day that Alexius sliall hold the reins of empire." '"Let me know for certain," said the Follower, "as soon as thou canst, that I ma)[ warn our brethren, who are to have in readiness [he insurgent citizens, and those of the Immortals who are combined with us, in the neighbourhood of the court, and in readiness to act — And, above all, that I may disperse upon distant guards such Varan- gians as I cannot trust." " Rely upon me," said Agelastes, '" for the most accurate informa- tion and instructions, so soon as I have seen Nicephorus Briennius. One word permit me to ask — in v/hat manner is the vfii'e of the Caesar to be disposed of?" " Somewliere," said the Follower, 'Svhere I can never be compelled to hear more of her history. Were it not for that nightly pest of her lectures, I could be good-natured enough to take care of lier^ destiny myself, and teach lier the difference betwixt a real emperor and this Briennius, Avho thinks so much of himself." So saying, they separated : the Follower elated in look and manner consider- ably above what he had been when they met. Agelastes looked after his companion with a scornful laugh. " There," he said, •'•' goes a fool whose lack of sense prevents his eyes from being dazzled Ijv the torcli which cannot fail to consume him. A half-bred, half-acting, balf-tliinking, half-daring caitiff, whose poorest thoughts — and those which deserve that name must be poor indeed — are not the produce of his own understanding. He ex- pects to circumvent the hery, haughty, and proud Nicephorus Brien- nius ! If he does so, it will not be by his own policy, and still less by liis valour. Nor shall Anna Comnena, the soul of wit and genius, be chained to such an unimaginative log as yonder half barbarian. No— she shall have a husband of pure Grecian extraction, and well stored with that learning which was studied when Home was great, and Greece illustrious. Nor will it be the least charm of the Impe- rial throne, that it is partaken by a partner whose personal studies liave taught her to esteem and value those of the Emperor." lie look a step or two with conscious elevation, and then, as conscience- checked, he added, in a suppressed voice, " But then, if Anna were destined for Empress, it follows of course that Alcxius'must die— no consent could be trusted to.— An.d what then?— the death of an ordi- % COUNT ROBERT 0\P PARIS. 159 nary man is indifferent, when it plants on the throne a philosopher and a historian ; and at what time were the possessors of the empire curious to enquire when or by whose agency their predecessors died? — Diog-enes ! Ho, Diogenes ! " The slave did not immediately coine, so that Agelastes, wrapt in the anticipation of his gTeatness, had time to add a few more words— " Tush— I must reckon with Heaven, say tlie priests, for many things, so I will throw this also into tlie account. The death of the Emperor may be twenty ways achieved without my having the blame of it. The blood which we have shed may spot our hand, if closely regarded, but it shall scarce stain our forehead." Diogenes here entered — " Has the Frank lady been removed ? " said the philosopher. The slave signified his assent. "How did she bear her removal?" "As authorised by your lordship, indifferently well. She had re- sented lier separation from her husband, and her being detained in the palace, and committed some violence upon the slaves of the Household, several of whom were said to be slain, although we per- haps ought only to read sorely frightened. She recognised me at once, and v/hen I told her that I came to offer her a day's retirement in your own lodgings, until it should be in your power to achieve the liberation of her husband, she at once consented, and I deposited her in the secret Cytherean garden-house." " Admirably done, ray faithful Diogenes," said the philosopher ; " thou art like the geni'i who attended on the Eastern tahsmaui; ; 1 have but to intimate my will to thee, and it is accomplished.". Diogenes bowed deeply, and withdrev>% "Yet remember slave!" said Agelastes, speaking to himself; " there is danger in knowing too much— and should my character ever become questioned, too many of my secrets are in the power of Diogenes." At this moment a blow thrice repeated, and struck upon one of the images v/ithout, which had been so framed as to return a tingling sound, and in so far deserved the praise of being vocal, interrupted his soliloquy. " There knocks," said he, " one of our allies ; who can it be that comes so late?" He touched the figure of Isis with his staff, and the Caesar Nicephorus Briennius entered in the full Grecian habit, and that graceful dress anxiously arranged to the best advanta>i'e. "Let me hope, my lord," said Agelastes, receiving the Csesar with an ap- parently grave and reserved face, "your Highness comes to tell mc that your sentiments are chan^-ed on refiection, and that whatever you had to confer about with this Frankish lady, may be at least de- ferred until the principal part of our conspiracy has been success- fully executed." "Philosopher," answered the Csesar, "no. My resolution, once taken, is not the sport of circumstances. Believe me, that 1 have not finished so many labours without being ready to undertake others. The favour of Venus is the reward of the labours of Mars, nor would 1 think it v.orth wliile to worship tlie god armipotcnt with IGO COUNT ROBERX OF PARIS. tlio toil and risk attending' liis service, unless I liad previously Attained some decided proofs that I was wreathed witli the myrtle, iiiLimating- the favour of his beautiful mistress." " I beg pardon for my boldness," said Agelastes ; " but has your Imperial Highness reflected that you were wag-ering*, with the wild- est rashness, an empire, including thine own life, mine, and all who are joined Avith us in a hardy scheme ? And ag'ainst what were they wag-ed ? Ag'ainst the very precarious fiivour of a woman, who is altog-ether divided betwixt fiend and female, and in either capacity is most likely to be fatal to our present scheme, either by lier good-will or by the offence which she may take. If she prove such as you wish, she will desire to keep her lover by her side, and to s;pare him the danger of engaging' in a perilous conspiracy ; and if slic remains, as the World believe her, constant to her husband and to the sentiments she vowed to him at the altar, you may guess Avhat cause of offence you are likely to give by urging a suit which she has already received so very ill." " Pshaw, old man ! Thou turnest a dotard, and in the great knowledge thou possessest of other things, hast forgotten the know- leilge best w^orth knowing— that of the beautiful part of the crea- tion. Tliink of the impression likely to be made by a gallant neither ignoble in situation nor unacceptable in presence upon a lady who must fear the consequences of refusal ! Come, Agelastes, let me have no more of thy croaking, auguring bad fortune like the raven from the blasted oak on the left hand ; but declaim, as Avell thou canst, how faint heart never won fair lady, and how those best de serve empire who can wreathe the myrtles of Venus with the laurek of Alars. Come, man, undo me the secret entrance which combines these magical ruins with groves that are fashioned rather like those of Cytheros or Naxos." " It must be as you will ! " said the philosopher, with a deep and somewhat aflccted sigh. "Here, DiogenesT" called aloud the Csesar; '"when thou art summoned, mischief is not far distant. Come, undo tlie secret en- trance. ]\Iischief, my trusty negro, is not so distant but she Avili answer the first clatter of the stones." The negro looked at his master, who returned him a glance ac- quiescirig in the Ca?sar's proposal. Diogenes then went to a part of tiie ruined wall which was covered by some climbing shrubs, all of Avliich he carefully removed. This show^ed a little postern door, closed irregularly, and filled up, from tlie threshold to the top, with large square stones, all of which the slave took out and piled aside as if for the ])urpose of replacing them. " I leave thee," said Agelastes to the negro, " to guard this door and let no one enter, except he has the sign, upon the peril of thy life. It were danger- ous it should be left open at this period of the day." The obsequious Diogenes put his hand to his sabre and to his liead, as if_to signify the usual promise of fidelity or death, ])y whicli those of his condition generally expressed their answer to their master's commands. Diogenes then lighted a small lantern, and COUMT ROr,EUT OF PAPJS. IGl pulling" out a key, opened an inner door of Nvood, and prepared to stc]) forward. '• Hold, friend Diog'enes," said the Caesar ; " tliou wantest not my lantern to discern an honest man, -whom, if tliou didst seek, I must needs say thou hast come to the wrong* place to find one. Nail tlnvu up these creeping- shrubs before the entrance of the place, and abide thou there, as already directed, till our return, to pany the curiosity of any who may be attracted by the sight of the private passage." The black slave drew back as he gave the lamp to the Ctesar, and Agelastes followed the light through a long, but narrow, arched passage, well supplied with air from space to space, and not ne- glected in the inside to the degree Avhich its exterior would have implied. " I will not enter with you into the Gardens," said Ag-elastes, " or to the bower of Cytlierea, where I am too old to be a worshipper. Thou thyself, I think, Im])erial C?esar, art well aware of the road, having travelled it divers times ! and, if I mistake not, for the fairest reasons." " The more thanks," said the Csesar, " are due to mine excellent friend Agelastes, who forgets his own age to accommodate the youth of his friends." CHAPTErx XVIII. We must now return to the dungeon of the Blacquernal, where circumstances had formed at least a temporary union between the stout Varang'ian and Count Robert of Paris, who had a stronger re- semblance to each other in their dispositions than probably either of them would liave been willing to admit. The virtues of the Varangian were all of that natural and unrefined kind which Nature herself dic- tates to a gallant man, to whom a total want of fear, and the most prompt ahicrity to meet danger, had been attributes of a life-long standing'. The Count, on the other hand, had all that bravery, gene- rosity, and love of adventure, which was possessed by the rude soldier, with the virtues, partly real, partly fantastic, which those of his rank and country acquired from the spirit of chivalry. The one might be compared to the diamond as it came from the mine, before it had yet received the advantages of cuttiu','- and setting ; the other was the ornamented gem, which, cut into facets and richly set, had lost per- ha])3 a little of its original substance, yet still, at the same time, to the eye of an inspector, had something' more showy and splendid than when it was, according to the phrase of lapidaries, en hrut. \\\ the one case, the value was more artificial ; in the other, it was the more natural and real of the two. Chance, therefore, had made a temporary alliance between two men, the foundation of whose characters bore such strong resemblance to each otlier, that they were only separated by a course of education, vt'hich had left rigid pre- M iG2 couirr uobert of paris. judiccs on both sidoi^, and which prejudices v/ere not unlikely to run couriter to each otlicr. The Varangiap. coniraeiiced his conversation with tlie Count in a tone of familiarity, approaching- nearer to rude- ness than the speaker was aware of, and much of which, though most innocently iutcnded by Hereward, might be taken amiss by his new brotlier-in-arnis. The most offensiye part of his deportment, however, v;as a blunt, bold disregard to the title of those whom he addressed, adhering thereby to the manners of the Saxons, from whora he drev,- liis descent, and which was likely to be at least un- pleasing to the Franks as well as Normans, who had already re- ceived and become very tenacious of tlie privileges of the feudnl system, the mummery of herahlry, and the warlike claims assumed by knights, as belonging only to their own order. Hereward was apr, it must be owned, to think too little of these distinctions; while he had at least a sufficient tendency to tliink (Miough of the power and v/ealth of the Greek empire which he ^■erved,— of the dignity inlierent in Alexius Comnenus.and which he ^vas also disposed to grant to the Grecian officers, who, under the Emperor, commanded liis own corps, and particularly to Achilles I'atius. This man Hereward knew to be a coward, and half-suspected to be a villain. Still, however, the follower was always the direct cliamiel through which the Imperial graces were conferred on the Varangians in general, as well as upon Hereward himself; and he had always the policy to represent such favours as being more or less indirectly the consequence of his own intercession. He was supposed vigorously to espouse the quarrel of the Varangians, in all the disputes betv/een them and the other corps; he was liberal and open-handed ; gave every soldier his due ; and, bating the trifling circumstance of valour, wliich was not particularly liis forte, it would have been difficult for these strangers to have demanded a leader more to their wishes. Besides this, our friend Hereward was ad- mitted by him into his society, attended him, as we have seen, upon secret expeditions, and shared, therefore, deeply, in what may be termed by an expressive, though vulgar phrase, the sneaking kind- ness entertained' for tln^s new Achilles by the greater part of his myrmidons. Their attachment might be explained, perhaps, as a liking to their commander, as strong as could v;ell exist with a marvellous lack of honour and esteem. The scheme, tlierefore, formed by Hereward to effect the deliverance of the Count of Paris, comprehended as mucli faith to the Emperor, and his representative, the Acolyte or Follower, as was consistent with rendering justice to the injured Frank. In furtherance of this plan, he conducted Count Robert froin the subterranean vaults of the Blacquernal, of the intricacies of which he v.-as master, having been repeatedly, of late, stationed sentinel there, for the ])ar})ose of acquiring that knowledge of which Tatius pro- mised liimsclf the adviintage in the ensuing" conspiracy. When they v.'cre in the open air, and at some distance from the gloomy towers of the Palace, he bluntly asked the Count of Paris whether he knew Agelastes the Philosopher. The other answered in the negative. COUNT ROBERT OP PARIS. 1G3 '•' Look you now, Sir Kiiig-ht, you hurt yourself in attempting to impose upon me," said Hereward. '" You must know him ; for I saw you dined with him yesterday." "' O ! with that learned old man ? " said the count. " I kno\v nothing- of him worth owning- or disguising to thee or any one. A wily person he is, half herald and half minstrel." " Half procurer and whole knave," subjoined the Varangian. " With the mask of apparent good-humour he conceals his pander- ing to the vices of others ; with the specious jargon of philosophy, h.e has argued himself out of religious belief and moral principle ; and, Avith the appearance of the most devoted loyalty, he will, if he is not checked in time, either argue his too confiding master out of life and empire, or, if he fails in this, reason his simple associates into death and misery." " And do you know all this," said Count Robert, " and permit tliis man to go unimpeached r " " 0, content you, sir," replied the Varangian ; " I cannot yet form any plot which Agelastes may not countermine ; but the time will come, nay, it is already approaching, when the Emperor's attention shall be irresistibly turned to the conduct of this man, and then let the philosopher sit fast, or by St Dunstan the barbarian overthrows him ! I would only fain, methinks, save from his clutches a foolish friend, who has listened to his delusions." " But what have I to do," said the Count, " with this man, or with his plots ? " "Much," said Hereward, "although you know it not. The main supporter of this plot is no other than the Csssar, who ought to be the most faithful of men ; but ever since Alexius has named a Sebas- tocrator, an officer that is higher in rank, and nearer to the throne than the Csesar himself, so long has Nicephorus Briennius been dis- pleased and dissatisfied, though for what length of time he has joined the schemes of the astucious Agelastes, it is more difficult to say. This I know, that for many months he has fed liberally, as his riches enable him to do, tlie vices and prodigality of the Casar. He has encouraged him to sliov/ disrespect to his wife, although the Empe- ror's daughter ; has put ill-will between him and the royal family. And if Briennius bears no longer the fame of a rational man, and the renown of a good leader, he is deprived of both by following the advice of this artful sycophant." "And what is all this to m.e?" said the Frank. "Agelastes may be a true man or a time-serving slave; his master, Alexius Comne- nu9, is not so much allied to me or mine that I should meddle in the intrigues of his court?" "You maybe mistaken in that," said the blunt Varangian ; "if these intrigues involve the happiness and virtue " "Death of a thousand martyrs ! " said the Frank, "doth paltry in- trigues and quarrels of slaves involve a single thought of suspicion of the noble Countess of Paris ? The oaths of thy Avhole generation were inefiectual to prove but that one of her hairs had changed its colour to silver ! " "Well imagined, gallant knight" said the Anglo-Saxon: "thou 164 - C'OliNT ROEEUT OF TARIS. art a Imsband fitted for the atmosphere of Constantinople, which calls for little vigilance and a strong- belief. Thou wilt find many followers and fellows in this conrt of ours." "Hark thee, friend," replied the Frank, "let us have no more words, nor walk farther tog-ether than just to the most solitary nook of tliis bewildered city, and let us there set to that work which we left even now unfinished." "If thou wert a Duke, Sir Count," replied the Yarano-ian, "thou couldst not invite to a combat one Avho is more ready for it. Yet consider the odds on which we fight. If I fall, my moan is soon made ; but will my death set thy wife at liberty if she is under re- straint, or restore her honour if it is tarnished? — Will it do anything more than remove from the world the only person who is willing to give thee aid, at his own risk and danger, and who hopes to unite thee to thy wife, and replace thee at the head of thy forces ? " "I was wrong," said the Count of Paris; "I was entirely Avrong; but beware, my good friend, how thou couplest the name of Brcn- liilda of Aspramonte with the word of dishonour, and tell me, instead of this irritating discourse, whitlier go we now ?" "To the Cytherean g-ardens of Agelastes, from which we are not far distant," said the Anglo-Saxon ; " yet he hath a nearer way to it than that by wliich we now travel, else I should be at a loss to ac- count for the short space in whicli he could exchange the charms of his garden for the gloomy ruins of the Temple of Isis, and the Imperial palace of the Bhicquernal." "And wherefore, and hovv long," said Count Robert, "dost thou conclude that my Countess is detained in these g-ardens?" "Ever since yesterday," replied Hereward. "When both I, and several of my companions, at my request, kept close watch upon tiie Ceesar and your lady, we did plainly perceive passages of fiery admir- ation on his part, and anger as it seemed on hers, which Agelastes, being- Nicephorus's friend, was likely, as usual, to bring- to an entl, by a separation of you both from the army of the crusaders, that your wife, like many a matron before, might have the pleasure of taking" lip her residence in the gardens of that worthy sage ; while you, my Lord, might take up your own permanently in the castle of Blacquernal." " Villain ! why didst thou not apprise me of this yesterday ? " "A likely thing," said Hereward, "that I should feel myself at liberty to leave the ranks, and make such a communication to a man whom, far from a friend, I then considered in the light of a personal enemy ! Methinks that, instead of such languag-e as this, you should be thankful that so many chance circumstances have at length brought me to befriend and assist you." Count Robert felt the truth of what was said, though at the same time his fiery tem])er longed to avenge itself, according- to its wont, upon the party which was nearest at hand. But now" they arrived at what the citizens of Constantinople called the Philosopher's Gardens. Here Hereward hoped to obtain entrance, for he had gained a knowledge of some part, at least, of the private signals of Achilles and Ag-elastes, since he had been introduced to COUXT llOBEUr OF PAKIS. 165 the last at the ruins of the Temple of Isis. Tliey had not, ludeod, admitted liini to their entire secret; yet, confident in his connection willi the Follower, they had no hesitation in commnnicatinf;- to him snatches of knowledg'c, snch as, committed to a man of shrewd liatural sense like the Ang-lo-Saxon, could scarce fail, in time and by degrees, to make him master of the whole. Count llobert and his companion stood before an arched door, the only opening" in a higli wall, and the Anglo-Saxon was about to knock, Avhen, us if the idea had suddenly struck him, — ^ '•uHiat if the Mretcli Diog'cues opens the gate? \VoTOnst kill him, ere lie can fly back and betray us. Well, it is a matter of neces- sity, and the viilaiu has deserved his death by a hundred horrid crimes." "Kill him then, thyself," retorted Count Robert; "lie is nearer thy degree ; and assuredly I will not detile the name of Charlemagne with tiie blood of a black slave." "Nay, God-a-mercY !" answered the Anglo-Saxon, "but you must bestir yourself in the action, supposing' there come rescue, and that 1 be overborne by odds." "Such odds,''" said the knight, "will render the action more like a vielee, or general battle ; and assure yourself, I will not be slack when I may, with my honour, be active." "I doubt it not," said the Varangian ; "but the distiiiction seems a strange one, that before permitting a man to defend himself, or annoy his enemy, requires him to demand the pedig'ree of his an- cestor." " Fear you not, sir," said Count llobert. " The strict rule of chivalry indeed bears what I tell thee, but Avhen the question is, Fig-ht or not, there is great allowance to be made for a decision in the affirmative." "Let me give tliem the exorciser's raj)," replied Ilercward, " and see what fiend will appear." So saying', he knocked in a particular manner, and the door opened inwards ; a dwarfish negress stood in the gap — her white hair con- trasted singularly with her dark complexion, and witli the broad laughing look peculiar to those slaves. She had something- in her physiognomy which, severely construed, might argue malice, and a delight in human miser}-. " Is Agelastes " said the Varangian; but he had not completed the sentence, when she answered him, by pointing- down a shadowed walk. The Anglo-Saxon and Frank turned in that direction when the hag- rather muttered, than said distinctly, " You are one of the initi- ated, Varangian ; take heed whom you take with you, when you may hardly, peradventure, be welcomed even going alone." Hereward made a sign that he understood her, and they were in- stantly out of her sight. 'J.'he path winded beautifully tlirough the shades of an Eastern garden, where clumps of flowers and labyrinths of dowering shrubs, and the tall boughs of the forest trees, rendered even the breath of noon cool and acceptable. " JJcre we mu^t use our utmost cautiou;" said Hereward, speaking 1G6 COUNT IIOBEUT 0¥ PARIS. ill a, low tone of voice; "for liero it is most likely the deer that we seek has found its refuge. Better allow rac to pass before, since you are too deeply agitated to possess the coolness necessary for a scout. Keep concealed beneath yon oak, and let no vain scruples of honour deter you from creeping* beneath the underwood, or beneath the earth itself, if you should hear a footfall. If the lovers have agreed, Agelastcs, it is probable, walks his round, to prevent intrusion." "Death and furies! it cannot be!" exclaimed the Sery Frank.— "Lady of the Broken Lances, take thy votary's life, ere tliou torment him wit^^lllis agony ! " He saw, however, the necessity of keeping a strong force upon himself, and permitted, without further remonstrance, the Varangian to pursue his way, looking, however, earnestly after him. By advancing forward a little, he could observe Herev/ard drav/ near to a ])avilion which arose at no great distance from the place Avhere they had parted. Here he observed him apply, first his eye, and then his ear, to one of the casements, which were in a great measure grown over, and excluded from the light, by various flowering shrubs. He almost thought he saw a grave interest take ])lace in the countenance of the Varangian, and he longed to have his share of the information wliich he had doubtless obtained. He crept, therefore, with noiseless steps, through the same laby- rinth of foliage Avhich had covered the approaches of Herev/ard; and so silent were his movements, that he touched the Anglo-Saxon, in order to make him aware of his presence, before he observed his approach. Here^vard, not aware at first by whom he was approached, turned on the intruder with a countenance like a burning coal. Seeing, however, that it was the Frank, he shrugged his shoulders, as if pity- ing the impatience which could not be kept under prudent restraint, and drawing himself back allowed the Count the privilege of a peep- ing place through pHnths of the casement, which could not be dis- cerned by the sharpest eye from the inner side. The sombre cha- racter of the hght which penetrated into this abode of pleasure, was suited to that species of thought to which a Temple of Cytherea was supposed to be dedicated. Portraits and groups of statuary were also to be seen, in the taste of those which they had beheld at the Kiosk of the waterfall, yet something more free in the ideas which they conveyed than were to be found at their first resting-place. Shortly after, the door of the pavilion oj)ened, and the Countess entered, followed by her attendant Agatha. The lady threw herself on a couch as she came in, while her attendant, who was a young and very handsome woman, kept herself modestly in the background, so much so as hardly to be distinguished. " What dost thou think," said tl\p Countess, " of so suspicious a friend as Ageiastes? so gallant an enemy as the Caesar, as he is called ? " "What should I thhik," returned the damsel," "except that what the old man calls friendship is hatred, and what the Caesar terms a patriotic love for his country, whicli will hot permit him to set its enemies at liberty, is in fact too strong an aff'ection fbr his fair captive ? " COUNT ROBERT Oi-' PAKiS. 167 " For such an affection," said the Countess, " he sliail have tlie same rcquiial as if it were indeed the hostility of which he wouhl give it the colour. — My true and nohle lord! hadst thou an idea of the ealamitie.s to which they have subjected me, how soon wuuldst tliou break through every restraint to hasten to my relief!" '•'Art thou a num," said Count Robert to his companion; "and canst thou advise me to remain still and hear this?" '' I am one man," said the Anglo-Saxon ; " you, sir, are another ; but all our arithmetic v/ill not make us more than tv,-o ; and in tliis place, it is probable that a whistle from the Cssar, or a scu|fem from Ag-elastcs. would bring a thousand to match us, if we were as bold as Bevis of Hampton — Stand still and keep quiet. I counsel this, less as respecting my own life, v/hicli, by embarking upon a wild- goose chase with so strange a partner, I have shown I put at little value, tlian for thy safet)', and that of the lady tliy Countess, who shows herself as virtuous as beautiful." " 1 was imposed on at first," said the Lady Brenhilda to her attend- ant. '' Affectation of severe morals, of deep learning-, and of rigid rectitude, assumed by this wicked old man, made me believe in part the character wliich he pretended; but the gloss is rubbed off since he let me see into his alliance with tlie unworthy Caisar, and the ugly picture remains in its native loathsomeness. ISTevertheless, if I can, by address or subtlety, deceive this arch-deceiver, — as he has taken from me, in a great measure, every other kind of assistance, — 1 will not refuse that of craft, vvhicii he may find perhaps equal to his own." "Hear you that?" said the Varangian to the Count of Paris. '•'Do not let your impatience mar the web of your lady's prudence. I will v/eigh a woman's wit against a man's valour where there is aught to do! Let us not come in with our assistance until time shall show us that it is necessary for her safety and our success." '•Amen," said the Count of Paris; "but hope not. Sir Saxon, that thy prudence shall persuade me to leave this garden without takirig full vengeance on that unwortliy Caesar, and the pretended philoso- pher, if indeed he turns out to iiave assumed a character " Tlie Count was here beginning to raise his voice, when the Saxon, with- out ceremony, placed his hand on his mouth. " Thou takest a liberty," said Count Robert, lo'A'ering, however, his tones. "Ay, truly," said Hereward; "when the house is on fire, I do not stop to ask wliether the water Vk'hich I ]jour on it be perfun^.ed or no." This recalled the Frank to a sense of hi.-: situation; and if not con- tented v/ith the Saxon's mode of making an apology, he was at least silenced. A distant noise vras now heard— the Countess listened, and changed colour. "Agatlia," slie said, "we are like champions in the lists, and here comes the adversary. Let us retreat into this side apartment, and so for a while put off an encounter thus alarm- ing." So saying, tlie tv/o females withdrew into a sort of anteroom, which opened from the principal apartment behind the seat which Brenhilda had occupied. They had scarcely disappeared v/hen, as the stage direction has it, enter from the other side t!ie Ctesar and Agelastes. They had per- 115S COUx\T ROBERT OF PARI^?. Imps heard tlie last words of Brcnhilda, fo.r the CaDsar repeated m a low tone— " Militat omnis amans, liabet et sua castra Cupido. "What, has our fan- opponent withdrawn her forces? No matter, it shows slie thinks of the warfare, though tlie enemy be not in sight. Well, thou slialt not liave to upbraid me this time, Agelastes, with precipitating my amours, and depriving myself of the pleasure of pursuit. By Heavens, I will be as regular 'in my progress as if iu reality I bore on my shoulders the whole load of years wdiich make the difference between us ; for I shrewdly suspect that with thee, old man, it is that envious churl Time that hath plucked the wings of Cupid." "Say not so, mighty Gasar," said the old man; "it is the hnnd of Prudence, which, depriving Cupid's vv'ing of some wild feathers, leaves him still enough to fly with an equal and steady flight." " Thy flight, however, was le.^s measured, Agelastes, when tliou didst collect that armoury— that magazine of Cupid's panoply, out of wliich thy kindness permitted me but uow to arm myself, or, rather, to repair my accoutrements." So saying, he glanced his eye over his own person, blazing with gems, and adorned with a chain of gold, bracelets, rings, and other ornaments, which, with a new and splendid habit, assumed since his arrival at these Cytherean gardens, tended to set off his very hand- some figure. " I am glad," said Agelastes, '' if you have found among toys, which I now never wear, and seldom made use of even when life was young v,'ith me, anything which may set off' your natural advantages. Re- member only this slight condition, that such of these trifles as have made part of your Avearing apparel on this distinguished day cannot return to a meaner owner, but must of necessity remain the projierty of that greatness of wliicli they had once formed the ornament." "I cannot consent to this, my worthy friend," said the Ca3sar; "I know^ thou valuest these jewels only in so far as a philosopher may value them— that is, for nothing save the remembrances which attach to tliem. This large seal-ring, for instance, was— I have heard you say — the property of Socrates; if so, you cannot view it save with devout thankfalness that your ov.-n philosophy has never been tried with the exercise of a Xantippe. These clasps released in older times the lovely bosom of Thryne; and they now belong to one wlio could do better homage to the beauties they concealed or discovered than could the cynic Diogenes. These buckles, too " " I will spare thy ingenuity, good youth," said Agelastes, some- what nettled, "or, rather, noble Caesar. Keep thy wit— thou wilt have ample occasion for it." "Fear not me," said the Cresar. "Lot us proceed, since you will, to exercise the gifts which we possess, such as they are, either natural or bequeathed to us by our dear and respected friend. Hah!'-' he said, the door opening suddenly, and the Countess almost meeting him, "our wishes are here anticipated." lie bowed accordingly with the deepest deference to the T^ady 1 COUNT ROBEllT OF TARIS. 169 Breiiliilda, who, having" made some alterations to enhance the splen- dour of lier attire, now moved forward from the withdrawing-room into which slie liad retreated. " Hail, noble huly," said the Cfe^ar, " whom I have visited with the intention of apolog'ising" for detaining- you, in some deg-ree, against your will, in those strange regions in which you unexpectedly find yourself." "Not in some degree," answered the hidy, ''but entirely contrary to my inclinations, which are, to ])C v/ith my husband the Count of Paris, and the follov/ers who have taken the cross under his banner." " Such, doubtless, were your thoughts when you left the hind of the west," said Agelastes; ''' but, fair Countess, have they experienced no change? You have left a shore streaming with human blood wlien the slightest provocation occurred, and thou hast come to one whose principal maxim is to increase the sum of human happiness by every mode which can be invented. In the west yonder, he or she is respected most who can best exercise their tyrannical strength in making others miserable, while in these more placid realms, we reserve our garlands for the ingenious youth, or lovely lady, who can best make happy the person whose afl'ection is fixed upon her." "But, reverend philosopher," said the Countess, "who labourest so artilieially in recommending the yoke of pleasure, know that you con- tradict every notion which I have been taught from my infancy. In the land where my nurture lay, so far are we from acknowledging your doctrines, that we match not, except like the lion and the lioness, Avlien the male has compelled the female to acknowledge his superior worth and valour. Such is our rule, that a damsel, even of mean de- gree, would think herself heinously undermatched, if wedded to n gallant whose fame in arms was yet unknown." " But, noble hidy," said the CiBsar, " a dying man may then fiud room for some faint hope. Were there but a chance that distinc- tion in arms could gain those aft'ections which have been stolen, rather than fairly conferred, how many are there who would willingly enter into the competition v/liere the prize is so fiiir! What is the enterprise too bold to be undertaken on such a condition ! ■ And where is the individual whose heart v/ould not feel, that in baring his sword for the prize, he made vov/ never to return it to the scabbart ailVcts to admire the wife ? " "You do me wrong-, beautiful lady," answered the Ctesar, " and forg'ct that I can in no sha])e be termed the moving--spring of this empire; that my father-in-law, Alexius, is the Emperor; and that the woman who terms herself my wife, is jealous as a fiend can be of my siiglitest motion. — What possibility was there that I should work the captivity of your husband and your own? The open aft'ronfc which the Count of Paris put upon the Emperor, was one which he vv'as likely to avenge, either by secret guile or by open force. Me it r.o way touched, save as the humble vassal of thy charms ; and it was by the v/isdom and the art of the sage Agelastes, that I v/as able to extricate thee from the gulf in Avhich thou hadst else certainly pcrislied. Nay, weep not, lady, for as yet we know not the fiite of Count Robert; but, credit me, it is wisdom to choose a better pro- tector, and consider him as no more." " A better than him," said Brenhilda, " I can never have, were 1 to choose out of the knighthood of all the world ! " "This hand," said the Csesar, drawing himself into a martial at- titude, ''should decide that question, were the man of whom thou tliinkest so much yet moving on the face of this earth and at liberty." " Thou art," said Brenhilda, looking fixedly at him with the hre of indignation flashing from every feature — ''thou art — but it avails not telling- thee what is tliy real name : believe me, the world shall one day ring with it, and ))e justly sensible of its value. Observe what I am about to say — Robert of Paris is gone — or captive, I know not where. lie cannot fight the match of which thou seemest so desirous —but here stands Brenhilda, born heiress of Aspramonte, by marriage the wedded wife of the good Count of Paris. She was never matched in the lists by mortal man, except the valiant Count, and since thou art so grieved that thou canst not meet her husband in battle, thou canst not surely object, if she is willing to meet thee in his stead I " "How, madam?" said the Ceesar, astonished ; '"'do you propose yourself to hold the lists ag'ainst me? " "Against you!" said the Countess; "against all the Grecian empire, if they sliall aflirm that Robert of Paris is justly used and lawfully confined." "And are the conditions," said the Cfcsar, "the same as if Count Robert himself held the lists ? The vanquished must then be at the })leasure of the conqueror for good or evil." "It would seem so," said the Countess, "nor do I refuse the liazard; only, that if the other champion shall bite the dust, the noble Count Robert shall be set at liberty, and permitted to depart with all suitable honours." " This I refuse not," said the Cresar, " provided it is in my power." A deep growling sound, like that of a modern gon^', here inters rupted the conference. COUNT ROBERT OF TARIS. 173 CHAPTER XIX. The Varan g-ian and Count Robert, at ever)' risk of discovery, had rcnirtined so near as fully to conjecture, tlioug'h tliey could ucf ex- Ijre.ssly overhear, the purport of the conversation. " lie has accepted her challenge ? " said the Count of Faris. " And with apparent willing-ness," said Hereward. " O, doubtless, doubtless," answered the Crusader; " but he knows not the skill in war which a woman mny attain ; for my part, God knows I have enough depending upon the issue of this contest, yet such is my confidence, that I would to God 1 had more. I vow' to our Lady of the Broken Lances, that I desire every furrow of land I possess— every honour which I can call my own, from the Countship of Paris, down to the leather that binds my spur, were dependent and at issue upon this fair field, betv/een your Caesar, as men term him, and Brenhilda of Aspramonte." " It is a noble confidence," said the Varangian, " nor durst I say it is a rash one; only I cannot but remember that the Crssar is a strong man as well as a handsome, expert in the use of arms, and, above all, less strictly bound than you esteem yourself by the rules of hon- our. There are many ways in which advantage may be given and taken, wliich will not, in the Cssar's estimation, alter the character of the field from an equal one, although it might do so in the opinion of the chivalrous Count of Paris, or even in that of the poor Varan- gian. But first let me conduct you to some place of safety, for your escape must be soon, if it is not already, detected. The sounds which we heard intimate that some of his confederate plotters have visited the garden on other than love aftairs. I will guide thee to another avenue than that by which we entered. But you would hardly, I suppose, be pleased to adopt the wisest alternative ? " " And what may that be ? " said the Count. " To give thy purse, though it were thine all, to some poor ferry- man to waft thee over the Hellespont, then hasten to carry thy com- plaint to Godfrey of Bouillon, and what friends thou mayst have among thy brethren crusaders, and determine as thou easily canst, on a sufficient number of them to come back and menace the city with instant war, unless the Emperor should deliver up thy lady, most unfairly made prisoner, and prevent, by his authority, this absurd and unnatural combat." " And would you have me, then," said Count Robert, " move the crusaders to break a fairly appointed field of battle ? Do you think that Godfrey of Bouillon would turn back U]:ton his pilgrimage for such an unworthy purpose ; or that the Countess of Paris would ac- cept as a service, means of safety wliich w^ould stain her honour for ever, by breaking an appointment solemnly made on her own chal- lenge ? — Never ! " "My judgment is then at fault,"' said the Varangian, ''for I see I can hammer out no expedient which is jiot, in some extravagant 174 COL'NT ilOBERT OF TARIS. manner or anotlier, controlled by your foolish notions. Here is a man who lias been trapped into the power of liis enemy, that he mig-ht not interfere to prevent a base stratagem upon his lady, in- volving- both her life and honour; yet he thinks it a matter of neces- sity that he keeps fixith as precisely with these midnight poisoners, as he would had it been pledged to'th.e most honourable men?" " Thou sayst a painful truth," said Count Robert ; " but my word is the enil)lem of ray faith ; and if I pass it to a dishonourable or faithless foe, it is imprudently doiie on my part; but if I break it, being once pledged, it is a dishonourable action, and the disgrace can never be washed from my sliield." " Do you mean, then," said the Varangian, " to sufl'er your wife's liononr to remain pledg'ed as it at present is, on the event of an un- equal combat ? " " God and the saints pardon thee such a thought! " said the Count of Paris. " I will go to see this combat with a heart as firm, if not as light, as any time I ever saw spears splintered. If by the influ- ence of any accident or treachery, — for fairly, and v/ith such an antagonist, Brenhikla of Aspramonte cannot be overthrown, — I step into the lists, proclaim tbe Csesar as he is — a villain— show the false- hood of his conduct from beginning" to end, — appeal to every noble lieart that hears me, and then — God show the right ! " Hereward paused, and shook his head. "All this," he said, '• might be feasible enough, provided the combat were to be fought in tiie presence of your own countrymen, or even, by the mass! if tlie Varangians were to be guards of the lists. But treachery of every kind is so familiar to the Greeks, that I question if they would viev/ the conduct of their Coasar, as anything else than a parclonable and natural stratagem of Dan Cnpid, to be smiled at, rather than subjected to disgrace or punishment." " A nation,'' said Count Robert, "who could smile at such a jest, may Heaven refuse them sympathy at tbeir utmost need, when their sword is broken in their hand, and their wives and daughters shriek- ing in the relentless grasp of a barbarous enemy! " Hereward looked upon his companion, whose flushed cheeks and sparkling- eyes bore witness to his enthusiasm. " I see," iie said, " you are resolved, and I know that your resolu- tion can in justice be called by no other name than an act of heroic folly — Wliat then ? it is long" since life has been bitter to the Varan- gian exile. Morn has raised him from a joyless bed, whicli night has seen him lie down upon, wearied with wielding- a mercenary weapon in the wars of strang-ers. He has longed to lay down his life in an honourable cause, and this is one in which the extremity and very essence of honour is implicated. It tallies also with my scheme of saving the Emperor, which will be greatly facilitated by tlie downfall of his ungrateful son-in-law." Then addressing' him- self to the Count, he continued, " Well, Sir Count, as thou art the l)er3on principally concerned, I am willing to yield to thy reasoning- in this !?.frair ; but I hope you will permit me to mingle with your resolution some advices of a more everyday and less fantastic nature. For example, thy escape from the dungeons of the Blac- COUNT ROBERT OF r'AilLS. 1/5 qiiernal must soou be generoiiy known. In prudence, indeed, I my- self must be the first to communicate it, since otherwise the suspi- cion will tall on me— Where do you think of concealing- yourself ? for assuredly the search will be close and g-eneral." "For that," said the Count of Paris, ■•'• 1 must be indebted to thy sug'g-estion, with thanks for every lie which thou findcst thyself obliged to make, to contrive, and produce in my behalf, entreating- thee only to render them as fev/ as possible, they being- a coin which I myself never fabricate." "Sir knig-ht," answered Hereward, " let me begin first by saying that no knight that ever belted sword is more a slave to truth, when truth is observed towards him, than the poor soldier vvho talks to thee ; but when the game depends not upon fair play, but upon lulling men's cautiousness asleep by falsehood, and drugging their senses by opiate draughts, they who would scruple at no means of deceiving me, can hardly expect that I, who am paid in such base money, should pass notiiing on my part but what is lawful and genuine. For the present thou must remain concealed within my poor apartment, in the barracks of the Varangians, which is the last place where they v/ili think of seeking for thee. Take this, my upper cloak, and follow me ; and now that we are about to leave these gardens, thou mayst follow me unsuspected as a sentinel attending his officer; for, take it along with you, noble Count, that we Varan- gians are a sort of persons upon whom the Greeks care not to look very long or fixedly." They now readied the gate where they had been admitted by tlie n egress, and Hereward, who Vv'as intrusted with the power, it seems, of letting himself out of the philosopher's premises, though not_ of entering without assistance from the portress, took out a key which turned the lock on the garden side, so tliat they soon found them- selves at liberty. They then proceeded by bypaths through the city, Hereward leading the way, and tlio Count following, without speech or remonstrance, until they stood before the portal of the barracks of the Varangians. " Make haste," said tlie sentinel who was on duty, " dinner is al- ready begun." The communication sounded joyfully In the ears of Hereward, who was much afraid that his companion might have been stopt and examined. By a side passage he reached his own quarters, and introduced the Count into a small^room, the sleeping chamber of his squire, where ho apologised for leaving him for some time; and, going out, locked the door, for fear, as he said, of intrusion. The demon of suspicion was not very likely to molest a mind so frankly constituted as that of Count Robert, and yet thelast action of Hereward did not fail to occasion some painful reflections. '' This man," he said, " had needs be true, for I have reposed in him a mighty trust, wliicli few hirelings in his situation would hon- ourably discharge. What is to prevent him to report to the prin- cipal officer of "his watch that the Frank prisoner, Robert Count of Paris, whose wife stands engaged for so desperate a combat with the Csssar, has escaped, indeed, this morning, from the prisons of the 176 COUNT ROEEnT OF TARIS. Bliicqncrnal, but lias smTered himself to bo trepanned at noon, and is ag-ain a captive in the barracks of the Varangian Guard ? — v/hat means of defence are mine were I_discovered to these mercenaries ? • — What man could do, by the faVour of our Lady of the Broken Lances, 1 have not failed to achieve. I have slain a tiger in single combat — I have killed one warder, and conquered the desperate and gig-antic creature by whom ho was supported. I have had terms enoug-h at command to bring over this Varangi-an to my side, in ap- pearance at least ; yet all this does not encournge me to hope that I could long keep at bay ten or a dozen such men as these beef- fed knaves appear to be, led in upon me by a fellow of thewes and sinews such as those of my late companion.— Yet for shame, Robert ! such tlioughts are unworthy a descendant of Charle- magne. When wert thou v/ont so curiously to count thine enemies, and wlien wert thou wont to be suspicious, since he, whose bosom may truly boast itself incapable of fraud, ought in honesty to be tlic last to expect it in anotlier? The Varangian's look is open, liis coolness in danger is striking, his speech is more frank and ready than ever was that of a traitor. If he is false, there is no faith in the hand of nature, for truth, sincerity, and courage are written upon his forehead." While Count Robert was thus reflecting upon his condition, and combating the thick-coming doubts and suspicions which its uncer- tainties gave rise to, he began to be sensible that he had not eaten for many hours ; and amidst many doubts and fears of a more heroic nature, he half entertained a lurking suspicion, that they meant to let hunger undermine his strength before they adventured into the apartment to deal with him. We shall best see how far these doubts were deserved by Ilereward, or how far they were unjust, by following his course after he left his barrack-room. Snatching a morsel of dinner, wliicli he eat witli an aifectation of great hunger, but, in ftict, that his attention to his food might be a pretence for dispensing with disagreeable questions, or Avith conversation of any kind, he pleaded duty, and immediately leaving his comrades, directed his course to the lodgings of Achilles Tatius, which were a part of the same building. A Syrian slave, wlio opened the door, after a deep reverence to Ilereward, M'hom he knew as a favourite attendant of the Acolyte, said to him that his master was gone forth, but had desired him to say, that if he wished to see him, "he would find him at the Philosopher's Gardens, so called, as belonging to the sage Agelastes, HereAvard turned about instantly, and availing himself of his know- ledge of Constantinople to thread its streets in the shortest time pos- sible, at length stood alone befoi-e the door in the garden-wall, at which lie and the Count of Paris had previously been admitted in the earlier part of the day. The same negress ap])eared at the same private signal, and when he asked for Achilles Tatius, she replied, with some sharpness, '-'Since you were here this morning, I marvel you did not meet him, or that, having business with him, you did not stay till ho arrived. Sure I am, that not long after you cntei'cd I he garden the Acolyte wag ii^quiring for you." COUNT KGEERT OF PARIS. 177 "It skills not, old woman," said the Varang-ian ; " I communicate the reason of my motions to my commander, but not to thee." lie entered the g-arden according'ly, and avoidini^ the twilig'lit path that led to the Bower of Love, — so was the pavilion named in which he had overheard the dialog-ue between the Ccesar and the Countess of Paris, — he arrived before a simple g-arden-house, whose humble and modest front seemed to announce that it was the abode of philosophy and learning-. Here, passing- before the Avindows, he made some little noise, expecting- to attract the attention either of Achilles Tatius or his accomplice Ag'elastes, as chance should determine. It was the first who heard, and who replied. The door opened ; a lofty plume stooped itself, that its owner might cross the threshold, and the stately form of Achilles Tatius entered the g-ardens. " What now," he said, "our trusty sentinel? what hast thou, at this time of da}^ come to> report to us ? Thou art our good friend, and hig-hly esteemed sol- dier, and well we Avot thine errand must be of importance, since thou bast broug-ht it thyself, and at an hour so unusual." " Pray Heaven," said HereAvard, " that the ncAvs I haA'e broug-ht deserve a Avelcome." '"'Speak them instantly," said the Acolyte, "g-ood or bad; thou speakest to a man to Avhom fear is unknoAvn." P>ut his eye, Avhicli quailed as he looked on the soldier — his colour, Avh.ich Avent and came — his hands, Avhich busied themselves in an uncertain manner in ad- justing- the belt of his sword, — all arg'ued a state of mind verA' difler- 'ent from that which his tone of defiance Avould fain liaA'e implied. " Courage," he said, " my trusty soldier ! speak the news to me. I can bear the AA'orst thou hast to tell." "In a word, then," said the Varangian, " you i" Valour directed me this morning to play tlie office of master of the rounds upon those dun- geons of the Blacquernal palace, AA^here last night the boisterous Count liobcrt of Paris AA^as incarcerated " " I remember Avell,'' said Acliilles Tatius. — " What then?" "As I reposed me," said Hereward, "in an apartment above the vaults, I heard cries from beneath, of a kind Avhich attracted my atten- tion. 1 hastened to examine, and my surprise Avas extreme, Avheu looking doAvn into the dunq-eon, though" I could see nothing distinctly, yet, by the Availing and Avhimpering sounds, I conceived that the Man of tlie Forest, the animal called Sylvan, Avhom our soldiers have so far indoctrinated in our Saxon tongue as to make him useful in the AA'ards of the prison, Avas bemoaning himself on account of some vio- lent injury. Descending? Avith a torch, I found the bed on Avhicli the prisoner had been let down burnt to cinders ; the tiger Avhich Jiad been chained within a spring of it, Avith its skull broken to pieces ; the creature called Sylvan prostrate, and Avrithing under great paiu and terror, and no prisoner Avhatever in the dungeon. There Avere marks that all the fastenings had been Avithdrawn by a Mytilenian soldier, companion of my Avatcli, Avhen he visited the dungeon at the usual hour ; and as, in my anxious search, I at length found his dead body, slain apparently by a stab in the throat, I Avas obliged to believe that Avhile I Avas examining the cell, he, this Count Kobert, Avitli Avhose daring life the adveuture is Avell consistent, had escaped to the N 178 COUNT U0i5KUT OF I'AllIS. upper air, by means, doubtless, of the ladder and tra])-door by which I had descended." " And wherefore didst thou not instantly call treason, and I'aise the hue and cry ? " demanded the Acolyte. "I dared not venture to do so," repHed the Varangian, " till I had instructions from your Valour. The alarming- cry of treason, and the various rumours likely at this moment to ensue, might have involved a search so close, as perchance would have discovered matters in which the Acolyte himself Avould have been rendered subject to sus- picion." _" Thou art right," said Achilles Tatius, hi a whisper ; " and yet it will be necessary that we do not pretend any longer to conceal the flight of this important prisoner, if we would not pass for being his accomplices. Where thinkest thou this unhappy fugitive can have taken refuge ? " " That 1 was in hopes of learning from your Valour's greater wis- dom," said Here ward. " Thinkest tliou not," said Acliilles, " tliat he may have crossed the Hellespont, in order to rejoin his own countrymen and ad- herents ? " "It is much to be dreaded," said Hereward. " Undoubtedly, if the Count listened to the advice of any one who knew the face of the couptry, such would be the very counsel he would receive." "The danger, then, of his return at the head of a vengeful body of Franks," said the Acolyte, " is not so immediate as I appre- hended at first, for the Emperor gave positive orders that the boats and galleys which yesterday transported the crusaders to the shores of Asia, should rccross the strait, and bring back no single one of them from the step upon their journey on which he had so far fur- thered them. — Besides, they all, — their leaders, that is to say,— made their vows before crossing, that they w^oidd not turn back so much as a foot's pace, now that they had set actually forth on the road to Palestine. "So, therefore," said Hereward, "one of two propositions is un- questionable; either Count Robert is on the eastern side of tlie strait, having no means of returning with his brethren to avenge the usage he has received, and may therefore be securely set at de- fiance, — or else he lurks somewliere in Constantinople, without a friend or ally to take his part, or encourage him openly to state his supposed wrongs; — in eitlier case, there can, I thhdc, be no tact in conveying to the palace the news that he has freed himself, since it woidd only alarm the Court, and aiford the Emperor ground for many suspicions. But it is not for an ignorant barbarian like mo to prescribe a course of conduct to your valour and Avisdom, and methinks the sage Agelastes were a "fitter counsellor than such as I am." " No, no, no," said the Acolyte, in a hurried whisper ; " the philo- soplier and I are right good friends, sworn good friends, very espe- cially bound together ; but should it come to this, that one of us must needs throw before the footstool of the Emperor the head of the other, I think thou Avouldst not advise that I, whose liairs have Dot a trace of silver, should be the last in niuking- the ofFer- iiif^' ; wherefore, we will say nothing- of this misliap, but give thee full power and the hio-hest charg-e to seek for Count Robert of Paris, be he dead or alive, to secure him within the dungeons set apart for the discipline of our own corps, and when thou hast done so, to bring' me notice. I may make him my friend in many ways, by extricating- his wife from dang-er by the axes of my Varan- gians. What is there in this metropolis that they have to oppose them?" "When raised in a just cause," answered Hereward, "nothing-." "Hall! — sayst thou?" said the Acolyte ; " how meanest thou by that ? — but I know — Thou art scrupulous about having- the just and lawful command of thy officer in every action in which thou art en- g-aged, and, thinking in that dutiful and soldierlike manner, it is my duty as thine Acolyte to see thy scruples satisfied. A warrant shalt thou have, with full powers, to seek for and imprison this foreign Count of whom we have been speaking — And, hark thee, my excel- lent friend," he continued, with some hesitation, "I think thou hadst better begone, and begin, or rather continue thy search. It is unne- cessary to inform our friend Agelastes of what has happened, until his advice be more needful than as yet it is on the occasion. Home —home to the barracks ; I will account to him for thy appearance here, if he be curious on the subject, which, as a suspicious old man, he is likely to be. Go to the barracks, and act as if thou hadst a warrant in every respect full and ample. I will provide thee with one when I come back to my quarters." The Varangian turned hastily homewards. "Now, is it not," he said, "a strange thing, and enough to make a man a rogue for life — to observe how the devil encourages young beginners in falsehood ! I have told a greater lie — at least I have suppressed more truth — than on any occasion before in my whole life — and what is the consequence ? Why, my commander throws almost at my head a warrant sufficient to guarantee and protect me in all I have done, or propose to do ! If the foul fiend were thus regular in protecting his votaries, methinks they would have little reason to complain of him, or better men to be astonished at their imkiiber. But a time comes, they say, when he seldom fails to de- sert them. Therefore, get thee behind me, Satan ! If I have seemed to be thy servant for a short time, it is but with an honest and Christian purpose." As he entertained these thoughts, he looked back upon the path, and was startled at an apparition of a creature of a much greater size, and a stranger shape than human, covered, all but the face, with a reddish-dun fur ; his expression an ugly and yet a sad melan- choly ; a cloth was wrapt round one hand, and an air of pain and languor bespoke suffering from a wound. So much was Hereward preoccupied with his own reflections that at first he thought his imagination had actually raised the devil ; but after a sudden start of surprise, he recognised his acquaintance Sylvan. " Hah ! old friend," he said, "I am happy thou hast made thy escape to a place where thou wilt find plenty of fruit to support thee. Take ISO COUNT riOBEUT OF PARIS. my advice— keep out of the way of discovery — keep thy friend's counsel." Tlie Mau of the Wood uttered a chattering- noise in return to this address. " I understand thee," said Ilereward, " thou wilt tell no tales, thou sayest ; and faith I will trust thee rather than the hetter part of my own two-leg-ged race, who are eternally circumventing- or murder- ing- each other." A minute after the creature was out of sight Hereward heard the shriek of a female, and a voice which cried for help. The accents must have been uncommonly interesting- to the Varangian, since, forgetting his own dangerous situation, he immediately turned and flew to tlie.aiiiipliant's assistance. ^,%^4;«'^/>, She corned ! she comes ! in all the charms of youth, ', *,Unequaird love, and unsuspected truth I ^*"**^*'^^EREWARD was uot loug- in tracing- the cry through the wooded walks, when a female rushed into his arms, alarmed, as it appeared, by Sylvan, who Avas ])ursuing- her closely. Tiie figure of Hereward, with his axe uplifted, put an instant stop to his career, and, with a terrified note of his native cries, he withdrew into the thickest of the adjoining foliage. Kelieved from his presence, Hereward had time to look at th( female whom he had succoured: She was arrayed in a dress which consisted of several colours, that which ])redominated being- a pale yellow; her tunic was of this colour, and, like a modern gown, was closely fitted to the body, which, in the present case, was that of tall, but very well-formed person. The mantle, or upper g-arment, in which the whole figure was wrapped, was of fine cloth ; and the kind of hood which was attached to it having- flown back Avith the rapidity of her motion, gave to view the hair, beautifully adorned ; and twisted into a natural head-dress. Beneath this natural head- gear appeared a face pale as death, from a sense of the supposed danger, but which preserved, even amidst its terrors, an exquisite degree of beauty. Hereward was thunderstruck at this apparition. The dress was neither Grecian, Italian, nor of the costume of the Franks; — it was Saxon! — connected by a thousand tender remembrcances with Here- Avard's childhood antl youth. Tiie circumstance Avas most extra- ordinary. Saxon Avomen, indeed, there Avere in Constantinople, Avho had united their fortunes Avith those of the Varangians ; and those often chose to Avear their national dress in the city, because the character and conduct of their husbands secured them a degree of respect Avhicli they might not have met Avith either as Grecian or as stranger females of a similar rank. But almost all these were per- COUNT ROBEnT OF PARIS. I8l gonully known to I-Iere\Yanl. It was no time, however, for reverie- lie was himself in danger — the situation of the 3'oung- female might be no safe one. In every case it was jndicious to qnit the more public part of the gardens; he therefore lost not a moment in con- veying the fainting Saxon to a retreat he fortunately Avas acquainted with. A covered path, obscured by vegetation, led through a species of labyrinth to an artificial cave, at the bottom of which, half-paved with shells, moss, and spar, lay the gigantic and half-recumbent statue of a river deity, with its usual attributes — that is, its front crowned with water-lilies and sedges, and its ample hand half-resting upon an empty urn. The attitude of the whole figure corresponded with the motto— "I sleep — awake me not." " Accursed relic of paganism,'" said Ilereward, who was, in pro- portion to his light, a zealous Christian— "brutish stock or stonf* that thou art! I will wake thee with a vengeance." So saying, he struck the head of the slumbering deity with his battle-axe, and de- ranged the play of the fountain so much that the Avater began to pour into the basin. "Thou art a good block, nevertheless," said the Varangian, "to send snccour so needful to the aid of my poor countrywoman. Thou shalt give her also, with thy leave, a portion of thy couch." So say- ing, he arranged his fair burden, Avho Avas as yet insensible, npon tlie ])edestal Avhere the figure of the River God reclined. In doing this, his attention Avas recalled to her face, and again and again he Avas thrilled Avith an emotion of hope, but so excessively like fear that it could only be compared to the flickering of a torch, uncertain whether it is to light up or be instantly extinguished. With a sort of mechanical attention, he continued to make such cftorts as ho could to recall the intellect of the beautiful creature before him. His feelings Avere those of the astronomical sage to Avliom the rise of the moon slowly restores the contemplation of that lieaA^en Avliicli is at once, as a Christian, his hope of felicity, and, as a philosopher, the source of his knowledge. Tlie blood returned to her cheek, ancl reanimation, and even recollection, took place in her earlier than in the astonished Varangian. "Blessed Mary!" she said, "liaA^e I indeed tasted the last bitter cup, and is it here Avhere thou reunitest thy votaries after death! — • Speak, HereAvard ! — if thou art aught but an empty creature of the imagination !— speak, and tell me if I have but dreamed of that mon- strous ogre ! " "Collect thj'self, my beloved Bertha," said the Anglo-Saxon, re- called by the sound of' her voice, " and prepare to endure Avhat thou livest to witness, and thy Hereward survives to tell. That hideous thing exists — nay, do not start, and look for a hiding-place — thy own gentle hand Avith a riding-rod is snfiicient to tame its courage. And am I not here. Bertha? Wouldst thou Avish another safeguard ?" " No — no," exclaimed she, seizing on the arm of her recovered .over. " Do I not knoAv you now ? " And is it but noAV you know me, Bertha?" said Hereward. '= I suspected before," she said, casting doAvn her eyes ; " but I low with certainty that mark of the boar's tusk." know 182 COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. Hereward suffered her imag-inatiou to clear itself from the sliock it had received so suddenly before he ventured to enter upon present events, in vi-hich there was so much both to doubt and to fear. He permitted her, therefore, to recall to her memory all the circum- stances of the rousing- the hideous animal, assisted by the tribes of both their fathers. She mentioned in broken words the flig-ht of arrows discharged against the boar by young and old, male and female, and how her own well aimed, but feeble shaft wounded him sharply ; she forgot not how, incensed at the pain, the creature rushed upon her as the cause, laid her palfrey dead upon the spot, and would soon have slain her, had not Hereward, when every at- tempt failed to bring his horse up to the monster, thrown himself from his seat, and interposed personally between the boar and Bertha. The battle was not decided without a desperate struggle ; the boar was slain, but Hereward received the deep gash upon his brow which shp whom he had saved now recalled to her memory. '•' Alas ! " she said, " what have we been to each other since that period ? and what are we now, in this foreign land ? " "Answer for thyself, my Bertha," said the Varangian, "if thou canst ; — and if thou canst with truth say that thou art the same Bertha who vowed affection to Hereward, believe me, it were sinful to suppose that the saints have brought us together with a view of our being' afterwards separated." "Hereward," said Bertha, "you have not preserved the bird in your bosom safer than I have ; at home or abroad, in servitude or iu freedom, amidst sorrow or joy, plenty or want, my thought was always on the troth I had plighted to Hereward at the stone of Odin." " Say no more of that," said Hereward ; " it was an impious rite, and good could not come of it." "Was it then so impious? " she said, the unbidden tear rushing into her large blue eye. — " Alas ! it was a pleasure to reflect that Hereward was mine by that solemn engagement ! " "Listen to me, my Bertha," said He'reward, taking" her hand: " We were then almost children ; and though our vow was in itself innocent, yet it was so far wrong, as being sworn in the presence of a dumb idol, representing" one who was, while alive, a bloody and cruel magician. But we Avill, the instant an opportunity offers itself, renew our vow before a shrine of real sanctity, and promise suitable penance for our ignorant acknowledgment of Odin, to pro- jiitiate thereal Deity, who can bear us through those storms of ad- versity which arc like to surround us." Leaving them for the time to their love-discourse, of a nature pure, simple, and interesting, we shall give, in few words, all that the reader needs to know of their separate history between the boar's hunt and the time of their meeting in the gardens of Agelastes. In that doubtful state experienced by outlaws, Waltheoff, the father of Hereward, and Engelred, the parent of Bertha, used to assemble their unsubdued tribes, sometimes in the fertile regions of Devonshire, sometimes in the dark wooded solitudes of Hampshire, but as much as possible within the call of the bugle of the famous Edric the Forester, so long leader of the insurgent Saxons. The COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. 183 chiefs we have mentioned were among- the last bold men >Yho asserted the independence of the Saxon race of England ; and like tlieir cap- tain, Edric. they were g-euerally known by the name of Foresters, as men wlio lived by hunting-, when their power of making' excursions was checked and' repelled. Hence they made a step backwards in civilisation, and becaine more like to their remote ancestors of Ger- man descent, than they were to their more immediate and civilised predecessors, who, before the battle of Hastings, had advanced con- siderably in the arts of civilised life. Old superstitions had begun to revive among them, and hence the practice of youths and maidens plighting their troth at the stone circles dedicated, as it was supposed, to Odin, in whom, however, they had long ceased to nourish any of the sincere belief which was entertained by their heathen ancestors. In another respect, these outlaws were fast reassuming a striking- peculiarity of the ancient Germans. Their circumstances naturally brought the youth of both sexes much together, and by early marriage, or less permanent connections, the population v/ould have increased far beyond the means which the outlaws had to maintain, or even to protect themselves. The laws of the Foresters, therefore, strictly enjoined that marriages should be prohibited until the bridegroom was twenty-one years complete. Future alliances were indeed often formed by the young" people, nor was this discountenanced by their parents, provided that the lovers waited until the period wkien the majority of the bridegroom should permit them to marry, ^uch youths as infringed this rule, incurred the dishonourable epithet of niddering, or worthless, — an epithet of a nature so insulting, that men were known to have slain themselves, rather than endure life under such opprobrium. But the offenders were very few amidst a race trained in moderation and self-denial; and hence it was that woman, worshipped for so many years like something- sacred, was received, when she became the head of a ftimily, into the arms and heart of a husband who had so long expected hei-, was treated as something more elevated than the mere idol of the moment; and feeling the rate at which she v/as valued, endeavoured by her actions to make her life correspond with it. It was by the vrhole population of these tribes, as well as their parents, that after the adventure of the boar hunt, Hereward and Bertha were considered as lovers whose alliance was pointed out by Heaven, and they were encouraged to approximate as much as their niutual inclinations prompted them. The youths of the tribe avoided asking Bertha's hand at the dance, and the maidens used no maidenly ' '^treaty or artifice to detain Ilereward beside them, if Bertha was sent at the feast. They clasped each other's hands througli the ^ vibrated stone, which they called the altar of Odin, though later ages have ascribed it to the Druids, and they implored that if they broke their faith to each other, their fault might be avenged by the twelve swords which were now drawn around them during the cere- mony by as many youths, and that their misfortunes might be so many as twelve maidens, who stood around with their hair loosened, should be unable to recount, either in prose or verse. 18-1 OOtJNT ROBERT OF PARIS. The torcli of tlie Saxon Ciipicl shone for some years as brilliant as ■when it was fii'st lighted. The time, however, came when they were to he tried by adversity, thongh undeserved by the perfidy of either. Years had gone past, and Ilereward had to count with anxiety how many months and weeks were to separate him from the bride, who Avas 'beginning- already by degrees to shrink less shyly from the ex- pressions and caresses of one who was soon to term her all his own. William Rufus, however, had formed apian of totally extirpating the Foresters, whose implacable hatred, and restless love of freedom, had so often disturbed the quiet of his kingdom, and despised his forest laws. He assembled his Norman forces, and united to them a body of Saxons who had submitted to his rule. lie thus brought an overpowering force upon the bands of Waltheoff and Engelred, who found no resource but to throw tlie females of their tribe, and such as could not bear arms, into a convent dedicated to St Aug^astin, of which Kenelm their relation was prior, and then turning to the battle, vindicated their ancient valour by fighting it to the last. Botli the unfortunate chiefs remained dead on tlie field, and Ilereward and his brother had well-nigh shared their fate; but some Saxon inhabitants of the neighbourhood, who adventured on the field of battle, which the victors had left bare of everything save the booty of the kites and the ravens, found the bodies of the youths still retain- ing life. As they were generally well known and much beloved by these people, Ilereward and his brother were taken care of till tlieir wounds began to close, and their strength returned. Hereward then heard the doleful news of the death of his father and Engelred. His next inquiry was concerning his betrothed bride and her mother. The poor inhabitants could give him little information. Some of the females who had taken refuge in the convent, the Norman knights and nobles had seized upon as their slaves, and the rest, wiiii the monks who had harboured them, wei'e turned adrift, and their place of retreat Avas completely sacked and burnt to the ground. Half-dead himself at hearing these tidings, Herev/ard sallied out, and at every risk of death, for the Saxon Foresters were treated as outlaws, commenced inquiries after those so dear to him. He asked concerning the particular fate of Bertlia and her mother, among the miserable creatures who yet hovered about the neighbourhood of the convent, like a few half-scorched bees about their smothered hive. But, in the magnitude of their own terrors, none had retained eyes for tlieir neighbours, and all that they could say was, that the wife and daughter of Engelred were certainly lost; and their imagi- nations suggested so many heart-rending details to this conclusion, tliat Hereward gave up all thoughts of further researches, likely to terminate so uselessly and so horribly. The young Saxon had been all his life bred up in a patriotic hatred to the Normans, who did not, it was likely, become dearer to his thoughts in consequence of this victory. He dreamed at first of crossing the Strait, to make v/ar against the hated enemy in their own country; but an klea so extravagant did not long retain posses- sion of his mind. His fate was decided by his encountering* an aged palmer, who knew, or pretended to have known, his fiither, and to be COtXT IlOBEItT 01' PARIS. 185 a native of Eiioland. This man was a disg-nised Varans ian, selected for the purpose, possessed of art and dexterity, and well provided with money. He had little difficulty in persuading' HereNvard. in the hopeless desolation of his condition, to join the Varangian Guard, at this moment at war with the Normans, under which name it suited Hereward's prepossessions to represent the Emperor's wars with Robert Guiscard,his son Bohcraond, and other adventurers, in Italy, Greece, or Sicily. A journey to the East also inferred a pilgTimage, and g-ave the unfortunate Hereward the chance of purchasing- par- don for his sins by visiting- the Holy Land. In g'aining- Hereward, tlie recruiter also secured the services of his elder brother, who had vowed not to separate from him. The hig-h character of both brothers for courag-e, induced this wily ag-ent to consider them as a great prize, and it was from the memo- rand;i respecting' the history and character of those whom he re- cruited, in which the ekler had been unreservedly communicative, that Ag'elastes picked up the information respecting- Herewards family and circumstances, which, at their first secret interview, lie made" use of to impress upon the Yarang'ian the idea of his superna- tural knowledge. Several of his companions in arms were thus g-aincd over: for it will easily be guessed, that these memorials were intrusted to the keeping- of Achilles Tatius, and he, to further their joint purposes, imparted them to Agelastes, who thus obtained a general credit for supernatural knowledge among these ignorant men. But Hereward's blunt faith and honesty enabled him to shun the snare. Such being the fortunes of Hereward, those of Bertha formed the subject of a broken and passionate connnunication between tlie lovers, broken like an April day, and mingled with many a tender caress, such as modesty permits to lovers when they meet again un- expectedly after a separation which threatened to "be eternal. But the story may be comprehended in few words. Amid the general sack of the monastery, an old Norman knight seized upon Bertha as his prize. Struck v.'ith her beauty, he designed her as an attend- ant upon his daughter, just then come out of the years of childhpod, and the very apple of her father's eye, being the only child of his beloved Countess, and sent late in life to bless their marriage bed. It was in the order of things that the Lady of Aspramonte, wdio was considerably younger than the knight, should govern her husband, ami tliat Brenhilda, their daughter, should govern both her parents. Tlie Knight of Aspramonte, however, it may be observed, entpr- tained some desire to direct his young' offspring- to more feminine amusements than those which began already to put her life frequently in danger. Contradiction was not to be thought of, as the good old knight knew by experience. The influence and example of a com- panion a little older than herself might be of some avail, and it v/as with this view that, in the confusion of the sack, Aspramonte seized upon the youthful Bertha. Terrified to the utmost degree, she clung to her mother, and the Knight of Aspramonte, who had a softer heart than was then usually found under a steel cuirass, moved by the af- fliction of the mother and daughter, and recollecting that the former 186 COUNT ROBEJtT OF TAiUS. iniglit also be a usef'ui attendant upon his lady, extended his protec- tion to both, and conveying- them out of the press, paid tlio soldiers who ventured to dispute the spoil with him, partly in sonie small pieces of money, and partly in dry blows with the reverse of his lance. The well-natured knight soon after returned to his own castle, and being-^ a man of an orderly life and virtuous habits, the charming- beauties of the Saxon virgin, and the more ripened charms of her mother, did not prevent their travelling in all honour as well as safety to his family fortress, the castle of Aspramonte. Hero such masters as could be procured were got together to teach the y-ung Bertha every sort of female accomplishment, in the hope that her mistress, Brenhilda, might be inspired witli a desire to partake in her education ; but although this so far succeeded, that the Saxon captive became highly skilled in such music, needle- work, and other female accomplishments as were known to the time, yet her young- mistress, Brenliilda, retained the taste for those martial amusements which had so sensibly grieved her father, but to which her mother, who herself had nourished such fiincies in her youth, readily gave sanction. The captives, liowever, were kindly treated. Brenhilda became infinitely attached to the young Anglo-Saxon, whom she loved less for her ingenuity in arts, than for her activity in field sports, to which her early state of independence had trained her. The Lady of Aspramonte was also kind to both the captives ; but, in one particular, she exercised a piece of petty tyranny over tliem. She had imbibed an idea, strengthened by an old doting father-con- fessor, that tbe Saxons were heathens at that time, or at least here- tics, and madaa positive point with her husband that the bondswoman and girl Avho were to attend on her person and that of her daughter, should be qualified for the office by being anew admitted into tlie Christian Church by baptism. Though feeling the falsehood and injustice of the accusation, tlie motlier had sense enough to submit to necessity, and recdved the name of Martha in all form at the altar, to which she answered during the rest of her life. But Bertha showed a character upon this occasion inconsistent with the general docility and gentleness of her temper. She boldly refused tobe admitted anew into the pale of the Church, of which her con- science told her she was already a member, or to exchange for another the name originally given her at the font. It was in vain that the old knight commanded, that the lady threatened, and that her mother advised and entreated. IMorc closely pressed in private by lier mother, she let her motive be known, which had not before been suspected. "I know," she said, with a flood of tears, "that my f^ither would have died ere I was subjected to this insult ; and then — who shall assure me that vows which were made to the Saxon Bertha, will be binding if a French Agath.a be substituted in jier stead ? They may banish me," she said, "or kill me if they will, but if the son of WaltheofF should again meet with (lie daughter of Engelred, he sluiU meet tliat Bertha whom he knew in the forests of Hampton." COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. 1S7 All argument was iu vain ; the Saxon maiden remained obstinate, and to try to break her resolution, the Lady of Aspramonte at leng-th spoke of dismissing- her from the service of her youn<>- mistress, and banishing her from the castle. To this also she had made up her mind, and she answered firmly though respectfully, that she would sorrow bitterly at parting with her young lady; but as to the rest, she would rather beg under her own name, than be recreant to the faith of her fathers, and condemn it as heresy, by assuming one of Frank origin. The Lady Brenhilda, in tlie mean time, entered the chamber, where her mother was just about to pass the threatened doom of banish- ment. — " Do not stop for my entrance, madam," said the dauntless young lady ; " I am as much concerned in the doom which you are about to pass as is Bertha; if she crosses the drawbridge of Aspra- monte as an exile, so will I, when she has dried her tears, of which even my petulance could never wring one from her eyes. She shall be my squire and body attendant, and Launcelot, the bard, shall follow with my spear and shield." '^ And you will return, mistress," said her mother, " from so foolish an expedition, before the sun sets? " " So Heaven further me in my purpose, lady," answered the young heiress, " the sun shall neither rise nor set that sees us return, till this name of Bertha, and of her mistress, Brenhilda, are wafted as far as the trumpet of fame can sound them. — Cheer up, my sweetest Bertha ! " she said, taking her attendant by the hand, " if Heaven hath torn thee from thy country and thy plighted troth, it hath given thee a sister and a friend, with whom thy fam.e shall bo for ever blended." The Lady of Aspramonte was confounded : She knew that her daughter was perfectly capable of the wild course whidi she had an- nounced, and that she herself, even with her husband's assistance, would be unable to prevent her following it. She passively listened, therefore, while the Saxon matron, formerlyUrica, but nov/ Marthn, addressed her daughter. " My child,'"' she said, "as you value honour, virtue, safety, and gratitude, soften your heart towards your master and mistress, and follow the advice of a parent, who has more years and more judgment than you. And you, my dearest young lady, let not your lady-mother think that an attachment to the exercises you excel in, has destroyed in your bosom filial affection, and a regard to the delicacy of your sex! — As they seem both obstinate, madam," continued the matron, .after watching the influence of this advice upon the 3'oung women, " perhaps, if it may be permitted me, I could state an alternative, which might, in the meanwhile, satisfy your latlyship's wishes, accommodate itself to the wilfulness of my obstinate daugliter, and answer the kind purpose of her generous mistress." The Lady of Aspramonte signed to the Saxou matron to proceed. She went on accordingly " The Saxons, dearest lady, of the i)resent day, are neither pagans nor heretics ; they are, in the time of keep- ing Easter, as well as in all other disputable doctrine, humbly obe- dient to the Pope of Rome; and this our good Bishop well knows, since he upbi-aided some of the domestics for calling me an old heathen. Yet our names arc uncouth in the ears of the Franks, and 1S3 COUNT KOBERT OF PArJS. boar, perhaps, a lieathenisli Rountl. If ifc be not exacted that my tlaiigliter submit to a new rite of baptism, slie will lay aside her Saxon name of Bertha upon all occasions while in your honourable liouseliold. This will cut short a debate which, with forgiveness, I tliiuk is scarce of importance enoug-h to break the peace of this castle. I will eng-ag-e that, in g^ratitude for this indulg-ence of a trifling" scruple, my daug-hter, if possible, shall double the zeal and assiduity of her service to her young- lady." Tlie Lady of Aspraraonte was g'lad to embrace the means, which this offer presented, of extricating- herself from the dispute with as little compromise of dig-nity as could well be. "If the g'ood Lord Bishop approved of such a compromise," she said, "she would for lierself withdraw her opposition." The prelate approved accord- ingiy, the more readily that he was informed that the young' heiress desired earnestly such an agreement. The peace of the castle was restored, and Bertha recog-nised her new name of A^^atha as a name of service, but not a name of baptism. One effect the dispute certainly produced, and that was, increasing in an enthusiastic deg-ree the love of Bertha for her young- mistress. With that amiable failing- of attached domestics and liumble friends, she endeavoured to serve her as slie knew she loved to be served ; and tlierefore indulged her mistress in those chivalrous fancies which distinguished her even in her own age, and in ours would have ren- dered her a female Quixote. Bertha, indeed, never caught the frenzy of her mistress; but, strong, willing, and able-bodied, she readily qualified herself to act upon occasion as a squire of the body to a Lady Adventuress; and, accustomed from her childhood to see blows dealt, blood flowing, and men dying, she could look with an undazzled eye upon the»dangers which her mistress encountered, and seldom teased her with remonstrances, unless when those were unusually great. This compliance on most occasions gave Bertha a right of advice upon some, which, always given with the best intentions and at fitting- times, strengthened her influence with her mistress, which a course of conduct savouring of diametrical opposition would cer- tainly have destroyed. A few more words serve to announce the death of the Knight of Aspramonte — the romantic marriage of the young lady with the Count of Paris — their engagement in the crusade— and the detail of events with which the reader is acquainted. ilereward did not exactly comprehend some of the later incidents of the story, owing to a slight strife which arose between Bertha and liim during the course of her narrative. When she avowed the girlish simplicity with which she obstinately refused to change her name, because, in her apprehension, the troth-plight betwixt lier and lier lover might be thereby prejudiced, it was impossible for Here- ward not to acknowledge her tenderness, by snatching her to his bosom, and im])rcssing his grateful thanks upon her lips. She ex- tricated herself iran-iediately from his grasp, however, with cheeks more crimsoned in modesty than in anger, and gravely addressed her lover thus : " Enough, enough, Ilereward! this may be pardoned to so unexpected a meeting ; but we must in future remember, that COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. 189 we are probably the last of our race ; and let it not be said that the manners of Iheir ancestors Avere forgotten by Hereward and by Ber- tha ; think that, thoug'h we are alone, the shades of our fatliers are not far off, andr watch to see what use we make of the meeting', which, l)erhaps, their intercession has procured us." " You wrong- me, Bertha," said Hereward, " if you tliink mc capa- ble of forg-etting- my own duty and yours, at a moment when our thanks are due to Heaven, to be testified very ditierently than by infring-ing' on its behests, or the commands of our parents. The question is now, How we shall rejoin each other when we separate ? since separate, I fear, w^e must." " O ! do not say so ! " exclaimed the unfortunate Bertha. " It must be so," said Hereward, "for a time; but I swear to thee by the hilt of my sword, and the handle of my battle-axe, that .blade w'as never so true to shaft as I will be to thee ! " '•But wherefore, then, leave me, Hereward ?" said the maiden; " and oil ! wherefore not assist me in the release of my mistress ? " " Of thy mistress ! " said Hereward. *' Shame ! that thou canst give that name to mortal woman ! " " But she is my mistress," answered Bertha, " and by a thousand kind ties, which cannot be separated so long- as gratitude is the re- ward of kindness.'" " And what is her danger," said Hereward ; " what is it she wants, this accomplished lady whom thou callest mistress?" "Her honour, her life, are alike in danger," said Bertha. "She has agreed to meet the Cfesar in the field, and he will not hesitate, like a base-born miscreant, to take every advantage in the encounter, which, I grieve to say, may in all likelihood be fatal to my mistress." " Wliy dost thou think so ? " answered Herev/ard. "-This lady has •won many single combats, unless she is belied, against adversaries more formidable than the Caasar.'' "True," said the Saxon maiden; '"'but you speak of things that passed in a far different land, where faith and honour are not empty sounds ; as, alas ! they seem but too surely to be here. Trust me, it is no girlish terror which sends me out in this disguise of my coun- try dress, which, they say, finds respect at Constantinople : I go to let the cliiefs of the Crusade know the peril in which the noble lady stands, and trust to their humanity, to their rehgion, to their love of honour, and fear of disgrace, for assistance in this hour of need; and now that I have had the blessing of meeting with thee, all besides will go well — all will go well — and I will back to my mistress and report whom I have seen." '• Tarry yet another moment, my recovered treasure ! " said Here- ward, "and let me balance this matter carefully. This Frankish lady holds the Saxons like the very dust that thou brushest from the hem of her garment. She treats — she regards — the Saxons as pagans and heretics. She has dared to impose slavisli tasks upon thee, born in freedom. Her father's sword has been imbrued to the hilt with Anglo-Saxon blood— perhaps that of Waltheoff and Engel- red has added death to the stain ! She has been, besides, a pre- sumptuous fool, usurping for herself the trophies and warlike char- 190 COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. acter which belong' to the other sex. Lastly, it will be hard to fine. ii chaini)ion to fig'lit in her stead, since all the crusaders have passed over to Asia, which is the land, they say, in which they have come to war; and by orders of the Emperor, no means of return to the hither shore will be permitted to any of them." " Alas ! alas ! " said Bertha, " how does this vorld change us ! The son of Waltheoff I once knew brave, ready to assist distress, bold and g-enerous. Such was what I pictured him to myself during- his absence. I have met him ag-ain, and he is calculating', cold, and selfish!" "Hush, damsel," said the Varangian, "and know him of whom thou speakest, ere thou judgest him. The Countess of Paris is such as I have said ; yet let her appear boldly iu the lists, and when the trum- pet shall sound thrice, another shall reply, which shall announce the arrival of her own noble lord to do battle in her stead ; or should he fail to appear — I will requite her kindness to thee, Bertha, and be ready in his place." "Wilt thou? wilt thou indeed?" said the damsel; "that was spoken like the son of Waltheoff— like the genuine stock ! 1 will home, and comfort my mistress ; for surely if the judgment of God ever directed the issueof a judicial combat, its influence will descend upon this. But you hint that the Count is here — that he is at liberty — she will inquire about that." " She must be satisfied," replied Hereward, " to know that her bus band is under t)ie g"uidance of a friend, who will endeavour to pro tect him from his own extravagances and follies : or, at all events, of one who, if he cannot properly })e called a friend, has certainly not acted, and will not act, towards him the part of an enemy. — And now, farewell, long lost — long loved! " Before he could say more, the Saxon maiden, after two or three vain attempts to express her gratitude, threw herself into her lover's arms, and despite the coy- ness which she had recently shown, impressed upon his lips the thanks which she could not speak. They parted. Bertha returning- to her mistress at the lodge, winch she had left both with trouble and danger, and Hereward by the portal kept by the negro-portress, who, comphmenting the hand- some Varangian on his success among- the fair, intimated, that she had been in some sort a witness of his meeting- with the Saxon dam- sel, A piece cf gold, part of a late largesse, amply served to bribe her tongue ; and the soldier, clear of the gardens of the philosopher, sped back as he might to the barrack— judging- that it was full time to carry some supply to Count Robert, who had been left without food tlio whole day. It is a common popular saying-, that as the sensation of hunger in not connected with any pleasing- or gentle emotion, so it is particu- larly remarkable for irritating- those of anger and spleen. It is not, therefore, very surprising that Count Robert, who had been so un- u.sually long without sustenance, should receive Herewal'd with a degree of impatience beyond what the occasion merited, and injuri- ous certainly to the honest Varangian, who had repeatedly exposed liis life that day for the interest of tlie Countess and the Count himself. COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. 191 " Soil, sir ! '' be said, in that accent of affected restraint by wbicli a superior modifies bis displeasure against bis inferior into a cold and scornful expression — "You bave played a bberal bost to us !— Not tbat it is of consequence; but metbinks a Count of tbe most Cbris- tian kingdom dines not every day with a mercenary soldier, and might expect, if not the ostentatious, at least the needful part of hospitality." " And metbinks," replied the Varangian, " O most Christian Cumit, diat such of your high rank as, by cbuiee or fate, become tbe guests of such as I, may think themselves pleased, and blame not tiieir host's niggardhness, but tbe difficulty of his circumstances, if dinner should not present itself oftener than once in four-and- twenty hours." So saying, he clapped bis bands together, and his. domestic Edric entered. His guest looked astonished at tbe entrance of this third party into their retirement. '■' I will answer for this man," said Hereward, and addressed him in the following words : " What food hast thou, Edric, to place before the honourable Count ? " "Nothing but the cold pasty," replied the attendant, "marvel- lously damaged by your honour's encounter at breakfast." The military domestic, as intimated, brouglit forward a large pasty, but Avhich bad already tbat morning sustained a furious at- tack, insomuch tbat Count Robert of Paris, ^yho, like all noble Nor- mans, was somewhat nice and delicate in his eating, was in some doubt whether his scrupulousness should not prevail over bis hunger; but on looking^ more closely, sight, smell, and a fast of twenty hours, joined to convince him that the pasty was an excellent one, and that tbe charger on which it was presented, possessed corners yet im- touched. At length, having suppressed his scruples, and made bold inroad upon the remains of tbe dish, be paused to partake of a liask. of strong red wine which stood invitingly beside him, and a lusty draught increased the good-bumour wliicb bad begun to take place towards Hereward, in exchange for tiie displeasure with which be bad received him. " Now, by Heaven ! " be said, " I myself ought to be ashamed to lack tbe courtesy which I recommeud to others ! Here have I, with tbe manners of a Flemish boor, been devouring tbe provisions of my gallant host, without even asking him to sit down^at bis own table, and to ])artake of his own good cheer ! " " I will not strain courtesies with you for that," said Hereward ; and thrusting bis hand into the pasty, he proceeded with gnfat speed and dexterity to devour the miscellaneous contents, a handful of v/bicli was enclr. 1 in his grasp. The Count now withdrew from the table, partly m disgust at tbe rustic i)roeeeding3 of Hereward, who, however, by now calling Edric to join him in his attack upon tbe pasty, showed that he had, in fact, according to bis man- ners, subjected himself previously to some observance of respect to- wards his guest ; while the assistance of bis attendant enabled hini to make a clear cacaabulum of what was left. Count Robert at length summoned up courage sufficient to put a question which had been trembling upon his lips ever since Hereward liad returned. 192 COUNT KOBERT OF PARIS. "Have thine inquiries, my gallant friend, learned more concern- ing* my unfortunate wife, my faithful Breiihilda?" " Tidings I have," said the Anglo-Saxon, " but whether pleasing- or not, yourself must be the judge. This much I have learned ;— slie hath, as you know, come under an engagement to meet the Csesar in arms in the lists, but under conditions which you may per- haps think strange; these, however, she hath entertained without scruple." "Let me know these terms," said the Count of Paris ; " tiiey will, I think, appear less strange in my eyes than in thine." But while he aflected to speak with the utmost coolness, the hus- band's sparkling eye and crimsoned check betrayed the alteration which had taken place -in his feelings. " The lady and the Cffisar," , said Hereward, " as you partly heard yourself, are to meet in fight ; if the Countess wins, of course she remains the wife of the noble I Count of Paris ; if she loses, she becomes the paramour of the Csesar Nicephorus Briennius." "Saints and angels forbid!" said Count Robert; "were they to permit such treason to triumph, we might be pardoned for doubting- their divinity ! " " Yet methinks," said the Anglo-Saxon, " it were no disgraceful precaution that both you and I, with other friends, if we can obtain such, should be seen under shield in the li^^ts on the morning of the conflict. To triumph, or to be defeated, is in the hand of fate ; but what we cannot fail to witness is, whether or not the lady receives that fair play which is the due of an lionourable combatant, and which, as you have yourself seen, can be sometimes basely trans- gressed in this Grecian empire." "On that condition," said the Count, "and i)rotesting that not even the extreme danger of my lady shall make me break througli tlie rule of a fair fight, I will surely attend the lists, if thou, brave Saxon, canst find me any means of doing so. — Yet stay," he con- tinued, after reflecting for a moment, "thou shalt promise not to let her know that her Count is on the field, far less to point him out to her eye among the press of warriors. O, thou dost not know that the sight of the beloved will sometimes steal from us our courage, even when it has most to achieve ! " " We will endeavour," said the Varangian, " to arrange matters according to tliy pleasure, so that thou findest out no more fantas- tical difliiculties ; for, by my word, an aftair so complicated in itself, requires not to be confused by the fine-spun whims of tiiy nationnl gallantry. Meantime, much must be done tliis night; and while I go about it, thou, Sir Knight, liadst best remain here, with such dis- guise of garments and such food as Edric may be able to procure for tliee. Fear nothing from iritrusion on the part of thy neigh-r bours. We Varangians resi)ect each other's secrets, of whatcvei* Qiiture they may chance to be." COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. 193 CHAPTER XXL fiiit for our trusty brother-in-law — and tlie Abbot, AVith all the rest of that cnnsorted crew, — Destruction .straight shall dog them at the heels : — Good uncle, help to order several powers To Oxford, or where'er these traitors are : They shall not live within this world, I swear. ■■■ ElcMrdTL As llerewartl spolce the last words narrated in tlie forcg'oin<^' cliap- ter, he left the Count in his apartment, and proceeded to tlie Blac- quernal Pahice. We traced his first entrance into the conrt, hnt since then lie had frequently been summoned, not only by oi'der of the Princess Anna Comnena, who delighted in asking him questions concerning- the customs of his native country, and marking* down the replies in her own inflated languag-e ; but also by the direct command of the Emperor himself, who had the humour of many princes, that of desiring to obtain direct information from persons in a very inferior station in their Court. The ring which tlie Princess liad given to the Varangian served as a pass-token more than once, and was now so generally known by the slaves of the palace, t^aat Hereward had only to slip it into the hand of a principal pei 3on among' them, and was introduced into a small chamber, not distent from the saloon already mentioned, dedicated to the Muses. In this small apartment, the Emperor, his spouse Irene, and their accom- plished daughter Anna Comnena, were seated together, clad in very ordinary apparel, as indeed the furnittire of the room itself was of I the kind used by respectable citizens, saving that mattresses, com- posed of eider-down, hung- before the door to prevent the risk of eaves-dropping'. ^ " Our trusty Varangian," said the Empress. "My g'uide and tutor respecting the manners of those steel-clad men," said the Princess Anna Comnena, " of whom it is so necessary that I should form an accurate idea." "Your Imperial Majesty," said the Empress, "will not, I trust, think your consort and your muse-inspired daughter are too many to share with yon the intelligence brought by this brave and loval man ? " " Dearest wife and daughter," returned the Emperor, " I have liitherto spared you the burden of a painful secret, which I have locked in my own bosom, at whatever expense of solitary sorrow and unimparted anxiety. Noble daughter, you in particular will feel this calamity, learning, as you must learn, to think odiously of one, of whom it has hitherto been your duty to hold a very different opinion." " Holy Mary ! " exclaimed the Princess. '•'Rally yourself," said tlie Emperor; "remember you are a child of the purple chamber, born, not to weep for your father's wrongs, but to avenge them, —not to regard even him "who has lain by your 194 COUNT ROBERT OF TARIS. side US half so importaut as the sacred Imperial grandeur, of which you are yourself a partaker." " What can such words preface ? " said Anna Comnena, in great agitation. " They say," answered the Emperor, " that the Caesar is an ungrate- ful man to all my bounties, and even to that which annexed hira to my own house, and made hira by adoption my own son. He hath consorted himself with a knot of traitors, whose very names arc enough to raise the foul fiend, as if to snatch his assured prey ! " "Could Nicephorus do this?" said the astonished and forlorn Princess ; " Nicephorus, Avho has so often called my eyes the lights by which he steered his path? Could he do this to my father, to whose exploits he has listened hour after hour, protesting that he knew not whether it was the beauty of the language, or the heroism of the action, which most enchanted him ? Thinking' with the same thought, seeing with the same eye, loving with the same heart, — O, m;y father! it is impossible that he could be so false. Think of the neighbouring Temple of the Muses ! " " And if I did," murmured Alexius in his heart, " I should think of the only apology which could be proposed for the traitor. A little is well enough, but the full soul loatheth the honey-comb." Then speaking aloud, " My daughter," ho said, "be comforted; we our- selves were unwilling to believe the shameful truth; but our guards have been debauched ; their commander, that ungrateful Achilles Tatius, with tlie equal traitor, Agelastes, have been seduced to favour our imprisonnnent or murder; and, alas for Greece! in the very moment when she required the fostering care of a parent, she was to be deprived of him by a sudden and merciless blow ! " Here the Emperor wept, whether for the loss to be sustained by his subjects, or of his own life, it is hard to say. " Methinks," said Irene, ''your Imperial Highness is slow in taking measures against the danger," " Under your gracious permission, mother," answered the Prin- cess, " I would rather say he was hasty in giving belief to it. Me- thinks the evidence of a Varangian, granting him to be ever so stout a man-at-arms, is but a frail guarantee against the honour of your son-in-law — the approved bravery and fidelity of the captain of your guards — the deep sense, virtue, and profound wisdom of the greatest of your philosophers " " And the conceit of an over-educated daughter," said the Emperor, "who will not allow her parent to judge in what most concerns him. I will tell thee, Anna, I know every one of them, and the trust which may be reposed in them ; the honour of your Nicephorus — the bravery and fidelity of the Acolyte — and the virtue and wisdom of Ag'clastes — have I not had them all in my purse ? And had ray purse con- tinued well filled, and my arm strong as it was of late, there they would have still remained. But the butterflies went off as the weather became cold, and I must meet the tempest without their assistance. You talk of want of proof? I have proof sufficient v/hen I see danger; this honest soldier brought me indications which corresponded v.ith my own private remarks, made on purpose. Varangian he shall be of COUiV'f U0BEI5T OF PAUlf^ 195 Varangians; Acolyte he shall be named, m place of the present traitor ; and wlio knows Avliat ina^y come thereafter ? " "May it ])lcaso your Highness," said the Varang-ian, who had been hitherto silent, " many men in this empire rise to dignity by the fall of their original patrons, but it is a road to greatness to which lean- not reconcile my conscience; moreover, having" recovered a friend from whom I v>'as long ago separated, I shall require, in short space, your Imperial licence for going hence, where I shall leave thousands of enemies behind me, and, spending my life, like many of my coun- trymen, under the banner of King 'William of Scotland " "Part with tltce, most inimitable man! " cried the Emperor, with emphasis; "where shall I get a soldier— a champion— a friend— so faithful?" "Noble sir," replied the Anglo-Saxon, "I am every way sensible to your goodness and munificence ; but let me entreat you to call mo by my own name, and to promise me nothing but your forgive- ness for my having been the agent of such confusion among your Imperial servants. Not only_ is the threatened fate of Achilles Tatius, my benefactor; of the Caesar, whom I think ray well-v/isher ; and even of Agelastes himself, painful, so far as it is of my bringing round ; but also I have known it somehow happen that those on vv'hom your Imperial Majesty has lavished the most valuable expres- sions of your favour one day, were the next day food to fatten the chough and crow. And this, I acknowledge, is a purpose for which I would not willingly have it said I had brought my Englisli limbs to these Grecian shores." " Call thee by thine own name, my Edward," said the Emperor, (while he muttered aside — "by Heaven, I have ao'ain forgot the name of the barbarian ! ") — by thine own name certainly for the pre- sent, but only until we shall Revise one more fitted for the trust we repose in thee. Meantime, look at this scroll, M'hich contains, I think, all the particulars v/hicli v/e have been able to learn of this plot, and give it to these unbelieving women, who will not credit that an Emperor is in dnngcr till the blades of the conspirators' poniards arc cltishing witliin his ribs." Hereward did as he was commanded, and having looked at the scroll, and signified, by bending his head, his acquiescence in its contents, he presented it to Irene, who had not read long ere, with a countenance so embittered that she had diiiiculty in pointing out the cause of her displeasure to her daughter, she bade her, with animation, "Read that — read that, and judge of the gratitude and affection of thy Cjesar ! " The Princess Anna Comnena awoke from a state of profound and overpowering' melanclioly, and looked at the passage pointed out to lier, at first with an air of languid curiosity, which presently deep- ened into the most intense interest. She clutched the scroll as a falcon does his prey, her eye lightened v/ith indignation; aiid it was with the cry of the bird when "in fury that she exclaimed, "Bloody- minded, double-hearted traitor! what wouldst thou have? Yes, father," she said, rising in fury, " it is no longer the voice of a deceived princess that shall intercede to avert from tiie traitor 100 COU^•T ROBEllT OF PAUIS. Niccpliorus ilie doom lio lias deserved ! Did lie think that olie borri in the purple cliamber could be divorced — murdered, perhaps — with the petty formula of tlie Romans, 'Restore the keys— be no loug'cr my domestic drudg-e?'^ Was a daug-hter of the blood of Comneiuis liable to such insults as the meanest of Quirites mig'lit bestow on a fixraily housekeeper ! " So'saying', she dashed the tears from her eyes, and her countenance, naturally that of beauty and g"entleness, became animated with the expression of a fury, Ilereward looked at her with a mixture of fear, dislike, and compassion. She ag'ain burst forth, for nature having' given her considerable abilities, had lent her at the same time an cnerg'y of passion far superior in power to the cold ambition of Irene, or the wily, ambidexter, shuffling- policy of the Emperor. "lie shall abye 'it," said the Princess; "he shall dearly abye it! False, smiling-, cozening- traitor!— and for that unfeminine barba- rian! Something- of this I g'uessed, even at that old fool's banquet- ing-house ; and yet if this unworthy Cresar submits his body to the chance of arms, he is less prudent than I have some reason to believe. Think you he will have the madness to brand us with such open ne- glect, my father? and will you not invent some mode of insuring- our reveng-e ? " "Soh!" thought the Emperor, "this difficulty is over; she will run down hill to her reveng-e, and will need the snaffle and curb more than the lash. If every jealous dame in Constantinople were to pursue her fury as unrelenting-ly, our laws should be written, like Draco's, not in ink, but in blood. — Attend to me now," he said aloud, '■'my wife, my daughter, and thou, dear Edward, and you shall learn, and you three only, my mode of navig-ating- the vessel of the state throug-h these shoals." "Let us sec distinctly," continued Alexius, "the means by which they propose to act, and these shall instruct us how to meet them. A certain number of the Varang-ians are unhappily seduced, under pretence of wrong's, artfully stirred up by their villanous general. A part of them ai-e studiously to be arrang-ed nigh our person — tlie traitor XJrsel, some of them suppose, is dead, but if it were so, his name is sufficient to draw tog-ether his old factionaries — I have a means of satisfying- then.i on that point, on which I shall remain silent for the present. — A considerable body of the Immortal Guards have also g-iven way to seduction ; they are to be placed to sujiport the handful of treaclierous Varang-ians, who are in the plot to attack our person. — Now, a slight change in the stations of the soldiery, which thou, my faithfnl Edward — or — a— a — whatever thou art named, — for wliich thou, I say, shalt have full authority, will derange the plans of the traitors, and place the true men in such position around them as to cut them to pieces with little trouble.'"' " And the combat, my lord?" said the Saxon. '" Thou hadst been no true Varang-ian hadst thou not inquired after that," said the Emperor, nodding- g-ood-humouredly towaa-ds liim, "As to the combat, the Caesar has devised it, and it shall be J TJic laor.ic ivna of the Roman divorce. COUJNT KOBEllT OF i'AFvlS, 107 my care that lie shall not retreat from tlie daiii^erous part of it. lie cannot in honour avoid fig'hting- \yiLh this -woman, strang-e as the combat is : and however it ends, the conspiracy will break forth, and as assuredly as it comes ag'ainst persons prepared, and in arms, shall it be stitled in the blood of the conspirators ! " " iMy reveng-e does not require this,'' said the Princess; "and your Imperial honour is also interested that this Countess shall be protected." '• It is little business of mine," said the Emperor. " She comes here with her husband altog-ether uninvited. He behaves with inso- lence in my presence, and deserves whatever may be the issue to himself or his lady of their mad adventure. In sooth, I desired littJe more than to give him a frig'ht with those animals whom their igno- rance judg-ed enchanted, and to give his wife a slig-lit alarm about the impetuosity of a Grecian lover, and there my veng-eance should liave ended. But it may be that his Avife may be taken under my protection, now that little reveng-e is over." "And a paltry reveng-e it was," said the Empress, " that you, a man past middle life, and with a wife who might command some attention, should constitute yourself the object of alarm to such a handsome man as Count Robert, and the Amazon his wife." "l)y your favour, dame Irene, no," said the Empei-or. "I left that part of the proposed comedy to my son-in-law the Ciesar." But when the poor Emperor had in some measure stopt one flond- g:ate, he effectually opened another, and one which was more formid- able. "The more shame to your Imperial wisdom, my father!" exclaimed the Princess Anna Comnena; "it is a shame, that with wisdom and a beard like yours, you should be meddling' in such in- decent follies as admit disturbance into private families, and that family your ov.'u daughter's ! Who can say that the Caesar Niceplio- rus Briennius ever looked astray towards another woman tlian his wife, till the Emperor taught him to do so, and involved him in a Aveb of intrigue and treachery, in which he has endangered the life of his father-in-lav/ ?" "Daughter! daugliter! daughter!" — said the Empress; "' daughter of a she-v,-olf, I think, to goad her parent at such an unhappy lime, when all the leisure he has is too little to defend his life ! " "Peace, I pray you, women, both, with your senseless clamours," answered Alexius, "and let me at least swim for my life undisturbed Avith your folly. God knows if I am a man to encourage, I will not say the reality of wrong", but even its mere appearance ! " These words he uttered, crossing himself, with a devout groan. His wife Irene, in the mean time, stept before him, and said, witli a bitterness in her looks and accent, which only long-concealed nuptial hatred breakin^^ forth at once could convey, — "Alexius, terminate this affair how it will, you have lived a hypocrite, and thon wilt not fail to die one." So saying, with an air of noble indignation, and carrying her daughter along with her, she swept out of the apart- ment. The Emperor looked after her in some confusion. He soon, how- ever, recovered his sclf-uosscssiou. and; turning to Ilercwardj with a 198 COUKT ROBEHT OF PARIS. look of injured majesty, said, "Ah! my dear Edward," — for the word liad become rooted in his mind, instead of the less euphonic name of Hereward, — "thou seest how it is even with the greatest, juid tliat the Emperor, in moments of difficulty, is a suhject of mis- construction, as well as the meanest burg-ess of Constantinople ; nevevtheless, my trust is so great in thee, Edward, that I would have thee believe, that my daughter, Anna Comnena, is not of the temper of her mother, but rather of my own ; lionouring, thou mayst see, ■\vitli religious fidelity, the unworthy ties which I hope soon to break, and assort her with other fetters of Cupid, which sliall be borne more lightly. Edward, my main trust is in thee. Accident presents us with an opportunity, happy of the happiest so it be rightly improved, of having all the traitors before us assembled on one fair field. Think, then, on that day, as the Franks say at their tournaments, that fair eyes behold thee. Thou canst not devise a gift within my power, but I will gladly load thee with it." '• It needs not," said the Varangian, somewhat coldly ; " my high- est ambition is to merit the epitaph upon my torn!), 'Hereward was faithful.' I am about, however, to demand a proof of your imperial confidence, which, perhaps, you may think a startling one." "Indeed! " said the Emperor. "What, in one word, is thy de- mand ? " " Permission," replied Hereward, " to go to the Duke of Bouillon's encampment, and entreat his presence in the lists, to witness this extraordinary combat." '' That he may return with his crusading madmen," said the Em- peror, "and sack Constantinople, under pretence of doing justice to his Confederates ? This, Varangian, is at least speaking thy mind openly." "No, by Heavens!" said Hereward, suddenly; "the Duke of Bouillon shall come with no more knights than may be a reasonable guard, should treachery be ofiered to the Countess of Paris." "Well, oven in this," said the Emperor, "v/ill I be conformable; and if thou, Edward, betrayest my trust, think that thou forfeitest all that my friendship has promised, and dost incur, besides, the dam- nation that is due to the traitor who betrays with a kiss." " For thy reward, noble sir," answered the Varangian, " I hereby renounce all claim to it. When the diadem is once more firmly fixed upon thy brow, and the sceptre in thy hand, if I am then alive, if my poor services should deserve so much, I will petition thee for the means of leaving this court, and returning to the distant island in which I was born. Meanwhile, think me not unfaithful, because I have for a time the means of being so with effect. Your Imperial Highness shall learn that Hereward is as true as is your right hand to your left." — So saying, he took his leave with a pi'ofound obei- sance. The Emperor gazed after him with a countenance in which doubt was mingled with admiration. " I have trusted him," he said, " with all he asked, and with the pov/er of ruining me entirely, if such be his purpose. He has but to breathe a whisper, and the whole mad crew of crusaders, kept iu COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. 199 humour at the expense of so mucli current falsehood, and so much more gold, will return with fire and sword to burn down (Constanti- nople, and sow with salt the place where it stood. I have done \vhat I had resolved never to do, — I have ventured kingdom and life on the faith of a man born of v/oman. How often have I said, nay, sworn, that I would not hazard myself on such peril, and yet, step by step, I have done so ! I cannot tell — there is in that man's looks and words a g'ood faith which overwhelms ine ; and, v>'hat is almost incredible, my belief in hhn liaa increased in proportion to his show- ing- mo how slight my power was over him. I threw, like the wily angler, every bait I could devise, and some of them such as a king- would scarcely liave disdained ; to none of these would he rise ; but yet he gorges, I may say, the bare hook, and enters upon my service without a shadow of self-interest. — Can this be double - distilled treachery ? — or can it be what men call disinterestedness ? — If 1 thought him false, the moment is not yet past — he has not yet crossed the bridge — he has not passed the guards of the palace, who have no hesitation, and know no disobedience — But no — I were then alone in the land, and without a friend or confidant. — I hear the sound of the outer gate unclose, the sense of danger certainly renders my ears more acute than usual. — It shuts again— the die is cast. He is at liberty — and Alexius Comueuus must stand or fall, according to the uncertain faith of a mercenary Varangian." He clapt his hands ; a slave appeared, of whom he demanded wine. He drank, and his heart Avas cheered within him. " I am decided," he said, " and will abide with resolution the cast of the throw, for good or for evil." So saying, he retired to his apartment, and was not again seen during that night. CHAPTER XXII. And f\ye, as if for death, some lonely trumpet peal'd. Cahfbell. The Varangian, his head agitated with the weighty matters which were imposed on him, stopt from time to time as he journeyed through the moonlight streets, to arrest passing ideas as they shot through his mind, and consider them with accuracy in all their bearings. His thoughts were such as animated or alarmed him alternately, each followed by a confused throng of accompaniments which it suggested, and banished again in its turn by refleciions of another description. It was one uf those conjunctures when the minds of ordinary men feel themselves unable to support a burden which is suddenly flung upon them, and when, on the contrary, those of uncommon fortitude, and that best of Heaven's gifts, good sense, founded on presence of mind, feel their talents awakened and regu- lated for the occasion, like a good steed under the management of a rider of courage and experience. As he stood in one of those fits of reverie, which repeatedly during 200 CUUA'T ItOEEilT OF i'AlliS. tbafc mght arrested his stern iiiilitary mnrcb, Hereward tliong-lit tliat liis ear cau£,''ht the note of a distant trumpet. This surprised him ; ji trumpet blown at that Late liour, and in the streets of Constantinople, argued something- extraordinary; for as all military movements were the subject of special ordinance, the etiquette of the night could hardly have been transgressed without some great cause. The question was, what that cause could be ? Had the insurrection broken out unexpectedly, and in a different manner from Avhat the conspirators ])roposed to themselves? — If so, liis meeting with his plighted bride, after so many years' absence, was but a delusive preface to their separating for ever. Or had the cru- saders, a race of men upon whose motions it w\as difficult to calculate, suddenly taken arms and returned from the opposite shore to sur- prise the city ? This might very possibly be the case ; so numerous liad been tlie different causes of complaint afforded to the crusaders, that, when they were now for tlie first time assembled into one body, and had heard the stories which they could reciprocally tell concern- ing the perfidy of the Greeks, nothing w^as so likely, so natural, even perhaps so justifiable, as that they should study revenge. But the sound rather resembled a point of Avar regularly blown, than the tumultuous blare of bugle-horns and trumpets, the accom- paniments at once, and the annunciation, of a taken town, in which the horrid circumstances of storm had not yet given place to such litem peace as the victors' weariness of slaughter and rapine allows i\i length to the wretched inhabitants. Whatever it was, it was necessary that Hereward should learn its purport, and therefore he made his way into a broad street near the barracks, from which the sound seemed to come, to which point, indeed, his way was directed for other reasons. The inhabitants of that quarter of the town did not appear vio- lently startled by this military signal. The moonlight slept on the street, crossed by the gigantic shadowy towers of Sancta Sophia. No human being appeared in the streets, and such as for an instant looked from tlieir doors or from their lattices, seemed to have their curiosity quickly satisfied, for they withdrew their heads, and secured the opening through which they had peeped. Hereward could not help remembering the traditions which were recounted by the fathers of his tribe, in the deep woods of Hamp- shire, and which spoke of invisible huntsmen, who were heard to follow with viewless horses and hounds the unseen chase through the depths of the forests of Germany. Such, it seemed, were the sounds with which these haunted woods were wont to ring while the wihl chase was up ; and with such apparent terror did the hearers listen to their clamour. " Fie ! " he said, as he suppressed within him a tendency to the same superstitious fears ; " do such childish fancies belong to a man trusted with so much, and from whom so much is expected?" He paced down the street, therefore, with his battle-axe over his shoulder, und the first person whom he saw venturing to look out of his door, lie questioned concerning the cause of this aiilitary music at such an unaeoiistomed Uou;% COL.>ri' IJUBEllT Oi'- I'AlilS. 201 " I eaiHiot tell, so please you, my lonl/' said the citizen, unwilling-, it appeared, to remain in the open air, or to enter into conversation, and gTcatly di.sposed to decline further cjuestioning*. TJiis was tlie l)olitical citizen of Constantino])le, whom we met with at the hes;-in- nin.g- of this lustory, and ^s'h.o, hastily stepping into his habitation, esciiewed ail further conversation. The wrestler Stephanos sh.owed himself at the next door, whicli was garlanded with oak and ivy leaves, in honour of some recent victory. He stood unshrinking, partly encouraged by the conscious- ness of personal strength, and i)artly by a rugged surliness of temper, which is often mistaken among persons of this kind for real courage. His admirer and flatterer, Lysimachus, kept himself ensconced behind his ample shoulders. As Uerev/ard passed, he put the same question as he did to the former citizen, — " Know you the meaning of these trumpets sounding so late? " '•' You should know best yourself," answered Stephanos, doggedly ; '■ for, to judge by your axe and helmet, they are your trumpets, and not ours, which disturb honest men in their first sleep." " Varlet ! " answered the Varangian, with an emphasis which made the prizer start, — "but— Avhen that trumpet sounds, it is no time for a soldier to punish insolence as it deserves." The Greek started back and bolted into his house, nearly over- throwing in the speed of his retreat the artist Lysimachus, who was listening to what passed. Ilereward passed on to the barracks, Vrliere the military music had seemed to halt ; but on the Varangian crossing the threshold of the ample courtyard, it broke forth again with a tremendous burst, whose clangour almost stunned him, though well accustomed to the sounds. " VvTiat is the meaning of this, Engelbreclit ?" he said to tlie Varangian sentinel, who paced axe in hand before the entrance. " The proclamation of a challenge and combat," answered Engel- brecht. " Strange things toward, comrade ; the frantic crusaders have bit the Grecians, and infected them with their humour of tilting, as they say dogs do each other with madness." Herev/ard made no reply to the sentinel's speech, but pressed for- ward into a knot of his fellow-soldiers Avho vrere assem'bled in the court, half-armed, or, more properly, in total. disarray, as ju.^t arisen from their beds, and huddled around the trumpets of their corps, which were drawn out in full pomp. He of the gigantic instrument, whose duty it was to intimate the express commanus of the Emjieror, v.^as not wanting in his place, and the musicians were supported by a band of the Varangians in arms, headed by Achilles Tatius himself. Hereward could also notice, on approaching nearer, as his comrades made way for him, that six of the Imperial heralds were on duty on this occasion ; four of these (two acting at the same time) had already made proclamation, which was to be repeated for the third time by the two last, as was the usual fashion in Constantinople with Imperial mandates of great consequence. Achilles Tutius, the moment he saw his confidant, made him a sign, which Ilere- ward understood as conycying a desire to speak with him after the 202 COUNT JiOlJJOHL' i)b' J'AJiLS. proclamation was over. The herald, after the flourish of triirapeta was finished, coinraenced in these words : — "By the authority of the resplendent and divine Prince Alexius Comnenus, Emperor of the most holy Roman Empire, his Imperial Majesty desires it to be made known to all and sundry the subjects of his empire, whatever their race of blood may be, or at whatever shrine of divinity tliey happen to bend — Know ye, therefore, that upon the second day after this is dated, our beloved son-in-law, the much esteemed Caesar, hath taken upon him to do battle with out sworn enemy, Robert, Count of Paris, on account of bis insolent conduct, by presuming- publicly to occupy our royal seat, and no less by breaking- in our Imperial presence, those curious specimens ol art, ornamenting our throne, called by tradition the Lions of Solo- mon. And that there may not remain a man in Europe who shall dare to say that the Grecians are behind other parts of the world in any of the manly exercises which Christian nations use, the said noble enemies, renouncing all assistance from falsehood, from spclhj, or from magic, shall debate this quarrel hi three courses with grinded spears, and three passages of arms with sharpened swords ; the field to be at the judgment of the honourable Emperor, and to be dc<.M\ied at his most gracious and unerring pleasure. And so God show the Tight ! " Another formidable flourish of the trumpets concluded the cere- mony. Achilles then dismissed the attendant troops, as well as the heralds and musicians, to their respective quarters ; and having got Hereward close to liis side, inquired of hira whether he had learned anything of the prisoner, Robert, Count of Paris. _ "Nothing-," said the Varangian, " save the tidings your prodiama- tion contains." "You tliink, then,'"' said Achilles, " that the Count has been a party to it." "lie ought to have been so," answered the Varangian. " 1 know no one but himself entitled to take burden for his appearance iu the lists." '•'Why, look you," said the Acolyte, "my most excellent, thougli blunt-witted Hereward, this Csesar of ours hath had the extravagance to venture his tender wit in comparison to that of Achilles Tatius. He stands upon his honour, too, this inefl'able fool, and is displeased with the idea of being supposed either to challenge a woman, or to receive a challenge at her hand. He has substituted, therefore, the name of the lord instead of tlie lady. If the Count ftiil to appear, the Caesar walks forward challenger and successful combatant a-fc a cheap rate, since no one has encountered him, and claims that the lady should be delivered up to him as captive of his dreaded bow aiul spear. This will be the signal for a general tumult, in which, ii the Emperor be not skin on the spot, he will be conveyed to the dun<';eon of his own Blacquernal, there to endure the doom which his cruelty has inflicted upon so many others." " But "said the Varangian. "But — but— but," said his officer; "but thou art a fool. Canst thou not see that this gallant Cfesar is willing to avoid the rislc of COUXT UOliERT OF PAKIS. 203 eucoiinteriug- with this lady, while he earnestly desires to be supposed willing- to meet her husband ? It is our business to fix the combat in sucli a shape as to bring- all who are prepared for insurrection to- g-ether in arms to play their parts. Do thou only see that our trusty friends are placed near to the Emperor's person, and in such a manner as to keep from him the officious and meddling portion of guards, who may be supposed to assist him ; and whether the Caesar fights a combat with lord or lady, or whether there be any combat at all or not, the revolution shall bo accomplished, and the Tatii shall replace the Comneni ui^on the Imperial throne of Constantinople. Go, my trusty Hereward. Thou wilt not forget that the signal word of the 'insurrection is Ursel, who lives in the aflections of the people, although his body, it is said, has long lain a corpse in the dungeons of the Blacquernal." '• What was this Ursel," said Hereward, " of whom I hear men talk so variously ? " " A competitor for the crown with Alexius Comnenus — good, brave, and honest ; but overpowered by the cunning, rather than the skill or bravery of his foe. He died, as I believe, in the Blacquernal ; though when, or how, there are few that can say. ]>ut, up and be doing, my Hereward ! Speak encouragement to the Varangians- Interest whomsoever thou canst to join us. Of the Immortals, as they are called, and of the discontented citizens, enough are prepared to fill up the cry, and follo-.v in the wake of those on whom wo must rely as the beginners of the enterprise. No longer shall Alexius's : cunning', in avoiding popular assemblies, avail to protect him; he cannot, with regard to his honour, avoid being present at a combat to be fought beneath his own eye ; and Mercury be praised for the eloquence which inspired him, after some hesitation, to determine [for the proclamation 1 " "You have seen him, then, this evening ?" said the Varangian. " Seen him ! Unquestionably/' answered the Acolyte. " Hud 1 ordered these trumpets to be sounded without his knowledge, the blast ' had blown the head from my shoulders." I " I had well-nigh met you at the palace," said Hereward ; while his heart throbbed almost as high as if he had actually had such a dan- ' gerous encounter. '•' I heard something of it," said Achilles ; " that you came to take ' the parting orders of him who now acts the sovereign. Surely, had : I seen you there, with that steadfast, open, seemingly honest counte- . nance, cheating tlie wily Greek by very dint of bluntness, I had not forborne laughing at the contrast between that and the thoughts of i thy heart." \ '•' God alone," said Hereward, "knows the thoughts of our hearts ; [but I take Him to witness, that I am faithfid to my promise, a.nd Avill [discharge the task intrusted to me." f " Bravo ! mine honest Anglo-Saxon," said Achilles. " I pray thee 1 to call my slaves to unarm me ; and when thou thyself doffest those f weapons of an ordinary life-guardsman, tell them they never shall above twice more enclose the limbs of one for whom fote has much more fitting garments in store." 204 COUNT ROBEKT OF PAKiS. Hereward dared nofc intrust liis voice with an answer to so critical a speech ; he bowed profoundly, and retired to his own quarters in the building-. Upon enterino' the apartment, he was immediately saluted by the voice of Count Robert, in joyful accent?, not sup]n-essed by the fear of making* himself heard, though prudence should have made that uppermost in his mind. "Hast thou heard it, my dear llerev,'ard," he said — '' liast thou heard the proclamation, by which this Greek antelope hath defied me to tilting with grinded spears, and fighting- three passages of arms with sharpened swords? Yet there is something strange, too, that he should not think it safer to hold my lady to the encounter ? He may think, perhaps, that the crusaders would not permit such a battle to be fought. But, by our Lady of the Broken Lances ! he little knows that the men of the V/cst hold their ladies' character for cour- age as jealously as they do their own. This v/hole night have I been considering in what armour I shall clothe me ; what shift I shall mak ; for a steed ; and whether I shall not honour him sufficiently by using- Tranchefcr as my only weapon, against his whole armour, olfensive and defensive." "I shall take care, however," said Hereward, " that thou art better provided in case of need. — Tliou knowest not the Greeks." CHArXER XXHL The Varangian did not leave the Count of Paris until the latter liad placed in his hands his signet-ring semte (as the heralds exi)ress \l),iinth lances splintered, M\(\.\>^iii\\\v^ the proud motto, "Mine yet unscathed.'"' Provided with this symbol of confidence, it was now his business to take order for communicating the approaching solem- nity to the leader of the crusading' army, and demanding- for him, in the name of Robert of Paris, and the Lady Brenhilda, such a de- tachment of western cavaliers as might insure strict observance of honour and honesty in the arrang-ement of the lists, and during- the progress of the combat. The duties imposed on Hereward were such as to render it impossible for him to proceed personally to the camp of Godfrey; and though there were many of the Varangians in whose fidelity he could have trusted, he knew of none among- those under his immediate command whose intelligence, on so novel an occasion, might be entirely depended on. h\ this perplexity, he strolled, i)erliaps without well knowing why, to the gardens of Agelastes, where fortune once more produced him an interviev/ with Bertha. No sooner had Hereward made her aware of his difficulty, than the faitlifiil bower-maiden's resolution was taken. "I see,'"' said she, "that the peril of this part of the adventure must rest with me; and wherefore should it not? My mistress, in the bosom of prosperity, offered herself to go forth into the wide COU^•T ROBERT OF PARIS. world for "my snkc ; I will for hers go to the camp of tliis Frnnkisli lord. He is an honourable man, and a pious Christian, and his fol- lowers are faithful pilgrims. A woman can have nothing- to fear who g"ocs to such men upon such an errand." The Yarang-ian, however, was too well acquainted with the man- ners of camps to permit the fair Bertha to go alone, lie ])rovided, therefore, for her safe-guard a trusty old soldier, bound to his person by long kindness and confidence, and having thoroughly possessed her of the particulars of the message she was to deliver, and desired her to be in readiness without the enclosure at peep of dawn, returned once more to his barracks. With the earliest light, Ilercward was again at the spot where he had parted overnight with Bertha, accompanied by the honest soldier to whose care he meant to confide her. In a sliort time, he had seen them safely on board of a ferry-boat lying in the harbour ; the mas- ter of which readily admitted them, after some examination of their licence, to pass to Scutari, which was forged in the name of the Aco- lyte, as authorised by that foul conspirator, and which agreed witii the appearance of old Osmund and his young charge. The morning was lovely : and erelong' the town of Scutari opened on the view of the travellers, glittering, as now, with a variety of architecture, which, though it might be termed fantastical, could not be denied the praise of beauty. These buildings rose boldly out of a thick grove of cypresses, and other huge trees, the larger, probably, as they were respected for filling the cemetries, and being the guar- dians of the dead. At the period we mention, another circumstance, no less striking than beautiful, rendered doubly interesting a scene which must have been at all times greatly so. A large portion of that miscellaneous army which came to regain the holy places of Palestine, and the blessed Sepulchre itself, from the infidels, had established them- selves in a camp within a mile, or thereabouts, of Scutari. Although, therefore, the crusaders were destitute in a great measure of the use of tents, the army (excepting the pavilions of some leaders of In'gh rank) had constructed for themselves temporary huts, not un- pleasing to the eye, being decorated with leaves and flowers, while the tall pennons and banners that floated over them witli various de- vices, showed that the flower of Europe were assembled at that place. A loud and varied murmur, resembling that of a thronged hive, floated from the camp of the crusaders to the neighbouring town of Scutari, and every now and then the deep tone was broken by some shriller sound, the note of some musical instrument, or the treble scream of some child or female, in fear or in gaiety. The party at length landed in safety; and as they approached one of the gates of the camp, there sallied forth a brisk array of gallant cavaliers, pages, and squires, exercising their masters' horses or their own. From the noise they made, conversing at the very top of their voices, galloping, curvetting-, and prancing their palfreys, it seemed as if their early discipline had called them to exercise ere the fumes of last night's revel were thoroughly dissipated by repose. So soon iw they saw Bertha and her party, they approached them with ciica 20G COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. which marked their country wjis Ital}'— *"' Al'erta ! al'erta ! — Roba de g'luidao-no, cameradi ! "^ Tlicy gatlierod round tlie Ang-lo-Saxon maiden and her com- panions, re]ieatinp; their cries in a manner which made Bertha treinble. Their g'cneral demand M'as, '' Wliat was her business in their camp?" " I wouhl to the g-encral-in-chief, cavaliers," answered Bertha, '• " having- a secret message to liis ear." " For whoso ear ? " said a leader of the party, a handsome youth of about eighteen years of age, who seemed either to have a sounder brain than his fellovrs, or to have overflowed it with less wine. " Wliich of our leaders do you come hither to see?" he demanded. " Godfrey of Bouillon." " Indeed ! " said the page who had spoken first ; " can nothing of less consequence serve thy turn? Take a look amongst us; young are we all, and reasonably wealthy. My Lord of Bouillon is old, and if he has any sequins, he is not like to lavish tliem in this way." " Still I have a token to Godfrey of Bouillon," answered Bertha, ''an assured one; and he will little thank any who obstructs my free passag*e to him : " and therewithal showing a little case, in which the signet of the Count of Paris was enclosed, " I will trust it in your hands," she said, " if you promise not to open it, but to give mo free access to the noble leader of the crusaders." " I will," said the youth, " and if such be the Duke's pleasure, thou shalt be admitted to him." " Ernest the Apulian, thy dainty Italian wit is caught in a trap," said one of his companions. "Thou art an ultramontane fool, Polydore," returned Ernest; " there may bo more in this than either thy Avit or mine is able to fathom. This maiden and one of her attendants wear a dress be- longing- to the Varangian Imperial Guard. They have perliaps been intrusted with a message from the Emperor, and it is not irrecon- cilable with Alexius's politics to send it through such messengers as these. Let us, therefore, convey them in all honour to the General's tent." "With all my heart," said Polydore. "A blue-eyed wencli is a pretty thing, but I like not the sauce of the camp-marshal, nor his taste in attiring men who give way to temptation.^ Yet, ere I prove a fool like my companion, I would ask who or what this pretty maiden is, who comes to put noble princes and holy pilgrims in mind that they have in their time had the follies of men ? " Bertha advanced and whispered in the ear of Ernest. Meantime joke followed jest, among Polydore and the rest of the gay yontlis, in riotous and ribald succession, which, however characteristic of the rude speakers, may as well be omitted here. Their efiect was to shake in some degree the fortitude of the Saxon maiden, who had some difficulty in mustering' courage to address them. "As you have mothers, gentlemen," she said, " as you have fair sisters, whom 1 That is — " Take heed ! take heed ! there is booty, comrades .' ' 2 Persona among the Crusaders found guilty of certaiu offences, did penance in a dress of tar and feathers, though it is supposed a nuni.shinent of modern invention. COUNT ROIJEllT OF PARIS. 207 •'I would protect from dishonour with your best blood— as you love 1 honour those holy places which you are sworn to freefroni the .idei enemy, have compassion on me, that you may merit success iw your undertaking" ! " "Fear nothing-, maiden," said Ernest, "I will be your protector; and you, uiy comrades, be ruled by me. I have, during" your brawl- ing-, taken a view, though somewhat against my promise, of the pledge which she bears, and if ^he who presents it is affronted or maltreated, be assured Godfrey of Bouillon will severely avenge tlie v»rong done her." "Nay, comrade, if thou canst warrant us so much," said Polydore, " i will myself be most anxious to conduct the young- w^oman in hon- our and safety to Sir Godfrey's tent." " The Princes," said Ernest, " must be nigh meeting there in rouncil. What I have said I will warrant and uphold with handand ' ?. More I might guess, but I conclude this sensible young maiden :i speak for herself." " Now, Heaven bless thee, gallant squire," said Bertha, " and make thee ahke brave and fortunate ! Embarrass yourself no farther about me, than to deliver me safe to your leader, Godfrey." " We spend time," said Ernest, springing from his horse. " You are no soft Eastern, fair maid, and I presume you will find yourself under no difficulty in managing a quiet horse ? " '-^ Not the least," said Bertha, as, wrapping herself in her cassock, she sprung- from the ground, and alighted upon the spirited palfrey, as a linnet stoops upon a rose-bush. " And now, sir, as my business really brooks no delay, I will be indebted to you to show me instantly to the tent of Duke Godfrey of Bouillon." By availing herself of this courtesy of the young Apulian, Bertlia imprudently separated herself from the old Varangian ; but tlie in- tentions of the youth were honourable, and he conducted her through the tents and huts to the pavilion of the celebrated General-in-chief of the Crusade. " Here," he said, " you must tarry for a space, under the guar- dianship of my companions " (for two or three of the pages had accompanied them, out of curiosity. to see the issue), "and I will take the commands of the Duke of Bouillon upon the subject." To this nothing^ could be objected, and Bertha had nothing better to do than to admire the outside of the tent, which, in one of Alexius's fits of generosity and munificence, had been presented by the Greek Emperor to the Chief of the Franks. It was raised upon tall spear- shaped poles, which had the semblance of gold ; its curtains were of a thick stuff, manufactured of silk, cotton, and gold thread. The vmrders who sto-.d round, were (at least during the time that the council was held) old grave men, the personal squires of the body, most of them, of the sovereigns who had taken the Cross, and who could, therefore, be trusted as a guard over the assembly, without danger of their b/itbbing what they might overhear. Their appear- ance was serious and considerate, and they looked like men who had taken upon them the Cross, not as an idle adventure of arms, but as a purpose of the most solemn and serious nature. One of these £03 COUNT ROBLUT OF V*AR1S. stopped the Italian, and demanded what business authorised liim to l)ress forward into the council of the crusaders, who were already taking- their seats. The pag'e answered by giving- his name, "Ernest of Otranto, page of Prince Tancred;" and stated that he announced a young woman, who bore a token to the Duke of Bouillon, adding- that it was accompanied by a message for his own ear. Bertha meantime laid aside her mantle, or upper garment, and disposed the rest of her dress according to the Anglo-Saxon costume. ►She had hardly completed this task, before the p;ige of Prince Tan- cred returned, to conduct her into the presence of the council of the Crusade. She followed his signal ; while the other young men who had accompanied her, wondering at the apparent ease with which she gained admittance, drew back to a respectful distance from the tent, and there canvassed the singularity of their morning's ad- venture. In the meanwhile the ambassadress herself entered the council chamber, exhibiting an agreeable mixture of shamefacedness and reserve, together with a bold determination to do her duty at all events. There were about fifteen of the principal crusaders assem- bled iu council, with their chieftain Godfrey. He himself was a tall strong man, arrived at that period of life in which men are supposed to have lost none of their resolution, while they have acquired a wis- dom and circumspection unknown to their earlier years. The coun- tenance of Godfrey bespoke both prudence and boldness, and resem- bled his hair, where a few threads of silver were already mingled with his raven locks. Tancred, the noblest knight of the Christian chivalry, sat at no great distance from him, with tlugh, Earl of Verraandois, generally called the Great Count, the selfish and wily Bohemond, the'powerfiil Raymond of Provence, and others of the principal crusaders, all more or less completely sheathed in armour. Bertha did not allow her courage to be broken down, but advanc- ing with a timid grace towards Godfrey, she placed in his hands the signet which had been restored to her by the young page, an.d after a deep obeisance, spoke these words : " Godfrey, Count of Bouillon, Duke of Lorraine tlie Lower, Chief of the Holy Enterprise called the Crusade, and you, his gallant comrades, peers, and companions, by whatever titles you may be honoured, I, an humble maiden of Eng- land, daughter of Engelrcd, originally a franklin of Hampshire, and since Chieftain of the Foresters, or free Anglo-Saxons, under the command of the celebrated Edric, do claim what credence is due to the bearer of the true pledge which I put into your hand, on the part of one not the least considerable of your own body. Count Bobert of Paris " " Our most honourable confederate," said Godfrey, looking at the ring. " ]\Iost of you, my lords, must, I think, know this signet — a field sown Avith the fragments of many splintered lances." The sig- net was handed from one of the Assembly to another, and generally recognised. When Godfrey had signified so much, the maiden resumed her message, "To all true crusaders, therefore, comrades of Godfrey COUNT ROBERT OF TARIS. 209 of Bouillon, and especially to tlie Duke himself, — to all I say except- ing- Bohemond of Tarentum, whom he counts unworthy of his no- tice " "Hah! me unworthy of his notice," said Boliemond. "What mean you by that, damsel?— But the Count of Paris shall answer it to me." "Under your favour, Sir Bohemond," said Godfrey, "no. Our articles renounce tlie sending- of challeng-es among- ourselves, and the matter, if not dropt betwixt the parties, must be referred to the voice of this honourable council." " I think I g-uess the business novr, my lord," said Boliemond. "The Count of Paris is disposed to turn and tear me, becau.se I offered him good counsel on the evening- before we left Constanti- no])lo, wlien he neglected to accept or be g'uided by it " " It will bo the more easily explained when we have heard his raessag-e," said Godfrey. — " Speak forth Lord Robert of Paris'.s charg-e, damsel, that we' may take some order with that which now seems a perplexed business." Bertha resumed her raessag'e; and, having- briefly narrated the recent events, thus concluded: — "The battle is to be done to-mor- row, about tvro hours after daybreak, and the Count entreats of the noble Duke of Lorraine that he will permit some fifty of the lancos of France to attend tlie deed of arms, and secure that fair and hon- ourable conduct which he has otherwise some doubts of receiving- at the hands of his adversary. Or if any young- and g-allant knight should, of his own free will, wish to view the said combat, the Count will feel his presence as an honour : ahvays he desires that the name of such knight be numbered carefully Vv^itb the armed crusaders who shall attend in the lists, and that the whole shall be limited, by Duke Godfrey's ov/n inspection, to lifty lances only, which are enough to obtain the protection required, while more would be considered as a preparation for ag-o-ression upon the Grecians, and occasion the re- vival of disputes which are nov/ happily at rest." Bertha had no sooner finished delivering- her manifesto, and made with g-reat grace her obeisance to the council, than a sort of whisper took place in the assembly, v/hich soon assumed a more lively tone. Their solemn vow not to turn their back upon Palestine, now that they had set their hands to the plough, was strongly nrged by some of the elder knights of the council, and two or three high prelates, who had by this time entered to take share in the deliberations. The young knights, on the other hand, were fired with indignation on hearing the manner in which their comrade had been trepanned ; and few of them could think of missing a combat in the lists in a country in which such sights were so rare, and where one was to be fought so near them. Godfrey rested his brow on his hand, and seemed in great perplex- ity. To break with the Greeks, after having suffered so many inju- ries in order to maintain the advantage of keeping the peace with them, seemed very impolitic, and a sacrifice of all he had obtained by a long course of painful forbearance towards Alexius Comnenus. On the other liaud, he was bound as a man of honour to resent the 210 COUNT HOBERT OP PARIS, injury offered to Count Robert of Paris, whose reckless spirit of chi valry made him tlie darling- of the army. It was the cause, too, of a beautiful lady, and a brave one: every knight in the host would think Iiiraself bound, by his vow, to hasten to her defence. When Godfrey spoke, it was to complain of the difficulty of the determina- tion, and the short time there was to consider the case. " With submission to my Lord Duke of Lorraine," said Tancred, "I was a knig-ht ere I was a crusader, and took on me the vows of chivalry, ere I placed this blessed sign upon my shoulder ; the vow first made must be first discharged. I will therefore do penance for neglecting, for a space, the obligations of the second vow, while I observe that which recalls me to the first duty of knighthood, — the relief of a distressed lady in the hands of men whose conduct towards her, and towards this host, in every respect entitles me to call them treacherous faitours." " If my kinsman Tancred," said Bohemond, " will check his impe- tuosity, and you, ray lords, will listen, as you have sometimes deigned to do, to my advice, I think I can direct you how to keep clear of any breach of your oath, and yet fully to relieve our distressed fel- low-pilgrims.— I see some suspicious looks are cast towards me, which are caused perhaps by the churlish manner in which this vio- lent, and, in this case, almost insane young warrior, has protested against receiving my assistance. My great offence is the having* given him warning, by precept and example, of the treachery which was about to be practised against him, and instructed him to use for- bearance and temperance. My warning he altogether contemned —my example he neglected to follow,.and fell into the snare which was spread, as it were, before his very eyes. Yet the Count of Paris, in rashly contemning me, has acted only from a temper which misfortune and disappointment have rendered irrational and frantic. I am so far from bearing him ill-will, that, with your lordship's per- mission, and that of the present council, I will haste to the place of rendezvous with fifty lances, making up the retinue which attends upon each to at least ten men, which will make the stipulated auxi- liary force equal to five hundred ; and with these I can have little doubt of rescuing the Count and his lady." "Nobly proposed," said the Duke of Bouillon ; "and with a chari- table forgiveness of injuries which becomes our Christian expedition. But thou hast forgot the main difficulty, brother Bohemond, that we are sv/orn never to turn back upon the sacred journey." " If we can elude that oath upon the present occasion," said Bohe- mond, " it becomes our duty to do so. Are we such bad horsemen, or are our steeds so awkward, that we cannot rein them back from this to the landing-place at Scutari ? We can get them on shipboard in the same retrograde manner, and when we arrive in Europe, where our vov/ binds us no longer, the Count and Countess of Paris are rescued, and our vow remains entire in the Chancery of Heaven." A general shout arose— "Long life to the g-allant Bohemond! — Shame to us if we do not fly to the assistance of so valiant a knighfc, and a lady so lovely, since we can do so without breach of our vow.'* - "The question," said Godfrey, "r.ppears to me to be eluded rather COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. 211 thau solved ; yet such evasions have been admitted by tlie most learned and scrupulous clerks; nor do I hesitate to admit of Bohe- mond's expedient, any more than if the enemy had attacked our rear, which might have occasioned our countermarching- to be a case of absolute necessity." Some there were in the assembly, particularly the churchmen, in- clined to think that the oath by which the crusaders had solemnly bound themselves, ought to be as literally obeyed. But Peter the Hermit, who had a place in the council, and possessed great weight, declared it as his opinion, "That since the precise observance of their vow would tend to diminish the forces of the crusade, it was in fact unlawful, and should not be kept according to the literal mean- ing, if, by a fair construction, it could be eluded." He offered himself to back the animal which he bestrode — that is, his ass ; and though he was diverted from showing this example by the remonstrances of Godfrey of Bouillon, who was afraid of his becoming a scandal in the eyes of the heathen, yet he so prevailed by his arguments, that the knights, far from scrupling to counter- march, eagerly contended which should have the honour of making" one of the party which should retrograde to Constantinople, see the combat, and bring back to the host in safety the valorous Count of Paris, of whose victory no one doubted, and his Amazonian Countess. This emulation was also put an end to by the authority of Godfrey, who himself selected the fifty knights who were to compose the party. They were chosen from different nations, and the command of the whole was given to young Tancred of Otranto. Notwithstanding the claim of Bohemond, Godfrey detained the latter, under the pre- text that his knowledge of the country and people was absolutely necessary to enable the council to form the plan of the campaign in Syria ; but in reality he dreaded the selfishness of a man of great ingenuity of as well as military skill, who, finding himself in a separ- ate command, might be tempted, should opportunities arise, to enlarge his own power and dominion at the expense of the pious purposes of the crusade in general. The younger men of the expe- dition were chiefly anxious to procure such horses as had been thoroughly trained", and could go through with ease and temper the manceuvre of equitation, by which it was designed to render l«giti- mate the movement which they had recourse to. The selection was at length made, and the detachment ordered to draw up in the rear, or upon the eastward line of the Christian encampment. In the meanwhile, Godfrey charged Bertha with a message for the Count of Paris, in which, slightly censuring him for not observing more caution in his intercourse Avith the Greeks, he informed him tha.t he had sent a detachment of fifty lances, with the corresponding squires, pages, men-at-arms, and cross-bows, five hundred in number, com- manded by the rahant Tancred, to his assistance. The Duke also informed him that he had added a suit of armour of the best temper Milan could afford, together with a trusty war-horse, which he in- treated him to use upon the field of battle; for Bertha had not omitted to intimate Count Robert's want of the means of knightly 212 COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. equipment. The horse was broiig'lit before the pavilion accorcling-ly, completely barbed or armed in steel, and laden with armour for the knio'ht's body. Godfrey himself put the bridle into Bertha's hand. " Thou needst not fear to trust thyself with this steed, he is as gentle and docile as he is fleet and brave. Place thyself on his back, and take heed thou stir not from the side of the noble Prince Tan- cred of Otranto, who will be the faithful defender of a maiden that has this day shown dexterity, courage, and fidelity." Bertha bowed low, as her cheeks glowed at praise from one v/hose talents ar.d worth were in such general esteem, as to have raised him to the distinguished situation of leader of a host which numbered in it the bravest and most distinguished captains of Christendom. "Who are yon two persons ? " continued Godfrey, speaking of the companions of Bertha, whom he saw in tlie distance before the tent '•The one," answered the damsel, "is the master of the ferry-boat which brought me over : and the other an old Varangian who came hither as ray protector." 1 "As they may come to employ their eyes here, and their tongues; on the opposite side," returned the general of the crusaders, "I do' not think it prudent to let them accompany you. Tliey shall remain here for some short time. The citizens of Scutari will not compre- liend for some^ space v/hat our intention is, and 1 could wish Prince Tancred and his attendants to be the first to announce their own arrival." Bertha accordingly intimated the pleasure of the French general! to the ])arties, without naming his motives ; when the ferryman began to exclaim on the hardship of intercepting him in his^ trade, and Osmund to comjjlain of being detained from his duties. But Bertha, by tlie orders of Godfrey, left them with the assurance that they would be soon at liberty. Finding themselves thus abandoned, each applied liimself to his favourite amusement. The ferryman occupied himself in staring about at all that was new; and Osmund having-' in the meantime accepted an oficr of breakfast from some of the do- mestics, was presently engaged Vv'ith a flask of such red wine as would liave reconciled him to a worse lot than that which he at present experienced. The detachment of Tancred, fifty spears and their armed retinue, which amounted fully to five hundred men, after having taken a short and hasty refreshment, were in arms and mounted before the sultry hour of noon. After some manoeuvres, of which the Greeks of Scutari, whose curiosity was av/akened by the preparations of the detachment, were at a loss to comprehend the purpose, they formed mto a single column, having four men in front. When tlie horses were in this position, the whole riders at once began to rein back. The action was one to which both the cavaliers and their horses were well accustomed, nor did it at first afford much surprise to the spec- tators; but when the same retrograde evolution was continued, and the body of crusaders seemed about to enter the town of Scutari in so extraordinary a fashion, some idea of the truth began to occupy the citizens. The cry at length was general, v/lien Tancred and a few others, whose horses were unusually well trained, arrived at the COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. 213 port, and possessed lliemselves of a g-alley, into wliicli tliey led their horses, and, disreg-arding- all opposition from the Imperial officers of the haven, pushed the vessel off from the shore. Other cavaliers did not accomplish their purpose so easily; the riders or the horses were less accustomed to continue in tlie con- strained pace for such a considerahle leng-thof time, so that many of the knig'hts, havtnff retrog-raded for one or two hundred yards, thought tlieirvowwas snfliciently observed by having so far deferred to it, and riding- in the ordniary manner into the town, seized without fjirther ceremony on some vessels which, notwithstanding- the orders of the Greek Emperor, had been allowed to remain on the Asiatic side of the strait. Some less able horsemen met with various acci- dents ; for tliongh it was a proverb of the time that nothing was so hold as a blind horse, yet from this mode of equitation, where neither liorse nor rider sav/ the way he was going, some steeds were over- thrown, others backed upon dangerous obstacles: and the bones of the cavaliers themselves suffered much more than would have beeu the case in an ordinary march. Those horsemen also who met with falls incurred the danger of being slain by the Greeks, had not Godfrey, surmounting- his reHgious scruples, despatched a squadron to extricate them— a task v.hich they performed with great ease. The greater part of Tancred's fol- lowers succeeded in embarking, as was intended, nor was there more than a score or two finally amissing'. To accomplish their voyage, however, even the Prince of Otranto himself, and most of his fol- lowers, were obliged to betake themselves to the unknightly labours of the oar. This they found extremely difficult, as well from the state both of the tide and the wind as from the v/ant of practice at the exercise. Godfrey in person viewed their progress anxiously, from a neighbouring height, and perceived with regret thedifficulty which they found in making their way, which was still more increased by the necessity for their keeping in a body, and waiting for the slowest and worst manned vessels, which considerably detained those that were more expeditious. They made some prog-ress, however ; nor had the commander-in-chief the least doubt that, before sunset, they would safely reach the opposite side of the strait. He retired at length from his post of observation, having- placed a careful sentinel in his stead, with directions to bring- him word the instant that the detachment reached the opposite shore. This the soldier could easily discern by the eye, if it was daylight at the time ; if, on the contrary, it was night before they could arrive, the Prince of Otranto had orders to show certain lights, which, in case of their meeting resistance from the Greeks, should be arranged in a pecu- liar manner, so as to indicate danger. Godfrey then explained to the Greek authorities of Scutari, whom he summoned before him, the necessity there was that he should keep in readiness such vessels as could "be procured, with which, in ease of need, he vras determined to transport a sti-ong division from his army to support those Vvho had gone before. He then rode back to his camp, the confused murmurs of which, rendered more r.oisy by the various discussions concerning' the events of the day, rolled 214 COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. oil from the numerous host of the crusaders, and mingled with tbo hoarse sound of the many-billowed Hellespont. CHAPTER XXIV. All is prepared — tbe chambers of the mine Are cramm'd with the combustible, which, harmless While yet unkindled, as the sable sand, Needs but a spark to change its nature so, Tliat he who wakes it from its slumbrous mood, Dreads scarce the explosion less than he who knows That 'tis his towers which meet its fury. Anonyvioiis. When the sky is darkened suddenly, and the atmosphere grows thick and stifling, the lower ranks of creation entertain the ominous sense of a coming" tempest. The birds fly to the thickets, the wild creatures retreat to the closest covers which their instinct gives them the habit of frequenting, and domestic animals show their ap- prehension of the approaching thunder-storm by singular actions and movements inferring fear and disturbance. It seems that human nature, when its original habits are cultivated and attended to, possesses, on similar occasions, something of that prescient foreboding which announces tlie approaching tempest to the inferior ranks of creation. The cultivation of our intellectual powers goes perhaps too far, when it teaches us entirely to suppress and disregard those natural feelings which were originally designed as sentinels by which nature warned us of impending danger. Something of the kind, however, still remains, and that species of feeling which announces to us sorrowful or alarming tidings may be said, like the prophecies of the weird sisters, to come over us like a sudden cloud. During the fatal day which was to precede the combat of the Caesar with the Count of Paris, there were current through the city of Con- stantinople the most contradictory, and, at the same time, the most terrific reports. Privy conspiracy, it was alleged, was on the very eve of breaking out; open war, it was reported by others, v/as about to shake her banners over the devoted city; the precise cause was not agreed upon, any more than the nature of the enemy. Some said tiliat the barbarians from the borders of Thracia, the Hunga- rians, as they were termed, and the Comani, v/ere on their march from the frontiers to surprise the city: another report stated that the Turks, who, during this period, were established in Asia, had resolved to prevent the threatened attack of the crusaders upon Palestine by surprising not only the Western Pilgrims, but the Christians of the East, by one of their innumerable invasions, exe- cuted with their characteristic rapidity. Another report, approaching more near to the truth, declared that the crusaders themselves, having discovered their various causes of ( COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. 215 complaint against Alexius Coninenus, liad resolved to march back their united forces to the capital, with a view of dethroning- or chas- tising him; and the citizens were dreadfully alarmed for the con- sequences of the resentment of men so fierce in their habits and so strange in their manners. In short, although they did not all agree on the i)recise cause of danger, it was yet generally allowed that something' of a dreadful kind was impending, which appeared to be in a certain degree confirmed by the motions that were taking place among the troops. The Varangians, as well as the Immortals, were gradually assembled, and placed in occupation of the strongest parts of the city, until at length the fleet of galleys, row-boats, and trans- ports, occupied by Tancred and his party, were observed to put them- selves in motion from Scutari, and attempt to gain such a height in the narrow sea as, upon the turn of the tide, should transport them to the port of the capital. Alexius Comnenus was himself struck at this unexpected move- ment on the part of the crusaders. Yet, after some conversation with Hereward, on whom he had determined to repose his confidence, and had now gone too far to retreat, he became reassured, the more especially by the limited size of the detachment which seemed to meditate so bold a measure as an attack upon his capital. To those around him he said with carelessness, that it was hardly to be sup- posed that a trumpet could blow to the charge, within hearing of the crusaders' camp, without some, out of so many knights, earning forth to see the cause and the issue of the conflict. The conspirators also had their secret fears when the little arma- ment of Tancred had been seen on the straits. Agelastes mounted a mule, and went to the shore of the sea, at the place now called Galata. He met Bertha's old ferryman, whom Godfrey had set at liberty, partly in contempt, and partly that the report he M-as likely to make, might serve to amuse the conspirators in the city. Closely examined by Agelastes, he confessed that the present detachment, so far as he understood, was despatched at the instance of Bohemond, and was under the command of his kinsman Tancred, whose well- known banner was floating from the headmost vessel. This gave courage to Agelastes, who, in the course of his intrigues, had opened a private communication with the wily and ever mercenary Prince of Antioch. The object of the philosopher had been to obtain from Bohemond a body of his followers to co-operate in the intended con- spiracy, and fortify the party of insurgents. It is true, that Bohe- mond had returned no answer, but the account now given by the ferryman, and the sight of Tancred the kinsman of Boliemond's banner displayed on the straits, satisfied the philosopher that his offers, his presents, and his promises, had gained to his side the avari- cious Italian, and that this band had been selected by Bohemond, and were coming to act in his favour. As Agelastes turned to go oft', he almost jostled a person, as much muffled up, and apparently as unwilling to be known, as the philoso- Eher himself Alexius Comnenus, however — for it v/as the Emperor imself — knew Agelastes, though rather from his stature and gestures, than his countenance; and could not forbear whisperinj^ in his ear. 216 COU^'T ROBERT OF PARK. fts he passed, the well-known lines, to v^liicli the pretended safe's various acquisitions gave some degree of point: — " Grammaticus, rhetor, geometres, pietor, aliptes, \ ]'_ Augur, schcenobates, medicus, magns ; omnia novit. Grfcculus esurieus in crelum, jusseris, ibit."i Agelastes first started at the unexpected sound of the Emperor's voice, yet immediately recovered presence of mind, i\\e want of wliich liad made him suspect himself betrayed ; and without taking notice of tlie rank of the person to whom he spoke, he answered hy a quot- ation which should return the alarm he had received. The s])eec]i tliat sug'gested itself was said to be that v/hich the Phantom of Cleo- nice dinned into the ears of the tyrant who murdered her : — •' Tu cole justitiani ; teque atque alios manet ultor."2 The sentence, and the recollections which accompanied it, thrilled through the heart of the Emperor, who walked on, however, without any notice or reply. '' Tlie vile conspirator," he said, "had his associates around him otherwise he had not hazarded that threat. Or it may have been worse — Agelastes himself, on the very brink of this world, may have obtained that singular glance into futurity proper to that situation, and perhaps speaks less from his own reflection than from a strange spirit of prescience, which dictates his words. Have I then in earnest sinned so far in my imperial duty, as to make it just to apply to me the warning used by the injured Cleonice to her ravisher and mur- derer? Mcthinks 1 have not. Methinks that at less expense than that of a just severity, I could ill have kept my seat in the high place v/here Heaven has been pleased to seat me, and where, as a ruler, I am bound to maintain my station. Methinks the sum of tliose who have experienced my clemency may be well numbered with that of such as have sustained the deserved punishments of their guilt — But hns that vengeance, however deserved in itself, been always taken in a legal or justifiable manner ? My conscience, I doubt, will liai'dly answer so home a question ; and where is the man, had he the virtues of Antoninus himself, that can hold so high and responsible a place, yet sustain such an interrogation as is implied in that sort of warning which I have received from this traitor ? Tu cole just it t am — vre all need to use justice to others — Tegice atque alios manet ultor — we are all amenable to an avenging being — I will see the Patriarch — in- s(antly will I see him ; and by confessing my transgressions to tlic Church, I will, by her plenary indulgence, acquire the right of spending the last day of my reign in a consciousness of innocence, or at least of pardon — a slate of mind rarely the lot of those Vrhose lines have fallen in lofty places." 1 The lines of Juvenal imitated by Jolmson in his London—' " M\ sciences a fastin^r Jfciisicwv knot's, And bid him go to hell— tc hell ho goes. " 2 " Do thou cultivate justice : for thee and for others there rciiiains an avenger."— OviE. Md. COUNT ROBERT OF TAIClS. 217 So saying", lie'passed to the palace of Zosimus tlic Patn'arcli, to wliom he could unbosom himself with more safety, because he liad long' considered Ag-elastcs as a private enemy to the Church, and a man attached to the ancient doctrines of heathenism. In the coun- cils of the state they were also opposed to each other, nor did the Emperor doubt, that in communicating- the secret of tlie conspiracy to the Patriarcli, he was sure to attain a loyal and firm supporter ii^i the defence which he proposed to himself. He therefore g'ave a sig-nal by a low whistle, and a confidential officer, well mounted, ap- proached him, who attended him in his ride, though unostentatiously and at some distance. In this manner, therefore, Alexius Comnenus proceeded to the palace of the Patriach, with as much speed as was consistent witli his purpose of avoiding- to attract any particular notice as lie passed throug'h the street. During- the whole ride, the warning- of Ag-ehis- tes repeatedly occurred to him, and his conscience reminded him of too many actions of his reig'u, which could only be justified by neces- sity, emphatically said to be the tyrant's plea, and which were of themselves deserving- the dire veng-eance so long- delayed. When he came in sig-ht of the splendid tov/ers which adorned ihe front of the patriarchal palace, he turned aside from the lofty g-ates, repaired to a narrow court, and ag-ain giving- his mule to his attend- ant, he stopt before a postern, whose low arch and humble architrave seemed to exclude the possibility of its leading- to any place of im- portance. On knocking-, however, a priest of an inferior order opened the door, who, with a deep reverence, received the Emperor so soon as he had made himself known, and conducted him into the interior of the palace. Demanding- a secret interview with the Patriarcli, Alexius was then ushered into his private librar}', where he was re- ceived by the ag-ed priest with the deepest respect, which the nature of his communication soon chang-ed into horror and astonisliraent. Althoug-h Alexius was supposed by many of his own court, and particularly by some members of his own family, to be little better than a hypocrite in his religious professions, yet such severe obser- vers were unjust in branding- him with a name so odious. lie was indeed aware of the great support which he received from the good opinion of the clergy, and to them he was willing- to make sacriliccs for the advantage of the Church, or of individual prelates who mani- fested fidelity to the crown ; but thou.gh, on the one hand sucli sac- rifices were rarely made by x\lexius, without a view to temporal policy, yet on the other, he regarded them as recommended by his devotional ifeelings, and took credit to himself for various grants and action^, as dictated by sincere piety, wliich, in another aspect, were the fruits of temporal policy. His mode of looking on these measures was that of a person v/ith oblique vision, who sees an object in a different manner, according to the point from which he chances to contem- plate it. The Emperor placed his own errors of government before the Patriarch in his confession, giving due weight to every breach of morality as it occurred, and stripping from them the lineaments and palliative circumstances which had iu his own imagination lessened 218 CUUxNT ROBERT OF PARIS. their guilt. The Patrir-Tcli heard to his astonishment, the real thread of many ^ court iutrig-ue, which had borne a very different appear- ance, till the Emperor's narrative either justified his conduct upon the occasion, or left it totally unjustifiable. U])on the whole, the balance was certainly more in favour of Alexius than the Patriarch had supposed likely in that more distant view he had taken of the intrigues of the court, when, as usual, the ministers and the courtiers endeavoured to make up for the applause which they had g-iven in council to the most blaraable actions of the absolute monarch, by elsewhere imputing to his motives greater guilt than really belonged to them. Many men who had fallen sacrifices, it was supposed to the personal spleen or jealousy of the Emperor, appeared to have been in fact removed from life, or from liberty, because their enjoy- ing either was inconsistent with the quiet of the state and the safety of the monarch, Zosimus also learned, what he perli.ips already suspected, that amidst the profound silence of despotism which seemed to pervade the Grecian empire, it heaved frequently with convulsive throes, which ever and anon made obvious the existence of a volcano under the surface. Thus, while smaller delinquencies, or avowed discon- tent with the Imperial government, seldom occurred, and were severely punished when they did, the deepest and most mortal con- spiracies against the life and the authority of the Emperor were clierished by those nearest to his person ; and he was often himself aware of them, though it was not until they approached an explosion that he dared act upon his knowledge, and punish the conspirators. The wdiole treason of the Csesar, with his associates, Agelastes and Achilles Tatius, was heard by the Patriarch with wonder and astonishment, and he was particularly suprised at the dexterity with which the Emperor, knowing the existence of so dangerous a con- spiracy at home, had been able to parry the danger from the crusa- ders occurring at the same moment. " In that respect," said the Emperor, to whom indeed the church- man hinted his surprise, *' I have been singularly unfortunate. Had I been secure of the forces of my own empire, I might have taken one out of two manly and open courses with, these frantic warriors of the west — I might, my reverend fiither, have devoted the sums paid to Bohemond and other of the more selfish among the crusaders, to the honest and open support of the army of western Christians, and safely transported them to Palestine, without exposing them to the great loss which they are likely to sustain by the opposition of the Infidels ; their success would have been in fact my own, and a Latin kingdom in Palestine, defended by its steel-clad warriors, would have been a safe and unexpugnable barrier of the empire against the Sara- cens. Or if it was thought more expedient for the protection of the empire and the holy Church, over which you are ruler, we might at once, and by open force, have defended the frontiers of our states, against a host commanded by so many dillerent and discording chiefs, and advancing upon us with such equivocal intentions. If the first swarm of these locusts, under him whom tiiey called Walter the Penni- less, vais thinned by the Hungarians, and totally destroyed by the COUxNT ROBEKT OF PARIS. 2,10 Turks, as the pyramids of bones on tlie frontiers of tlie country still keep in memory, surely the united forces of the Grecian empire would have had little difficulty in scattering'- this second flight, though com- manded by these Godfreys, Bohemonds, and Tancreds." The Patriarch was silent, for though he disliked, or rather de- tested the crusaders, as members of the Latin Church, he yet thought it highly doubtful that in feats of battle they could have been met and overcome by the Grecian forces. " At any rate," said Alexius, rightly interpretnig his silence, " if vanquished, I had fallen under my shield as a Greek emperor should, nor had I been forced into these mean measures of attacking men^ by stealth, and with forces disguised as infidels ; while the lives of the faithful soldiers of the empire, who have fallen in obscure skir- mishes, had better, both for them and me, been lost bravely in their ranks, avowedly fighting for their native emperor and Uieir native country. Now, and as the matter stands, 1 shall be handed down to posterity as a wily tyrant, who engaged his subjects in fatal feuds for the safety of his own obscure life. Patriarch ! these crimes rest not with me," but with the rebels whose intrigues compelled me into such courses — What, reverend father, will be my fate hereafter ? — and in what light shall I descend to posterity, the author of so many disasters ? " '' For futurity," said the Patriarch, " your grace hath referred yourself to the holy Church, which hath power to bind and to lopse ; your means of propitiating her are ample, and I have already indi- cated such as she may reasonably expect, in consequence of your repentance and forgiveness." " They shall be granted," replied the Emperor, " in their fullest extent ; nor will 1 injure you in doubting their effect in the next world. In this present state of existence, however, the favourable opinion of the Church may do much for me during this important crisis. If we understand each other, good Zosimus, her doctors and bishops are to thunder in my behalf, nor is my benefit fro_^in her i)ardon to be deferred till the funeral monument closes upon me ? " " Certainly not," said Zosimus; "the conditions which Ihave al- ready stipulated being strictly attended to." " And my memory in history," said Alexius, " in what manner is that to be preserved ? " " For that," answered the Patriarch, " your Imperial Majesty must trust to the filial piety and literary talents of your accomplished daughter, Anna Comnena." The Emperor shook his head. " This unhappy Csesar," he said, " is like to make a quarrel between us ; for I shall scarce pardon so ungrateful a rebel as he is, because my daughter clings to him with a woman's fondness. Besides, good Zosimus, it is not, I believe, the page of a historian such as my daughter that is most likely to be re- ceived without challenge by posterity. Some Procopius, some philo- sophical slave, starving in a garret, aspires to write the life_ of an emperor whom he durst not approach ; and although the principal merit of his production be, that it contains particulars upon the sub- ject which no man durst have promulgated while the prince was 220 COUNT KOBERT OF TAKig. Hviiif^-, 3^ct no man licsitates to admit such as true wlien lie 1ms passed from the scene." " On that subject," said Zosinm.-J, "I can neither afford your Im- perial IMajcsty relief or protection. If, however, your memory is unjustly slandered upon earth it will be a matter of indifference to your lii^ichness, who will be then, I trust, enjoying' a state of beati- tude which idle slander cannot assail. The only way, indeed, to avoid it while on this side of time, would be to write your Majesty's own memoirs while you are yet in the body ; so convinced am I that it is in your power to assign leg'itimate excuses for those actions of your life, which, without yoiu' doing- so, would seem most worthy of censure." "Chang-e we the subject," said the Emperor; "and since the dang'er is imminent, let us take care for the present, and leave future ages to judg-e for themselves. — What circumstance is it, re- verend father, in your opinion, wliich encourag'ea these conspirators to make so audacious an appeal to the populace and the Grecian soldiers?" " Certainly," answered the Patriarch, "the most irritating' incident of your hig-hness's reig-n was the fate of Ursel, who, submitting-, it is said, upon capitulation for life, limb, and liberty, was starved to death by your orders, in the dung-eons of the Blacquernal, and whose courage, liberality, and otlier popular virtues are still fondly remem- bered by the citizens of this metropolis, and by the soldiers of the guard, called Immortal." '• And this," said the Em.peror, fixing' his eye upon his confessor, "your reverence esteems actually the most dang-erous point of the popular tumult?" " I cannot doubt," said the Patriarcli, " that his very name, boldly pronounced, and artfully repeated, will be the watchword, as has been plotted, of a horrible tumult." " I thank Heaven ! " said the Emperor ; " on that particular I will be on my g-uard. Good-nig-ht to your reverence ! and, believe me, that all ill this scroll, to which I have set my hand, shall be with tlie ntmost fidelity accomplished. Be not, liowever, over impatient in this business; — such a shower of benefits faUing' at once upon the Church, would make men suspicions that tlie prelates and ministers ])roceeded rather as acting upon a barg-ain between the Emperor and Patriarch, than as paying- or receiving- an atonement ofiered by a sin- ner in excuse of his crimes. This would be injurious, father, both to yourself and me." "All reg-ular delay," said the Patriarch, " shall be interposed at your hig'hness's pleasure; and we shall trust to you for recollection that the barg-ain, if it could be termed one, was of your own seeking', and that the benefit to the Church was conting-ent upon the pardon and tlie support which she has afforded to your majesty." "True," said the Emperor — "most true — nor shall I forget it. Once more adieu, and forg-et not what I liave told thee. This is a iiig-ht, Zosimus, in wliich the Emperor must toil like a slave, if he means not to return to the humble Alexius Comnenus, and even tlien there were no resting-place," COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. 221 So saying-, he took leave of the Patriarch, who \Yas liighly g-rati- fied with the advantag-es he had obtained for the Church, wliich many of his predecessors had strug-gled for in vain. lie resolved therefore, to support the stag-g-ering- Alexius. CHAPTER XXV. Heaven knows its time; the bullet has its billet. Arrow and javelin each its destined purpose ; The fated beasts of Nature's lower strain Have each their separate task. Old riaij. Agelastes, after crossing- the Emperor in tlie manner we Irnve al- ready described, and after having- taken such measures as occurred to hira to ensure the success of the conspiracy, returned to the lodg-e of his garden, where the lady of the Count of Paris still remained, her only companion being' an old woman named Vexhelia, the wife of the soldier who accompanied Bertha to the camp of the Crusaders; the kind-hearted maiden having- stipulated that, during- her absence, her mistress was not to be left without an attendant, and that atten- dant connected with the Varang'ian g'uard. He had been all day playing' the part of the ambitious politician, the selfish time-server, the dark and subtle conspirator; and now it seemed, as if to exhaust the catalogue of liis various parts in the human drama, he chose to exhibit himself in the character of the wily sophist, and justify, or seem to justify, the arts by which he had risen to wealth and emin- ence, and hoped even now to arise to royalty itself. "Fair Countess," he said, "what occasion is there for your wear- ing' this veil of sadness over a countenance so lovely ? " " Do you suppose me," said Brenhilda, " a stock, a stone, or a creature without the feelings of a sensitive being-, that I should en- dure mortification, imprisonment, danger, and distress, w'ithout ex- pressing the natural feelings of humanity? Do you imagine that to a lady like me, as free as the unreclaimed falcon, you can offer the insult of captivity, without my being sensible to the disgrace, or in- censed against the authors of it? And dost thou think tliat I will receive consolation at thy hands— at thine— one of the most active artificers in tliis web of treachery in which I am so basely entangled?" "Not entangled certainly by my means," answered Agelastes; *' clap your hands, call for what you wish, and the slave who refuses instant obedience htid better been unborn. Had I not, with refer- ence to your safety and your honour, agreed for a short time to be your keeper, that office would have been usurped by the Cesar, whose object you know, and may partly guess the modes by which it would be pursued. Why then dost thou childishly weep at being held for a short space in an honourable restraint, whicli the renowned arms of your husband will probably put an end to long ere to-morrow at noon V 222 COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. '• Canst tliou not comprehend," said the Countess, " thou man ol many words, but of few honourable thoughts, that a heart like mine, which has been trained in the feeling-s of reliance upon my own worth and valour, must be necessarily affected with shame at being obliged to accept, even from the sword of a husband, that safety which I would gladly have owed only to my own ? " " Thou art misled, Countess," answered the philosopher, " by thy pride, a failing predominant in woman. Thinkest thou there has been no offensive assumption in laying aside the character of a mother and a wife, and adopting that of one of those brain-sick female fools, who, like the bravoes of the other sex, sacrifice every- thing that is honourable or useful to a frantic and insane affectation of courage? Believe me, fair lady, that the true system of virtue consists in filling thine own place gracefully in society, breeding up thy children, and delighting those of the other sex ; and anything beyond this, may well render thee hateful or terrible, but can add nothing to thy amiable qualities." " Thou pretendest," said the Countess, " to be a philosopher ; me- thinks thou shouldst know, that the fame which hangs its chaplet on the tomb of a brave hero or heroine, is worth all the petty engage- ments in which ordinary persons spend the current of their time. One hour of life, crowded to the full with glorious action, and filled with noble risks, is worth whole years of those mean observances of paltry decorum, in which men steal through existence, like sluggish waters through a marsh, without either honour or observation." " Daughter," said Agelastes, approaching nearer to the lady, " it is with pain I see you bewildered in errors which a little calm reflec- tion might remove. We may flatter ourselves, and human vanity usually does so, that beings infinitely more powerful than those be- longing to mere humanity, are employed daily in measuring out the good and evil of this world, the termination of combats, or the fate of empires, according to their own ideas of what is right or wrong, or, more properly, according to what we ourselves conceive to be such. The Greek heathens, renowned for their wisdom^^nd glori- ous for their actions, explained to men of ordinary minds the sup- posed existence of Jupiter and his Pantheon, where various deities presided over various virtues and vices, and regulated the temporal fortune and future happiness of such as practised them. The more learned and wise of the ancients rejected such the vulgar interpre- tation, and wisely, although affecting a deference to the pubhc faith, denied before their disciples in private, the gross fallacies of Tartarus and Olympus, the vain doctrines concerning the gods themselves, and the extravagant expectations which the vulgar entertained of an immortality, supposed to be possessed by creatui-es who were in every respect mortal, both in the conformation of their bodies, and in the internal belief of their souls. Of these wise and good men some granted the existence of the supposed deities, but denied that tlicy cared about tlic actions of mankind any more than those of the inferior animals. A merry, jovial, careless life, such as the follo^vers of Epicurus would choose for themselves, was what they assigned for those gods whose being they admitted. Others, more bold or COUNT ROBERT oF PARIS. 223 more consistent, entirely denied the existence of deities wlio appar- ently had no proper object or purpose, and believed that sucli of them, whose being* and attributes were proved to us by no super- natural appearances, had in reality no existence whatever." "Stop, wretch!" said the Countess, "and know that thou speakest not to one of those blinded heathens, of whose abominable doctrines you are detailing- the result. Know, that if an erring-, I am never- theless a sincere daug-hter of the Church, and this cross displayed on my shoulder, is a sufficient emblem of tlie vows I have undertaken in its cause. Be therefore wary, as thou art wily ; for, beheve me, if thou scofFest or utterest reproach against my holy religion, what 1 am unable to answer in languag-e, I will reply to, without hesitation, with the point of ray dag-ger." ''To tliat argument," said A^elastes, drawing back from the neighbourhood of Brenhilda, "believe me, fair lady, I am very un- willing' to urge your g-entleness. But although I shall not venture to say anything' of those superior and benevolent powers to whom you ascribe the management of the world, you will surely not take offence at my noticing- those base superstitions Avhich have been adopted in explanation of what is called by the Magi, the Evil Principle. Was there ever received into a human creed, a being so mean — almost so ridiculous— as the Christian Sat-an ? A goatish figure and limbs, with grotesque features, formed to express the most execrable passions ; a degree of power scarce inferior to that of the Deity ; and a talent at the same time scarce equal to that of the stupidest of the lowest order ! What is he, this being, who is at least the second arbiter of the human race, save an immortal spirit, with the petty spleen and spite of a vindictive old man or old woman ? " Agelastes made a singular pause in this part of his discourse. A mirror of considerable size hung in the apartment, so that the philo- sopher could see in its reflection the figure of Brenhilda, and remark the change of her countenance, though she had averted her face from him in hatred of the doctrines which he promulgated. On this glass the philosopher had his eyes naturally fixed, land he was con- founded at perceiving a figure glide from behind the shadow of a curtain, and glare at him with the supposed mien and expression of the Satan of monkish mythology, or a satyr of the heathen age. " Man ! " said Brenhilda, whose attention was attracted by this ex- traordinary apparition, as it seemed, of the fiend, " have thy wicked words, and still more wicked thoughts, brought the devil amongst us ? If so, dismiss him instantly, else, by Our Lady of the Broken Lances ! thou shalt know better than at present, what is the temper of a Frankish maiden, when in presence of the fiend himself, and those who pretend skill to raise him ! I wish not to enter into a contest unless compelled ; but if I am obliged to join battle with an enemy so horrible, believe me, no one shall sav that Brenhilda feared him." Agelastes, after looking with surprise and horror at the figure a3 reflected in the glass, turned back his head to examine the sub- stance, of which the reflection was so strange. The object, how- ever, had disappeared behind the curtain, under which it proup.biy 224 COUZS'T EGBERT OF TARIS. lay liid, and it waa after a minute or two lliat the Iialf-gibing", half- s^cowling" countenance showed itself again in the same position in the mirror. " By the gods ! " said Agelastes " In whom but now," said the Countess, " you professed unbelief." " By the gods ! " repeated Agelastes, in part recovering himself, '" it is Sylvan ! tlmt singular mockery of humanitj', who was said to liave been brought from Taprobana. I warrant he also believes in liis jolly god Pan, or tlie veteran Sylvanus. He is to the uninitiated a creature whose appearance is full of terrors, but he shrinks before the philosopher like ignorance before knowledge." So saying, he Viith one hand pulled down the curtain, under which the animal had nestled itself when it entered from the garden-window of the pavi- lion, and with the other, in which he had a staff uplifted, threatened to chastise the creature, with the words — "How now, Sylvanus! what insolence is this ? — To your place ! " As, in uttering these words, he struck the animal, the blov/ un- luckily lighted upon his wounded hand, and recalled its bitter smart. The wild temper of the creature returned, unsubdued for the moment by any awe of man ; uttering a fierce and, at the same time, stifled cry, it flew on the philosopher and clasped its strong and sinewy arras about his tliroat with the utmost fury. The old man twisted ami struggled to deliver himself from the creature's grasp, but in vain. Sylvan kept hold of his prize, compressed his sinewy arms, and abode by his purpose of not quitting his hold of the ])hilo- sopher's throat until he had breathed his last. Two more bitter yells, accompanied each with a desperate contortion of the counten- ance, and squeeze of the hands, concluded, in less than five minutes, the dreadful strife. Agelastes lay dead upon the ground, and his assassin Sylvan, springing from the body as if terrified and alarmed at what he had done, made his escape by the window. The Countess stood in as- tonishment, not knowing- exactly whether she had witnessed a su])er- natural display of the judgment of Heaven, or an instance of its vengeance by mere mortal means. Her new attendant Vexhelia was no less astonished, though her acquaintance v.'ith the animal was considerably more intimate. "Lady," she said, "th;it gigantic creature is an animal of great strength, resembling mankind in form, but huge in its size, and, encouraged by its immense power, sometimes malevolent in its in- tercourse with mortals. I have heard the Varangians often talk of it as belonging- to the Imperial museum. It is fitting we remove the body of this unhappy man, and hide it in a plot of shrubbery in the garden. It is not likely that he will be missed to-night, and to- morrow there will be other matter astir, which will probably pre- vent much inquiry about him." The Countess Brenhilda assented, for she was not one of those timorous females to whom the counten- ances of the dead are objects of terror. Trusting to the parole which she had given, Agelastes had per- mitted the Countess and her attendants the freedom of his gardens, of that part at least adjacent to the payiliou. They therefore were COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. 225 in little ridk of interruption as tliey bore fortii the dead body ])et\veeu them, and without niucli trouble disposed of it in the thickest part of one of the bosquets with which the garden was studded. As they returned to their phice of abode or confinement, the Countess, half speakinf^ to herself, half addressing- Vexhelia, said, " I am sorry for this ; not that the infamous wretch did ^lot deserve the full punishment of Heaven coming- upon him in the very mo- ment of blasphemy and infidelity, but because the courage and truth of tlie unfortunate Brenhilda may be brought into suspicion, as his slaug-hter took place when he was alone v>ith her and ber attendant, and as no one was witness of the sing-ular manner in which the old blasphemer met his end. — Thou knowest," she added, addressing- lierself to Heaven — " thou ! blessed Lady of the Broken Lances, the protectress both of Brenhilda and her husband, well knowest that, whatever faults may be mine, I am free from tlie slig-htest suspicion of treachery ; and into tliy hands I pnt my cause, with a perfect reliance upon thy wisdom and bounty to bear evidence in my favour." So saying-, they returned to the lodg-e unseen, and with pious and submissive prayers, the Countess closed tliat event- ful evening-. CHAPTER XXVL vVill j'ou bear of a Spnnisli Indv, How she wooed an Englishman? Garments gay, as rich as may he, Decli'd witli jewels she had on. Of a comely conntenance and grrace was she, And by birth and parentage of high degree. Old Ballad. We left Alexius Comnenus after he had unloaded his conscience in the cars of the Patriarch, and received from him a faithful assur- ance of the pardon and patronage of the national Church. He took leave of the dignitary Mith sonie exulting- exclamations, so unex])li- citly expressed, liowever, that it was by no means easy to conceive the meaning- of what lie said. His first inquiry, when he reached the Blacquernal, being- for his dauglitcr, he was directed to the room encrusted with beautifully carved marble, from which she lierself and many of her race derived the proud appellation of Forpltyro- (jenita, or born in the purple. Her countenance was clouded with anxiety, which, at the sight of her father, broke out into open and uncontrollable g-rief. " Daug-hter;" said the Emperor, with a harshness little common to his manner, and a seriousness wliich he sternly maintained, in- stead of sympathising- with his daughter's affliction, "as you would prevent the silly fool with whom you are connected from displaying- himself to the public both as an ungrateful monster and a traitor, you will not fail to exhort him, by due submission, to make his peti- tion for pardon, acco'^jpanied with a full confession of his crimes, 9. '22Cy COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. or, by my sceptre and my crown, he shall die the death ! Nor will 1 pardon any who rushes npon his doom in an open tone of defiance, under such a standard of rebellion as ray ungrateful son-in-law has hoistef ' " What can you require of me, father ?" said the Princess. " Can you expect that I am to dip my own hands in the blood of this nnfor- tunate man : or wilt thou seek a reveng-e yet more bloody than that which was exacted by the deities of antiquity, upon those criminals who offended ag-ainst their divine power?" " Think not so, my daug-hter ! " said the Emperor ; " but rather believe that thou hast the last opportunity afforded by my filial, aflection, of rescuinor, perhaps from death, that silly fool thy hus- ban'd, who has so richly deserved it." " My father," said the Princess, " God knows it is not at your risk that 1 would wish to purchase the life of Nicephorus ; but he has been the father of my children, thoug'h they are now no more, and women cannot forg-et that such a tie has existed, even thoug-h it has been broken by fate. Permit me only to hope that the unfortunate culprit shall have an opportunity of retrieving- his errors; nor shall it, believe me, be my fault, if he resumes those practices, treasonable at once, and unnatural, by which his life is at present endang-ered." " Follow me, then, daug-hter," said the Emperor, " and know, tliat to thee alone I am about to intrust a secret, upon which the safety of my life and crown, as well as the pardon of my son-in-law's life, will be found eventually to depend." lie then assumed in haste the g-arment of a slave of the Seraglio, and commanded his daughter to arrange her dress in a more succinct form, and to take in her hand a lighted lamp. " Whither are we going, my father ? " said Anna Comnena. " It matters not," replied her father, " since my destiny calls me, and since thine ordains thee to be my torch-bearer. Believe it, and record it, if thou darest, in thy book, that Alexius Comnenus does not, without alarm, descend into those awful dungeons which his pi-edecessors built for men, even when his intentions are innocent, and free from harm. Be silent, and should we meet any inhabitant of those inferior regions, speak not a word, nor make any observation upon his appearance." Passing through the intricate apartments of the palace, they now came to that large hall through which Hereward had passed on the iu'st night of his introduction to the place of Anna's recitation, called the Temple of the Muses. It was constructed, as we have said, of black marble, dimly illuminated. At the upper end of the apartment wns a small altar, on which was laid some incense, while over the smoke was suspended, as if projecting from the wall, two imitations of human hands and arms, which were but imperfectly seen. At the bottom of this hall, a small iron door led to a narrow and winding staircase, resembling a draw-well in shape and size, the ste])s of which were excessively steep, and which the Emperor, after a solemn gesture to his daughter commanding her attendance, began to descend with the imperfect light, and by the narrow and difficult steps by which those who visited the under regions of the Blacquernal COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. 227 seemed to bid adieu to the liglit of day. Door after door tliey passed in their descent, leading', it was probable, to different rang'cs of dun- g-eons, from which was obscurely heard the stifled voice of groans and sig-hs, such as attracted Hereward's attention on a former occasion. Tlie Emperor took no notice of tliese sig-ns of human misery, and three stories or ranges of dungeons had been already passed ere the father and daughter arrived at the lowest story of the building, the base of which was the solid rock, rouglily carved, upon which were erected the side-walls and arches of solid but unpolished marble. "Here," said Alexius Comnenus, "all hope, all expectation takes farewell, at the turn of a hinge or the grating of a lock. Yet shall not this be always the case — the dead shall revive and resume their right, and the disinherited of these regions shall again prefer their claim to inhabit the upper world. If I cannot entreat Heaven to my assistance, be assured, my daughter, that ratlier than be the poor animal v/liich I have stooped to be thought, and even to be painted, in thy history, I would sooner brave every danger of the multitude which now erect themselves betwixt me and safety. Nothing is resolved save that I will live and die an Emperor ; and thou, Anna,_ be assured that if there is power in the beauty or in the talents of which so much has been boasted, that power shall be this evening exercised to the advantage of thy parent, from whom it is derived." " What is it that you mean, Imperial fatlier ?— Holy Virgin ! is this the promise you made me to save the life of the unfortunate Nicephorus ? " " And so I will," said the Emperor ; " and I am now about that action of benevolence. But think not I will once more warm in my bosom the household snake which had so nearly stung me to death. No, daughter, I have provided for thee a fitting husband, in one who is able to maintain and defend the rights of the Emperor thy father ; —and beware how thou opposest an obstacle to what is my pleasure ! for behold these walls of marble, though unpolished, and recollect it is as possible to die within the marble as to be born there." The Princess Anna Comnena was frightened at seeing her father in a state of mind entirely different from any which she had before witnessed. " O, Heaven ! that my mother were here I " she ejacu- lated, in the terror of something she hardly knew what. " Anna," said the Emperor, " your fears and your screams are alike in vain. I am one of those, who, on ordinary occasions, hardly nourish a wish of my own, and account myself obliged to those who, like my wife and daughter, take care to save me all the trouble of free judgment. But when the vessel is among the breakers, and the master is called to the helm, believe that no meaner hand shall be permitted to interfere with him, nor will the wife and daughter, whom he indulged in prosperity, be allowed to thwart his will while he can yet call it his own. Thou couldst scarcely fail to understand that I was almost prepared to have given thee, as a mark of my sin- cerity, to yonder obscure Varangian, without asking question of either birth or blood. Thou mayst hear when I next promise thee to a three years' inhabitant of these vaults, who shall be Caesar in Briennius's stead, if I can move him to accept a princess for his bride, 22S COUKT ROBERT OF TAIIS. and an imperial crov/n for liis iiilieritance,in plnce of a sira-ving- dnii- i;-eon." "I tremble at your words, father," said Anna Comnena; ''how canst thou trust a man wlio has felt tliy cruelty ?— How caust thou dream that aught can ever in sincerity reconcile thee to one v»'honi thou liast deprived of his eyesight ? " " Care not for that," said Alexius ; " he becomes mine, or he shall never know what it is to be again his own. — And thou, girl, mayst rest assnred tliat, if I will it,'tliou art next day the bride of my pre- sent captive, or thou rctirest to the most severe nunnery, never again to mix with society. Be silent therefore, and await thy doom, as it shall come, and hope not that thy utmost endeavours can avert the current of thy destiny." As he concluded this singular dialogue, in which he had assumed a tone to which his daughter was a stranger, and before which she trembled, he passed on through more than one strictly fastened door, while his daughter, with a faltering step, illuminated him on the obscure road. At length lie found admittance by another passage into the cell in which Ursel was confmetl, and found him reclini'^g in hopeless niisery, — all those expectations having- faded ^vim his lieart which the Count of Pan's had by his indomitable gallantry for a time excited. He turned his sightless eyes towards the place where he heard the movinjr of bolts and the approach of steps. "A new feature," he said, "in my imprisonment — a man cornea v.'ith a heavy and determined step, and a woman or a child with one that scarcely presses the floor!— is it my death that you bring?-— Believe me, that I have lived long enough in these dungeons to bid my doom welcome." " It is not thy death, noble Ursel," said the Emperor, in a voice somewhat disguised. " Life, liberty, whatever the world has to give, is placed by the Emperor Alexius at the feet of his noble enemy, and he trusts that many years of liappiness and power, together with the command of a large share of the empire, will soor. obliter- ate the recollection of the dungeons of the Bhicquernal." "It cannot be," said Ursel, with a sigh. "He upon whose eyes the sun has set even at middle day, can have nothing left to hope from the most advantageous change of circnmstances." '• You are not entirely assured of that," said the Emperor; "allow us to convince you that what is intended towards you is truly fiivcur- able and liberal, and I hope you will be rewarded by finding that there is more possibility of amendment in your case, than your iirst a])prehensions are willing to receive. Make an effort, and try whether your eyes are not sensible of the light of the lamp." "Do with me," said Ursel, "according to your pleasure; I have neither strength to remonstrate nor the force of mind equal to make me set your cruelty at defiance. Of something like light 1 am sen- sible; but whether it is reality or illusion I cannot determine. If you are come to deliver me from this living sepulchre, I pray God to requite you ; and if, under such deceitful pretence, you mean to take my life, I can only commend my soul to Heayen^ and tlie vengeance COUNT ROBEllT OF PARIS. 229 due to my death to Him who can behold the darkest places in which injustice can shroud itself." So saying", and the revulsion of his spirits rendering' him unable to give almost any other sig^ns of existence, Ursel sunk back upon his seat of captivity, and spoke not another word during the time that Alexius disembarrassed him of those chains which had so loni^ hung' about him, that they almost seemed to make a part of his per- son. " This is an affair in which thy aid can scarce be sufficient, Anna," said the Emperor; "it Avould have been well if you and I could liavo borne him into the open air by our joint strength, for there is little wisdom in shov/ing the secrets of this prison-house to those to whom they are not yet known ; nevertheless, go, my child, and at a short distance from the head of the staircase whicli we descended, thou wilt find Edward, the bold and trusty Varangian, who on your com- municating to him my orders, will come hither and render his assist- ance; and see that you send also the experienced leech, Douban." Terrified, half-stifled, and half-struck with horror, the lady yet felt a degree of relief from the somewhat milder tone in which her father addressed her. With tottering steps, yet in some measure encour- aged by the tenor of her instructions, she ascended the staircase which yawned upon these infernal dungeons. As she approached the top, a large and strong- figure threw its broad shadow between the lamp and the opening of the hall. Frightened nearly to death at the thoughts of becoming the wife of a squalid wretch like Ursel, a moment of weakness seized upon the Princess's mind, and when she considered the melancholy option which her father had plr.ced before her, she could not but think that the handsome and gallant Varangian, who had already rescued the royal family from such im- minent danger, was a fitter person with whom to unite herself, if she must needs make a second choice, than the singular and disgusting' being whom her father's pohcy had raked from the bottom of the lilacquernal dungeons. I will not say of poor Anna Comnena, who was a timid but not an lui feeling woman, that she vrould have embraced such a proposal, liad not the life of her present husband, Nicephorus Briennius, been in extreme danger; and it was obviously the determination of the Emperor, that if he sjjared him, it should be on tlie sole condition of unloosing his daughter's hand, and binding her to some one of better faith, and possessed of a g-reater desire to prove an aflectionate son- in-law. Neither did the plan of adopting- the Varangian as a second husband enter decidedly into the mind of the Princess. The pre- .scnt was a moment of danger, in whicli her rescue to be successful must be sudden, and perhaps, if once achieved, the lady might have liad an opportunity of freeing herself both from Ursel and the Var- angian, without disjoining- either of them from lier father's assist- ance, or of herself losing- it. At any rate, the surest means of safety were to secure, if possible, the young soldier, Avhose features and appearance were of a kind whicirrendered the task no way disagree^' able to a beautiful woman. The schemes of connuest ai'e sq natural 230 COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. to the fail- sex,, and the whole idea passed so quickly through Anna Comnena's mind, that having" first entered while the soldier's sha- dovv' was interposed between her and the lamp, it had fully occupied her quick imagination, when, with deep reverence and great surprise at her sudden appearance on the ladder of Acheron, the Varangian advancing, knelt down, and lent his arm to the assistance of the fair lady, in order to help her out of the dreary staircase. " Dearest Hereward," said the lady, with a degree of intin^acy which seemed unusual, "how much do I rejoice, in this dreadful night, to have fallen under your protection ! I have been in places which the spirit of hell appears to have contrived for the human race." The alarm of the Princess, the familiarity of a beautiful woman, who, while in mortal fear, seeks refuge, like a frightened dove, in the bosom of the strong and tlie brave, must be the excuse of Anna Oom- nena for the tender epithet with which she greeted Hereward ; nor, if he had chosen to answer in the same tone, which, faithful as he was, might have proved the case if the meeting had chanced before he saw Bertha, would the daughter of Alexius have been, to say the truth, irreconcilably offended. Exliausted as she was, she suffered herself to repose upon the broad breast and shoulder of the Anglo- Saxon, nor did she make an attempt to recover herself, although the decorum of her sex and station seemed to recommend such an exer- tion. Hereward was obliged himself to ask her, with the unimpas- sioned and reverential demeanour of a private soldier to a Princess, Avhether he ought to summon her female attendants ? to which she faintly uttered a negative. " No, no," said she, " I have a duty to execute for my father, and I must not summon eyewitnesses ;— he knows me to be in safety, Hereward, since he knows I am with thee ; and if I am a burden to you in my present state of weakness, I shall soon recover, if you Avill set me down upon the marble steps." " Heaven forbid, lady," said Hereward, " that I were thus neglectful of your Highness's gracious health ! 1 see your two young ladies, Astarte and Violante, are in quest of you — Permit me to summon them hither, and I will keep watcli upon you if you are unable to re- tire to your chamber, where, methinks, the present disorder of your nerves Avill be most properly treated." *' Do as thou wilt, barbarian," said the Princess, rallying herself, with a certain degree of pique, arising perhaps from her not think- ing more dramatis personce were appropriate to the scene, than the two who Avere already upon the stage. Then, as if for the first time, appearing to recollect the message with which she had been com- missioned, she exhorted the Varangian to repair instantly to her father. On such occasions the slightest circumstances have their effect on the actors. The Anglo-Saxon was sensible that the Princess was somewhat offended, though whether she was so, on account of her being actually in Hereward's arms, or whether the cause of'lier anger was the being nearly discovered there by the two young maidens, the sentinel did not presume to guess, but departed for the gloomy vaults to join Alexius with the never-failing double-edged axe, the bane of many a Turk, glittering upon his shoulder. COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. 231 Aslarte and her companion had been despatched by the Empress Irene in search of Anna Comnena, throug'h those apartments of the ])ahice which she was wont to inhabit. The daughter of Alexius coukl nowhere be found, although the business on which they were seeking- her was described by the Empress as of the most pressing nature. Nothing, however, in a palace passes altogether unespied, so that the Empress's messeng-ers at length received information that their mistress and the Emperor had been seen to descend that_ gloomy access to the dungeons, which, by allusion to the classical infernal regions, was termed the Pit of Acheron. They came thither, accoTrcl- ingly, and we have related the consequences. Hereward thought it necessary to say that her Imperial Highness had swooned upon being- suddenly broug'ht into the upper air. The Princess, on the other part, briskly shook off her juvenile attendants, and declared herself ready to proceed to the chamber of her mother. The obeisance whicli she made Hereward at parting-, had something- in it of haughti- ness, yet evidently qualified by a look of friendship and regard. As she passed an apartment in which some of the royal slaves were in waiting', she addressed to one of them, an old respectable man, of medical skill, a private and hurried order, desiring him to g'o to the assistance of her father, whom he would find at the bottom of the staircase called the Pit of Acheron, and to take his scimitar along- with him. To hear, as usual, was to obey, and Douban, for that was his name, only replied by that significant sign which indicates imme- diate acquiescence. In the mean time Anna Comnena herself has- tened onward to her mother's apartments, in which she found the Empress alone. " Go hence, maidens," said Irene, " and do not let any one have access to these apartments, even if the Emperor himself should command it. Shut the door," she said, "Anna Comnena; and if the jealousy of the stronger sex do not allow us the masculine privi- leg-es of bolts and bars to secure the insides of our apartments, let us avail ourselves, as quickly as may be, of such opportunities as are permitted us; and remember. Princess, that however implicit your duty to your father, it is yet more so to me, who am of the same sex witii thyself, and may truly call thee, even according to the letter, blood of my blood and bone of my bone. Be assurc-d thy father knows not, at this moment, the feelings of a woman. Neither he nor any man alive can justly conceive the pangs of the heart which beats under a woman's robe. These men, Anna, would tear asunder without scruple the tenderest ties of affection, the whole structure of domestic felicity, in which lie a woman's cares, her joy, her pain, her love, and her despair. Trust, therefore, to me, my daughter! and, believe me, I will at once save thy father's crown and thy happiness. The conduct of t-hy husband has been wrong', most cruelly wrong; but, Anna, he is a man— and in calling- him such, I lay to his charge, as natural frailties, thoughtless treachery, wanton infidelity, every species of folly and inconsistency to which his race is subject. You ought not, therefore, to think of his faults, unless it be to forgive them." *' Madam," said Anna Comnena, " forgive me if I remind you that 232 COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS, you recommend to a princess, born in the purple itself, a line of con- duct which wonld hardly become the female who carries the pitcher for the needful supply of water to the villag-e vrell. All who are around me have been tnng'lit to pay me the obeisance due to my birth; and while this jNicephorus Briennius crept 0!i his knees to your daug-hter's hand, which you extended towards him, he was ratlier receiving- the yoke of a mistress than accepting a household, alliance with a wife. " He has incurred his doom, without a touch even of that temptation which may be pled by lesser culprits in his condition ; and if it is the will of my father that he should die, or suffer banishment or imprisonment, for the crime he has committed, it is not the business of Anna Comnena to interfere, she being- the most injured among the imperial fiimily, who have in so many and such gross res])ects the right to complain of his falsehood." " Daughter,'"' replied the Empress, "so far I agree with you, that the treason of Nicephorus towards your father and myself has been in a great degree unpardonable ; nor do I easily see on Avhat footing-, save that of generosity, his life could be saved. But still you are yourself in difierent circumstances from me, and may, as an aflec- tionate and fond wife, compare the intimacies of your former habits Mith the bloody change which is so soon to be the consequence and tiie conclusion of his crimes. He is possessed of that person and of those features which women most readily recall to their n.iemory, whether alive or dead. Think what it will cost you to recollect that the rugged executioner received his last salute — that the shapely neck had no better repose than the rough block — that the tongue, the sound of which you used to prefer to the choicest instruments of music, is silent in the dust!" Anna, who was not insensible to the personal graces of her hus- band, was much affected by this forcible appeal. "Why distress me tlius, mother?" she replied, in a w^eeping accent. "Did I not feel as acutely as you would have me to do, this moment, however awful, would be easily borne. I had but to think of him as he is, to con- trast his personal qualities with those of the mind, by which they are more than overbalanced, and resign myself to his deserved fate with unresisting submission to my father's will." "And that," said the Empress, "would be to bind thee, by his sole fiat, to some obscure wretch, whose habits of plotting and intriguing- liad, by some miserable chance, given him the opportunity of becom- ing of importance to the Emperor, and who is, therefore, to be re- warded by the hand of Anna Comnena." "Do not think so meanly of me, madam," said the Princess — "I know, as avcU as ever Grecian maiden did, how I should free myself from dishonour; and, you may trust me, you shall never blush for your daughter." "Tell me not that," said the Empress, "since I shall blush alike for the relentless cruelty which gives up a once beloved husband to an ignominious death, and for the passion, for which I want a name, which would replace him by an obscure barbarian from the extremity of Thule, or some wretch escaped from the Blacquernal dungeons." The Princess was astonished to perceive that her mother was COUNT ITOBERT OF TAKIS. 233 ncquninted -uitU tlie purposes, even the most private, which licr father liad fornied for his g-overuaiice during' this eraergeucv. She was ignorant that Alexius and ^lis ro3'al consort, in other respects living- together v/ith a decency ever exemphiry in people of their rank, had sometimes, on interesting occasions, fiimily dehates, in which the husband, provoked by the seeming- unbelief of his partner, was tempted to let her guess more of his real purposes than he would have coolly imparted of his own calm choice. The Princess was affected at the anticipation of the death of her luisband, nor could this have been reasonably supposed to be other- Avise ; but she was still more luu't and atfronted by her mother taking it for granted that she designed upon the instant to replace the Csesarby an uncertain, and, at all events, an unworthy successor. Whatever considerations had operated to make Ilereward lier choice, their effect Avas lost when the match was placed in this odious and degrading point of view; besides which is to be remembered, that women almost instinctively deny their first thoug-hts in favour of a suitor, and seldom willingly reveal them, unless time and circum- stance concur to favour them. She called Heaven therefore passion- ately to witness while she repelled the charge. "Bear witness," she said, " Our Lady, Queen of Heaven! Bear witness, saints and martyrs all, ye blessed ones, who are, more than ourselves, the guardians of our mental purity ! that I know no passion which I dare not avow, and that if Nicephorus's life depended on my entreaty to God and men, all his injurious acts towards me disregarded and despised, it should be as long as Heaven gave to those servants whom it snatched from the earth, without suffering* the pangs of mortality!" "You have sworn boldly," said the Empress. "See, Anna Coui- /icna, that you keep^ your word, for believe me it will be tried." " What will be tried, mother? " said the Princess ; " or what have I to do to pronounce the doom of the Caesar, who is not sulyect to my power ? " " I will show you," said the Empress, gravely ; and, leading- her tov^^ards a sort of wardrobe, which formed a closet in the wall, she withdrev/ a curtain which hung before it, and placed before her her unfortunate husband, Nicephorus Bricnnius, half-attired, with his sword drawn in his hand. Looking upon him as an enemy, and conscious of some schemes with respect to him which had passed through her mind in the course of these troubles, the Princess screamed faintly, upon perceivings him so near her with a weapon in his hand. "Be more composed," said the Empress, "or this wretched man, if discovered, falls no less a victim to thy idle fears than to thy bane- ful revenge." Nicephorus at this speech seemed to have adopted his cue, for, dropping- the point of his sword, and falling- on his knees before the Princess, he clasped his hands to entreat for mercy. " What hast thou to ask from me ? " said his wife, naturally as- sured, by her husband's prostration, that the stronger force waa upon her own side — " what hast thou to ask from me^ that outraged 234 COUISIT K013EUT OF PAULS. gratiLude, betrayed afiection, the most solemn vows violated, and the fondest ties of nature torn asunder like the spider's broken web, Avill permit thee to put in Avords for very shame ? " " Do not sup]K)se, Anna," replied the suppliant, "that I am at this eventful period of my life to phiy the hypocrite, for the purpose of saving' the wretched remnant of a dishonoured existence. I am but desirous to part in charity with thee, to make my peace with Heaven, and to nourish the last hope of making' my way, though burdened with many crimes, to those regions in which alone 1 can find tliy beauty, thy talents, equalled at least, if not excelled." " You hear him, daughter? " said Irene ; " his boon is for forgive- ness alone; tliy condition is the more godlike, since thou mayst unite the safety of his life with the pardon of his offences." " Thou art deceived, mother," answered Anna. " It is not mine to pardon his g'uilt, far less to remit liis punishment. You have taught me to think of myself as future ages shall know me; what will they say of me, tliose future ages, when I am described as the unfeeling daughter, wlio i^ardoned the intended assassin of h.or father, because she saw in liim lier own unfaithful husband ! " "See there," said the Ctesar, "is not that, most serene Empress, tlie very pomt of despair ? and have I not in vain oifered my life- blood to wipe out the stain of parricide and ingratitude? Have 1 not also vindicated myself from tlie most unpardonable part of the accusation, wliich charged me with attempting- the murder of the godlike Emperor? Have I not sworn by all that is sacred to man, that my purpose went no farther than to sequestrate Alexius for a little time from the fatigues of empire, and place him where he should quietly enjoy ease and tranquillity ? while, at the same time, his empire should be as implicitly regulated by himself, his sacred plea- sure being transmitted through me, as in any respect, or at any period, it had ever been ? " " Erring- man ! " said the Princess, " hast thou approached so near to the footstool of Alexius Coranenus, and durst tliou form so false an estimate of him, as to conceive it possible that he would consent to be a mere puppet by Avhose intervention you might have brouglit his empire to submission ? Know that the blood of Comnenus is not so poor ; my father Avould have resisted the treason in arms ; and ])y tlie death of thy benefactor only couldst thou have gratified the suggestions of thy criminal ambition." " Be such your belief," said the Ca3sar ; " I have said enough for a life which is not and ought not to be dear to me. Call your guards, and let them take the life of the unfortunate Briennius, since it has become hateful to his once beloved Anna Comnena. Be not afraid that any resistance of mine shall render the scene of ray apprehen- sion dubious or fatal. JSficephorus Briennius is Caesar no longer, and he thus throws at the feet of his Princess and spouse the only poor means which lie has of resisting the just doom which is therefore at her pleasure to pass." He cast his sword before the feet of the Princess, while Irene ex- claimed, weeping-, or seeming to weep bitterly, " I have indeed read of such scenes; but could I ever have thought that my own daughter COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. 235 would have been the principal actress in one of tlieni— could I ever have thonglit that her mind, admired by every one a.s a palace for the occupation of Apollo and the Muses, should not have had room enough for the humbler, but more amiable virtue of feminine charity and compassion, which builds itself a nest in the bosom of the loAvest villag-e girl? JDo thy gifts, accomplishments, and talents, spread hardness as well as polish over thy heart ? If so, a hundred times better renounce them all, and retain in their stead those gentle and domestic virtues which are the first honours of the female heart. A woman who is pitiless, is a worse monster than one who is unsexed by any other passion." "What would you have me do?" said Anna. "You, mother, ought to k:^.ow better than I, that the life of my father is hardly consistent with the existence of this bold and cruel man. 0, I am sure he sti'l meditates his purpose of conspiracy ! lie that could deceive a v. oman in the manner he has done me will not relinquish a plan which is founded upon the death of his benefactor." "You do me injustice, Anna," said Briennins, starting up, and imprinting a kiss upon her lips ere she was aware. " By this caress, the last tliat will pass between us, I swear that, if in my life I have yielded to folly, I have, notwithstanding, never been guilty of a treason of the heart towards a woman as superior to the rest of the female world in talents and accomplishments as in personal beauty." The Princess, much softened, shook her head as she replied — " Ah, Nicepliorus ! — such were once your words ! such, ]ierliaps, were then your thouglits ! But who, or what, shall now warrant to me the veracity of either ? " '•' Those very accomplishments and that very beauty itself," replied Nicephorus. "And if more is wanting," said Irene, " thy mother \yill enterher security for him. Deem her not an insufficient pledge in this affair ; she is thy mother, and the wife of Alexius Comnenus, interested be- yond ;iH "human beings in the growth and increase of the power and dignity of her husband and her child; and one who sees on this oc- casion an oi)portunity for exercising generosity, for soldering up^ the breaches of the Imperial house, and reconstructiiig tlie frame of government upon a basis which, if there be faith and gratitude in man, shall never be again exposed to hazard." " To the reality of that faith and gratitude, then," said the Prin- cess, "we must trust implicitly, as it is your will, motlier ; although even my own knowledge of the subject, both through study and ex- perience of the world, has called me to observe the rashness of such confidence. But although we two may forgive Nicephorus's errors, the Emperor is still the person to whom the final reference must be had, both as to pardon and favour." " Fear not Alexius," answered her mother ; " he will speak deter- minedly and decidedly ; but, if he acts not in the very moment of forming the resolution, it is no more to be relied on than an icicle in time of thaw. Do thou apprise me, if thou canst, wliat the Em- peror is at present doing, and take my word I will find means to bring him round to our opinion." 236 COUNT KOBERT OF PARIS. " Must I then betray secrets which my fatlier lias intrnsted to ine?" said the Princess ; "and to one who has so lately held the character of his avowed enemy ? " " Call it not betray," said Irene, " since it is written, thou shalt betray no one, least of all thy father, and the father of the emi)ire. Yet ag-ain it is written by the holy Luke, that men sliall be betrayed, botli by parents and brethren, and kinsfolk, and friends, and there- fore surely also by daughters ; by which 1 only mean thou shalt dis- cover to us thy father's secrets, so far as may enable us to save tlje life of thy husband. Tlie necessity of the case excuses whatever may be otherwise considered as irreg-ular." "Be it so then, mother. Having' yielded my consent perhaps too easily to snatch this malefactor from my father's justice, 1 am sen- sible I mnst secure his safety by such means as are in my power. I left my father at the bottom of those stairs, called the Pit of Acheron, in the cell of a blind man, to whom he gave the name of Ursel." *' Holy Mary ! " exclaimed the Empress, " thou hast named a name v/hich has been long unspoken in the open air." "Has the Emperor's sense of his danger from the living,"rsaid the Caesar, "induced him to invoke the dead? — for Ursel has been no living- man for tlie space of three years." "It matters not," said Anna Comnena_; "I tell you true. My father even now held conference with a miserable-looking' prisoner whom he so named." " It is a danger the more," said the Caisar ; " he cannot have for- gotten the zeal with which I embraced the cause of the present Emperor against his own ; and so soon as he is at liberty he will study to avenge it. For this we must endeavour to make some pro- vision, though it increases our difficulties. — Sit down then, my gentle, my beneficent mother; and tliou, my wife, who hast pre- ferred thy love for an unworthy husband to the suggestions of jealous passion and of headlong revenge, sit down, and let us see in what manner it may be in our pov/er, consistently with your duty to the Emperor, to bring our broken vessel securely into port." He employed much natural grace of manner in handing" the mother and daughter to their scats ; and, taking his place confi- dentially between them, all Avere soon engaged in concerting what measures should be taken for the morrow, not forgetting- such as should at once have the efiect of preserving- the Csesar's life, and at the same time of securing- the Grecian empire against the con- spiracy of which he had been tlie chief instigator. Briennius ven- tured to hint, that perhaps the best way would be to sutFer tlie con- spiracy to proceed as originally intended, pledging his own faith that the rights of Alexius should be held inviolate during the struggle ; but his influence over the Empress and her daughter did not extend to obtaining- so great a trust. They plainly protested against permitting- him to leave the palace, or taking the least share in (he confusion which to-morrow was certain to witness. " You forget, noble ladies," said the Caesar, " that my honour is concerned in meeting- the Count of Pivvis," COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. 237 "Prtllaw! tell ino not of your honour, Briennius," said Anna Com- r.ena ; " do I not well know t]iat,alfc]iough tlie honour of the western knights be a species of LIolocli, a flesh-devouring', blood- quaffing- demon, yet that which is the god of idolatry to the eastern warriors, thoug-li equally loud and noisy in the hall, is far less implacable in the field ? Believe not that I have forg^iven great injuries and insults, in order to take such false coin as honour in, payment, your ino-enuity is but poor if you cannot devise some excuse which will satisfy the Greeks; and in g-ood sooth, Briennius, to this battle you go not, whether for your good or for your ill. Believe not that I will con- sent to your meeting either Count or Countess, whether in warlike combat or amorous parle}'. So you may at a word count upon re- maining prisoner here until the hour appointed for such gross folly be past and over." The Cfesar, perhaps, was not in his heart angry that Iiis wife's pleasure was so bluntly and resolutely expressed against the intended combat. " If," said he, "you are determined to take my honour into your own keeping, I am here for the present your prisoner, nor have I the means of interfering with your pleasure. When once at liberty, the free exercise of my valour and my lance is once more my own." " Be it so, Sir Paladin," said the Princess, very composedly. " I have good hope that neither of them will involve you with any of yon dare-devils of Paris, whether male or female, and that Ave will regu- late the pitch to which your courage soars, by the estimation of Greek philosophy, and the judgment of our blessed Lady of Mercy, not lier of tlie Broken Lances." At this moment an authoritative knock at the door alarmed the consultation of the Caisar and the ladies. V - - ' ^' HAPTER XXTIL / •/ Pliyndan. Be comforted, g-ood madaTn '4^^ the great rage, ',* You see, is cured in him : and yet it is danger. To make him even o'er tlie time he lias lost. "><^^. "-'•.• > ,. - , , „,. * , Desire him to go ill : trouble him no more, ^***Sii>> -^;^ •>«»-•> \rC^ Till further setUing. ^"*'^S^. ,• - ;. -;—,.,;:— i-"^ King Lear. We left the Emperor Alexius Comnenus at the bottom of a sub- terranean vault, v/ith a lamp expiring, and having charge of a pris- oner who seemed himself nearly reduced to the same extremity. For the first two or three moments he listened after his daughter's re- tiring' footsteps. He grew impatient, and began to long for her return before it was possible she could have traversed the path be- tv/ixt him and the summit of these gloomy stairs. A minute or two he endured with patience the absence of the assistance which he had sent her to summon ; but strange suspicions began to cross his ima- gination. Could it be possible ? Had she changed her purpose on account of the hard words which lie had u^ied toward her ? Had she 238 COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. resolved to leave licr father to liis fate in his hour of utmost need ." and was he to rely no longer upon the assistance which he had im- plored her to send? The short time which the Princess trifled away in a sort of gallan- try with the Varangian Hereward was magnified tenfold by the impatience of the Emperor, who began to think that she v;as gone to fetch tlie accomplices of the Cjesar to assault their prince in his defenceless condition, ar.d carry into effect their half-disconcerted conspiracy. After a considerable time, filled up with this feeling of agonising uncertainty, he began at length, more composedly, to recollect the little chance there was that the Princess would^ even for her own sake, resentful as she was in the highest degree of her husband's ill behaviour, join her resources to his, to the destruction of one who had so generally showed himself an indulgent and affectionate father. When he had adopted this better mood, a step was heard upon the staircase, and after a long and unequal descent, Hereward, in his heavy armour, at length coolly arrived at the bottom of the steps. Beliind him, panting and trembling, partly with cold and partly with terror, came Douban, the slave well skilled in D5edicine. " Welcome, good Edward ! Welcome, Douban ! " he said, " whose medical skill is sufficiently able to counterbalance the weight of years which hang upon him." " Your Highness is gracious," said Douban — but what he would have farther said was cut off by a violent fit of cougliing, the con- sequence of his age, of his feeble habit, of the damps of the dungeon, and the rugged exercise of descending the long and difficult staircase. " Thou art unaccustomed to visit thy patients in so rough an abode," said Alexius, " and, nevertheless, to the damps of these dreary regions state necessity obliges us to confine many, who are no less our be- loved subjects in reality than they are in title." The medical man continued his cough, perhaps as an apology for not giving that answer of assent, with which his conscience did not easily permit him to reply to an observation which, though stated by one who should know the fact, seemed not to be in itself altogether likely. " Yes, my Douban," said the Emperor, " in this strong case of steel and adamant have we found it necessary to enclose the redoubted Ursel, whose fame is spread through the whole world, both for mili- tary skill, political wisdom, personal bravery, and other noble gifts, which wo have been obliged to obscure for a time, in order that we jnighfc, at the fittest conjuncture, which is now arrived, restore them to the world in their full lustre. Feel his pulse, therefore, Douban — consider him as one who hath suffered severe confinement, with all its privations, and is about to be suddenly restored to the full enjoy- ment of life, and whatever renders life valuable." " I will do my best," said Douban ; " but your Majesty must con- sider, that we work upon a frail and exhausted subject, whose health seems already well-nigh gone, and may perhaps vanish in an instant — like this pale and trembling light, whose precarious condition the life-breath of this unfortunate patient seems closely to resemble." C0U>;T ROBERT OF PARIS. 23t> " Desire, therefore, good Doubaii, one or two of the mutes wiio serve in the interior, and who have repeatedly been thy assistants in sncli cases— or stay — Edward, thy motions will be more speedy ; do thou g'o for the mutes— make them bring" some kind of litter to transport the patient ; and, Douban, do thou superintend tlie whole. Transport him instantly to a suitable apartment, only taking care that it be secret, and let him enjoy the comforts of the bath, and whatever else may tend to restore his feeble animation— keeping- in mind that he must, if possible, appear to-morrow in the field." "That will be hard," said Douban, "after having- been, it would appear, subjected to such fare and such usage as his fluctuating pulse intimates but too plainly." "'Twas a mistake of the dungeon-keeper, the inhuman villain, who should not go without his reward," continued the Emperor, " had not Heaven already bestowed it by the strange means of a sylvan man, or native of the woods, who yesterday put to death the jiiilor who meditated the death of his prisoner — Yes", my dear Douban, a private sentinel of our guards called the Immortal, had well-nigli annihilated this flower of our trust, whom for a time we were com- pelled to immure in secret. Then, indeed, a rude hammer had dashed to pieces an unparalleled brilliant, but the fates have arrested such a misfortune." The assistance having arrived, the physician, who seemed more accustomed to act than to speak, directed a bath to be prepared with medicated herbs, and gave it as his opinion that the patient should not be disturbed till to-morrow's sun was high in, the heavens. Ursel accordingly was assisted to the bath, which was employed according to the directions of the physician ; but without aff"or(ling any material symptoms of recovery. From thence he was transferred to a cheer- ful bed-chamber, opening by an ample window to one of the terraces of the palace, which commanded an extensive prospect. These operations were performed upon a frame so extremely stupefied by previous suffering-, so dead to the usual sensations of existence, that it was not till the sensibility should be gradually restored by friction of the stiffened limbs, and other means, that the leech hoped the mists of the intellect should at length begin to clear away. Douban readily undertook to obey the commands of the Emperor, and remained by the bed of the patient until the dawn of niorning, ready to snpport nature as far as the skill of leechcraft admitted. From the mutes, much more accustomed to be the executioners of the Emperor's displeasure than of his humanity, Douban selected one man of milder mood, and by Alexius's order, made him under- stand that the task iu which he was engaged was to be kept most strictly secret, while the hardened slave was astonished to find that the attentions paid to the sick were to be rendered with yet more mystery than the bloody offices of death and torture. The passive patient received the various acts of attention which were rendered to him in silence; and if not totally without conscious- ness, at least without a distinct comprehension of their object. After the soothing operation of the bath, and the voluptuous exchange of the rude and musty pile of straw, on which he had stretched himself 240 COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. for years, for a coucli of tlie softest down, Ursel was presented wiili a sedative draug'ht, slightly tinctured with an opiate. The balmy restorer of nature came thus invoked, and the captive sunk into a delicious slumber long- unknown to him, and which seemed to occupy equally his mental faculties and his bodily frame, while the features were released from their rigid tenor, and the posture of the limbs, 110 long-er disturbed by fits of cramp, and sudden and ag-onising* twists and throes, seemed chang-ed for a placid state of the most perfect ease and tranquillity. The morn was already colouring- the horizon, and the freshness of the breeze of dawn had insinuated itself into the lofty halls of the lialace of the Blacquernal, when a g'entle tap at the door of the chamber awakened Donban, who, undisturbed from the calm state of his patient, had indulg-ed himself in a brief repose. The door 0])ened, and a figure ap])eared, disg'uised in the robes v/orn by an officer of the palace, and concealed, beneath an artificial beard of g-reat size, and of a white colour, the features of the Emperor him- self. " Douban," said Alexius, " how fares it with thy patient, whose safety is this day of such consequence to the Grecian state ? " "Well, my lord," replied the physician, " excellently well ; and if lie is not now disturbed, I will wag'er whatever skill I possess, that nature, assisted by the art of the physician, will triumph over the damps and the unwholesome air of the impure dung-eon. Only be ])rudent, my lord, and let not an untimely haste bring' this IJrsel forward into the contest ere he has arranged the disturbed current of his ideas, and recovered, in some degree, the spring of his mind and the powers of his body." "I will rule my impatience," said the Emperor, "or, rather, Dou- ban, I will be ruled by thee. Thinkest thou he is awake ?" " I am inclined to think so," said the leech, "but he opens iiot his eyes, and seems to me as if he absolutely resisted the natural impulse to rouse himself and look around him." "Speak to him," said the Emperor, "and let us know what 13 passing in his mind." "It is at some risk," replied the physician, "but /ou shall be obeyed — Ursel," he said, approaching the bed of his blind patient, and" then, in a louder tone, he repeated again, "Ursel! Ursel ! " "Peace — Hush ! " muttered the patient; " disturb not the blest in their ecstasy — nor again recall the most miserable of mortals to finish the draught of bitterness which his fate had compelled him to commence." " Again, again," said the Emperor, aside to Douban, " try him yet agnin ; it is of importance for me to know in what degree he pos- sesses his senses, or in what measure they have disappeared from him." " I would not, however," said the ])hysician, " be the rash and guilty person who, by an ill-timed urgency, should produce a total alienation of mind, and plunge him back either into absolute lunacy, or produce a stupor in which he might remain for a long period." " Surely not," replied the Emperor; "my commands are those of one Christian to another, nor do I wish them farther obeyed than as ^hey arc consistent with the laws of God and man," COUNT ROBERT OF TAkIS. 241 He paused for a moment after this declaration, and yet but few minutes liad elapsed ere he ag-ain urg-ed the leech to pursue the interrogation of his patient. "If you hold me not competent," said Douhan, somewhat vain of the trust necessarily reposed in him, "to judge of the treatment of my patient, your Imperial Highness must take the risk and the trouble upon yourself" "Marry, I shall," said the Emperor, "for the scruples of leeches are not to be indulged when the fate of kingdoms and the lives of monarclis are placed against them in the scales. — Rouse thee, my noble Ursel ! hear a voice, with which tliy ears were once well ac- quainted, welcome thee back to glory and command! Look around thee, and see how the world smiles to welcome thee back from im- prisonment to empire ! " "Cunning fiend !" said Ursel, "who usest the most wily baits in order to augment the misery of the wretched ! Know, tempter, that I am conscious of the whole trick of the soothing images of last night — thy baths — thy beds— and thy bowers of bliss. But sooner shalt thou be able to bring a smile upon the cheek of St Anthony the Eremite than induce me to curl mine after the fixshion of earthly voluptuaries." "Try it, foolish man," insisted the Emperor, "and trust to the evidence of thy senses for the reality of the pleasures by which thou art now surrounded ; or, if thou art obstinate in thy lack of faith, tarry as thou art for a single moment, and I will bring with me a being so unparalleled in her loveliness that a single glance of her were worth the restoration of thine eyes, v/ere it only to look upon her for a moment." So saying, he left the apartment. " Traitor," said Ursel, " and deceiver of old, bring no one hither ! and strive not, by shadowy and ideal forms of beauty, to increase the delusion that gilds my pi'ison-house for a moment, in order, doubt- less, to destroy totally the spark of reason, and then exchange this earthly hell for a dungeon in the infernal regions themselves." "His mind is somev/hat shattered," mused the physician, "which is often the consequence of a long solitary confinement. I marvel much," was his farther thought, "if the Emperor can shape out any rational service which this man can render him, after being so long immured in so horrible a dungeon. — Thou tliinkest, then," continued lie, addressing the patient, " that the seeming release of last night, with its baths and refreshments, was only a delusive dream, without any reality ? " "Ay — what else?" answered Ursel. "And that the arousing thyself, as we desire thee to do, would be but a resigning to a vain temptation, in order to wake to more un- Lappiness than formerly ?" "Even so," returned the patient. "What, then, are thy thoughts of the Emperor by whose command thou sufferest so severe a restraint ?" Perhaps Douban wished he had forborne this question, for, in the very moment when he put it, the door of the chamber opened, and the Emperor entered, with his daughter hanging upon his arm, dressed with gimplicity, yet with becoming splendour. She had 242 COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. found time, it seems, to change her dress for a white robe, whioh resembled a kind of mourning-, the chief ornament of which was a diamond chaplet, of inestimable value, which surrounded and bound the long' sable tresses that reached from her head to her waist. Terrified almost to death, she had been surprised by her father in the company of her husband, the Csesar, and her mother; and the same thundering' mandate had at once ordered Briennius, in the character of a more than suspected traitor, under the custody of a strong- guard of Varangians, and commanded her to attend her father to the bedchamber of Ursel, in which she now stood ; resolved, how- ever, that she would stick by the sinking fortunes of her husband even in the last extremity, yet no less determined that she would not rely upon her own entreaties or remonstrances until she should see whether her father's interference was likely to reassume a re- solved and positive character. Hastily as the plans of Alexius had been formed, and hastily as they had been disconcerted by accident, there remained no slight chance that he might be forced to come round to the purpose on which his wife and daughter had fixed their heart; the forgiveness, namely, of the guilty Nicephorus Briennius. To his astonishment, and not perhaps greatly to his satisfaction, he heard the patient deeply engaged with the physician in canvassing his own character. " Think not," said Ursel in reply to him, " that though I am im- mured in this dungeon, and treated as something worse than an out- cast of humanity— and although I am, moreover, deprived of my eye- sight, tlie dearest gift of Heaven — think not, I say, though I suffer all this by the cruel will of Alexius Comnenus, that therefore I hold him to be mine enemy; on the contrary, it is by his means that the blinded and miserable prisoner has been taught to seek a liberty far more unconstrained than this poor earth can afford, and a vision fai* more clear than any Mount Pisgah on this wretched side of the grave can give us : Shall I therefore account the Emperor among mine enemies ? He who has taught me the vanity of earthly things — the notliingness of earthly enjoyments — and the pure hope of a better world, as a certain exchange for the misery of the present ? No!" The Emperor had stood somewhat disconcerted at the beginning of this speech, but hearing it so very unexpectedly terminate, as he was willing to suppose, much in his own favour, he threw himself into an attitude which was partly that of a modest person listening to his own praises, and partly that of a man highly struck with the commendations heaped upon him by a generous advei-sary. " My friend," he said aloud, "how truly do you read my purpose, when you suppose that the knowledge which men of your disposition can extract from evil, was all the experience which I wished you to derive from a captivity protracted by adverse circumstances, far, very far^ beyond my wishes ! Let me embrace the generous man who knows so well how to construe the purpose of a perplexed, but still foithful friend." The paiient raised himself in his bed. " Hold there ! '* he said, " raethinks mv faculties begin to collect COUIsI IIOBEIIT OF PARIS. 243 themselves. Yes," lie muttered, " that is the treacherous voice which first bid me welcome as a friend, and then commanded fiercely that I should be deprived of the sight of my eyes! — Increase thy rigour if thou wilt, Comnenus— add, if thou canst, to the torture of my confine- ment—but since I cannot see thy hypocritical and inhuman features, spare me, in mercy, the sound of a voice more distressing- to mine ear than toads, than serpents, — than whatever nature has most offensive and disgusting ! " This speech was delivered with so much energy, that it was in vain that the Emperor strove to interrupt its tenor; although he himself, as well as Douban and his daughter, heard a great deal more of the language of unadorned aud natural passion than he had counted upon, "Raise thy head, rash man," he said, "and charm thy tongue, ere it proceed in a strain which may cost thee dear. Look at me, and see if I have not reserved a reward capable of atoning for all the evil whicli thy folly may charge to my account. " Hitherto the prisoner had remained with his eyes obstinately shut, regarding the imperfect recollection he had of sights which had been before his eyes the foregoing evening, as the mere suggestion of a deluded imagination, if not actually presented by some seducing spirit. But now, when his eyes fairly encountered the stately figure of the Emperor, and the graceful form of his lovely daughter, painted in the tender rays of the morning dawn, he ejaculated faintly, "I see ! — I see ! " — And with that ejaculation fell back on the pillow in a swoon, which instantly found employment for Douban and his re- storatives. " A most wonderful cure indeed ! " exclaimed the physician; "and the height of my wishes would be to possess such another miraculous restorative." "Fool!" said the Emperor; "canst thou not conceive that what has never been taken away is restored with little difficulty? He was made," he said, lowering his voice, "to undergo a painful operation, which led him to believe that the organs of sight were destroyed ; and as light scarcely ever visited him, and when it did, only in doubt- ful and almost invisible glimmerings, the prevailing darkness, both physical and mental, that surrounded him, prevented him from being sensible of the existence of that precious faculty, of which he ima- gined himself bereft. Perhaps thou wilt ask my reason for inflicting upon him so strange a deception ? — Simply it was, that being by it conceived incapable of reigning, his memory might pass out of the minds of the public, while, at the same time, I reserved his eyesight, that, in case occasion should call, it might be in my power once more to liberate him from his dungeon, and employ, as I now propose to do, his courage and talents in the service of the empire, to counter- balance those of other conspirators." " And can your Imperial Highness," said Douban, " hope that you have acquired this man's duty and afiection by the conduct you have observed to him ? " " I cannot tell," answered the Emperor; " that must be as futurity shall determine. All I know is, that it is no fault of mine if Ursci 244 COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. does iiot reckon freedom and a long" course of empire — perliaps sanc- tioned by an alliance with our own blood — and the continued enjoy- ment of the precious org-ans of eyesig-ht, of which a less scrupulous man would have deprived him, ag'ainst a maimed and darkened exist- ence." " S'nce such is your Hig-hness's opinion and resolution," said Don- ban, "it is for me to aid, and not to counteract it. Permit me, there- fore, to pray your Hig-lmess and the Princess to withdraw, that I may use such remedies as may confirm a mind which has been so strang'ely shaken, and restore to liim fully the use of those eyes, of which he has been so long- deprived." "I am content, Douban," said the Emperor; "but take notice, XJrsel is not totally at liberty until he has expressed the resolution to become actually mine. It may behove both him and thee to know, that although there is no purpose of remitting- him to the dung-eons of tlie Blacquernal palace, yet if he, or any on his part, should aspire to head a party in these feverish times, — by tlie honour of a g-entle- man, to swear a Frankish oath, he shall find that he is not out of the reach of the battle-axes of my Varangians. I trust to thee to com- municate this fact, which concerns alike him and all who have inte- rest in liis fortunes. Come, daug-hter, we will withdraw, and leave the leech with his patient. — Take notice, Douban, it is of importance ' that you acquaint me the very first moment when the patient can hold rational communication with me." Alexius and his accomplished daughter departed aocording-ly, CHAPTER XXYIIL Sweet are the uses of adversity, Whicli, like the toad, ugly and venomous, Bears yet a precious jev/el in its head. As You Like It. From a terraced roof of the Blacquernal palace, accessible by a sash-door, which opened from the bedchamber of Ursel, there was commanded one of the most lovely and striking' views which the romantic neig-hbourhood of Constantinople afi'orded. After suffering- him to repose and rest his ag-itated faculties, it was to this place that the physician led his patient; for when somewhat composed, he had of himself requested to be permitted to verify tlie truth of his restored eyesig-ht, by looking- out once more upon the majestic face of nature. On the one hand, the scene whicli he beheld was a masterpiece of human art. The proud city, ornamented with stately building-s, as became the capital of the world, showed a succession of g-littering* spires and orders of architecture, some of tbem chaste and simple, like those the capitals of which were borrowed from baskets-full of acantliusj eome deriving" the fluting' of their shafts from the props COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. 2-15 TAiide orig'inally to support the lances of the earlier G reeled— forms simple, yet more gfraceful in their simplicity than any which human ing-enuity has heen able since to invent. With the most splendicl specimens which ancient art could aflbrJ of those strictly classical models were associated those of a later ag-e, where more modem taste had endeavoured at improvement, and, by mixing- the various orders, had produced such as were eitlier composite, or totally out of rule. The size of the building's in which they were displayed, however, procured them respect ; nor could even the most perfect judg-e of architecture avoid being' struck by the g'randeur of their extent and effect, althoug-h hurt by the incorrectness of the tasto in which they were executed. Arches of triumph, towers, obelisks, and spires, desig-ned for various purposes, rose up into the air in confused mag-niticence; v.-hile the lower view was filled by the streets of the city, the domestic habitations forming' long' narrow alleys, on either side of which the houses arose to various and unequal he'ig'hts, but, being' g'enerally finished with terraced coverings, thick set v/illi plants and flowers, and fountains, had, when seen from an eminence, a more noble and interesting- aspect than is ever aflbrded by the sloping- and uniform roofs of streets in the capitals of the north of Eui'ope. It has taken us some time to give, in words, the idea which was at a sing'le gdance conveyed to Ursel, and afiected him at first with great pain. His eyeballs had been long- strangers to that daily exer- cise, which teaches us the habit of correcting- the scenes as they appear to our sight, by the knowledge v/hich we derive from the use of our other senses. His idea of distance was so confused, that it seemed as if all the spires, turrets, and m.inarets which he beheld, were crowded forward upon his eyeballs, and almost touching them. With a shriek of horror, Ursel turned himself to the further side, and cast his eyes upon a different scene. Here also he saw towers, steeples, and turrets, but they were those of the churches and public buildings beneath his feet, reflected from the dazzling piece of water which formed the harbour of Constantinople, and which, from the abundance of wealth which it transported to the city, was well termed the Golden Horn. In one place, this superb basin was lined with quays, where stately dromonds and argosies unloaded their wealth, while, by the shore of the haven, galleys, feluccas, and other small craft, idly flapped the singularly shaped and snow-white pinions which served them for sails. In other i)laces, the Golden Horn lay shrouded in a verdant mantle of trees, where the private gardens of wealthy or distinguished individuals, or places of public recreation, shot down upon and were bounded by the glassy waters. On the Bos])horus, which might be seen in the distance, the little fleet of Tancred was lying in the same station tliey had gained dur- ing the night, which was fitted to command the opposite landing ; this their general had preferred to a midnight descerit upon Con- stantinople, not knowing whether, so coming', they might be received as friends or enemies. This delay, however, had given the Greeks an opportunity, either by tlie orders of Alexius, or the equally power- ful msindnlr.s of some of the oonspivators, to tow six ships of war, 246 COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. lull of armed men, and provided with the maritime oftensive weapoua peculiar to the Greeks at that period, which they had moored so as exactly to cover the place where the troops of Tancred must neces- sarily land. This preparation gave some surprise to the valiant Tancred, who did not know that such vessels had arrived in the harbour from Lem- nos on the preceding- night. The undaunted courage of that prince was, however, in no respect to be shaken by the degree of unexpected danger with which his adventure now appeared to be attended. This splendid view, from the description of which we have in some degree digressed, was seen by the physician and Ursel from a ter- race, the loftiest almost on the palace of the Blacquernal. To the cityward, it was bounded by a solid wall, of considerable height, giving a resting-place for the roof of a lower building, which, sloping outward, broke to the view the vast height unobscured otherwise save by a high and massy balustrade, composed of bronze, which, to the havenward, sunk sheer down upon an uninterrupted precipice. No sooner, therefore, had Ursel turned his eyes that way, than, though placed far from the brink of the terrace, he exclaimed, with a shriek, " Save me — save me ! if you are not indeed the destined executors of the Emperor's will." " We are indeed such," said Douban, " to save, and if possible to bring you to complete recovery ; but by no means to do you injury, or to suffer it to be offered by others." " Guard me then from myself," said Ursel, " and save me from the reeling and insane desire which I feel to plunge myself into the abyss, to the edge of which you have guided me." " Such a giddy and dangerous temptation is," said the physician, " common to those who have not for a long time looked down from precipitous heights, and are suddenly brought to them. Nature, however bounteous, hath not provided for the cessation of our facul- ties for years, and for their sudden resumption in full strength and vigour. An interval, longer or shorter, must needs intervene. Can you not believe this terrace a safe station while you have my sup- port and that of this faithful slave ? " " Certainly," said Ursel ; " but permit me to turn my face towards this stone wall, for I cannot bear to look at the flimsy piece of wire, which is the only battlement of defence that interposes betwixt me and the precipice." He spoke of the bronze balustrade, six feet high, and massive in proportion. Thus saying, and holding fast by the physician's arm, Ursel, though himself a younger and more able man, trembled, and moved his feet as slowly as if made of lead, until he reached the sashed door, where stood a kind of balcony-seat, in ^yhiel' l-u> -^aced himself. — " Here," he said, " will I remain." ■^ And here," said Douban, " will I make the communication of the Emperor, which it is necessary you should be prepared to reply to. It places you, you will observe, at your own disposal for liberty or captivity, bat it conditions for your resigning that sweet but sinfid morsel termed revenge, which, I must not conceal from you, chance appears willing to put into your hand. You know the degree of rivalry in which you have been held by the Emperor, and you know COUNT ROBERT OP PARIS. 247 the measure of evil you liave sustained at his hand. The question is, Can you forgive what has taken place ? " " Let me wrap my head round with ray mantle," said Ursel, " to dispel this dizziness which still oppresses my poor brain, and as soon as tiie power of recollection is granted to me, you shall know my sentiments." He sunk upon the seat, raulllod in the way which he described, and after a few minutes' reflection, with a trepidation which argued the patient still to be under the nervous feeling of extreme horror mixed with terror, he addressed Douban thus : " The operation of wrong and cruelty, in the moment when they are first inflicted, excites, of course, the utmost resentment of the sufl"erer ; nor is there, perhaps, a passion which lives so long in his bosom as the natural desire of re- venge. If, then, during the first month, when I lay stretched upon my bed of want and misery, you had offered me an opportunity of revenge upon my cruel oppressor, the remnant of miserable life which remained to me should have been willingly bestowed to pur- chase it. But a suft'ering of weeks, or even months, must not be compared in effect with that of years. For a short space of endur- ance, the body as well as the mind, retains that vigorous habit which holds the prisoner still connected with life, and teaches him_ to thrill at the long-forgotten chain of hopes, of wishes, of disappointments, and mortifications, which afi'ected his former existence. But the wounds become callous as they harden, and other and better feelings occupy their place, while they gradually die away in forgetfulness. The enjoyments, the amusements of this world, occupy no part of his time upon whom the gates of despair have once closed. I tell thee, my kind physician, that for a season, in an insane attempt to effect my liberty, I cut through a large portion of the living rock. But Heaven cured me of so foolish an idea ; and if I did not actually come to love Alexius Comnenus — for how could that have been a possible etteot in any rational state of my intellects ? — yet as I be- came ccnvinced of my own crimes, sins, and follies, the more and more I was also persuaded that Alexius was but the agent through whom Heaven exercised a dearly-purchased right of punishing me for my manifold offences and transgressions; and that it was not therefore upon the Emperor that my resentment ought to visit itself. And I can now say to thee, that, so far as a man who has under- gone so dreadful a change can be supposed to know his own mind, I feel no desire either to rival Alexius in a race for empire, or to avail myself of any of the various proffers which he proposes to me as the price of withdrawing -my claim. Let him keep unpurchased the crown, for which he has paid, in my opinion, a price which it is not worth." " This is extraordinary stoicism, noble Ursel," answered the phy- sician Douban. " Am I then to understand that you reject the fair offers of Alexius, and desire, instead of all which he is willing— nay, anxious to bestow — to be committed safely back to thy old blinded dungeon in the Blacquernal, that you may continue at ease those pietistic meditations which have already conducted thee to so extra- vagant a conclusion ? " 248 COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. " Pliysician," said Urscl, whilo a shuddering' fit that affected hi3 whole body testified his alarm at the alternative proposed — " one would imagine thine own profession might have taught thee that no mere mortal man, unless predestined to be a glorified saint, could ever prefer darkness to the light of day ; blindness itself to the en- joyment of the power of sight ; the pangs of starving to competent sustenance, or the damps of a dungeon to the free air of God's creation. No !— it may be virtue to do so, but to such a pitch mine does not soar. All I require of the Emperor for standing by him with all the power my name can give him at this crisis is, that he will provide for my reception as a monk in some of those pleasant and well-endowed seminaries of piety, to which his devotion, or his fears, liave given rise. Let me not be again the object of his suspi- cion, the operation of which is more dreadful than that of being- tlie object of his hate. Forgotten by power, as I have myself lost the remembrance of those that wielded it, let me find my way to the g-rave, unnoticed, unconstrained, at liberty, in possession of my dim and disused organs of sight, and, above all, at peace." "If such be thy serious and earnest wish, noble Ursel," said tiie physician, " I myself have no hesitation to warrant to thee the full accomplishment of thy religious and moderate desires. But, be- think thee, thou art once more an inhabitant of the court, in which thou mayst obtain what thou wilt to-day; while to-morrow, shouldsfc thou rcgTet thy indifference, it may be thy utmost entreaty v.ill not suflke to gain'for thee the slightest extension of thy present con- ditions." " Be it so," said Ursel ; " I will then stipulate for another condi- tion, which indeed has only reference to this day. I will solicit his Imperial Majesty, with all humility, to spare me the pain of a ])er- sonal treaty between himself and me, and that he will be satisfied with the solemn assurance that I am most willing to do in liis favour all that he is desirous of dictating ; while, on the other hand, I desire only the execution of those moderate conditions of my future aliment which I have already told thee at length." " But wherefore," said Douban, " shouldst thou be afraid of an- nouncing to the Emperor thy disposition to an agreement, Vv'hich cannot be esteemed otherwise than extremely moderate on thy part? Indeed, I fear the Emperor will insist on a brief personal conference.'' " I am not ashamed," said Ursel, " to confess the truth. It is true that I have, or think I have, renounced what the Scripture calls the pride of life ; but the old Adam still lives within us, and main- tains against tlie better part of our nature an inextinguishable quarrel, easy to be aroused from its slumber, but as difficult to be again couched in peace. While last night I but half understood that niine enemy was in my presence, and while my faculties per- formed l)ut half their duty in recalling his deceitful and hated ac- cents, did not my heart throb in my bosom with all the agitation of a taken bird, and shall I again have to enter into a personal treaty with the man who, be his general conduct what it may, has been the constant and unprovoked cause of my unequalled misery ? Douban, COUNT ROCERT 01^ fARlS. 249 no!— to listen to liis voice ag-ain were to hoar an p.larm sounded to every violent and vindictive passion of my heart; and though, may- Heaven so lielp me as my intentions towards him are uprigiit, yet it is impossible for me to listen to his professions with a chance of safety either to him or to myself." " If you be so minded," replied Douban, " I shall only repeat to him your stipulation, and you must swear to liira that you will strictly observe it. Without this being- done, it must be difficult, or perhaps impossible, to settle the leag-ue of which both are desirous." "Amen!" said Ursel ; "and as I am pure in my purpose, and resolved to keep it to the uttermost, so may Heaven guard rnc from t-lie influence of precipitate reveng-e, ancient grudge, or new quarrel ! " An authoritative knock at the door of the sleeping-chamber was now lieard, and Ursel, relieved by more powerful feelings, from the giddiness of which he had complained, walked firmly into the bed- room, and seating himself, waited with averted eyes the entrance of the person who demanded admittance, and who proved to be no other tlian Alexius Comnenus. The Emperor appeared at the door in a warlike dress, suited for the decoration of a prince who was to witness a combat in the lists fought out before him. "Sage Douban," he said, "has our esteemed prisoner, Ursel, made his choice between our peace and enmity ? " " He liath, my lord," replied the pliysician, " embraced the lot of that happy portion of mankind whose hearts and lives are devoted to the service of your Majesty's government." " He will then this day," continued tlie Emperor, "render me the office of putting down all those who may pretend to abet insurrection in liis nan;ie, and under pretext of his wrongs ?" " He will, my lord," replied the physician, "act to the fullest the part which you require." " And in what way," said tlie Emperor, adopting his most gracious tone of voice, " would our faithful Ursel desire that services like these, rendered in the hour of extreme need, should be acknowledged by the Emperor?" " Simply," answered Douban, " by saying nothing upon the sub- ject. He desires only that all jealousies between you and him may be henceforth forgotten, and that he may be admitted into one of your Highness's monastic institutions, v/itli leave to dedicate the rest of his life to the worship of Heaven and its saints." "Hath he ]^>ersuaded thee of this, Douban ? "—said the Emperor, in a low and altered voice. "By Heaven! when I consider from what prison he was brought, and in what guise he inhabited it, I cannot believe in this gall-less disposition. He must at least speak to me hipj.self, ere I can believe, in some degree, the transformation of the fiery Ursel into a being so little capable of feeling the ordi- nary impulses of mankind." " Hear me, Alexius Comnenus," said the prisoner; "and so may thine own prayers to Heaven find access and acceptation, as thou believest the W'ords which I speak to thee in simplicity of heart. If 250 COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. Uiine empire of Greece were made of coined gold, it would hold out no bait for my acceptance ; nor, I thank Heaven, have even the injuries I Iiave experienced. at thy hand, cruel and extensive as they have been, impressed upon me the slightest desire of requiting- treachery with treachery. Think of me as thou wilt, so thou seekst not ag-ain to exchange words with me ; and believe me, that when thou hast put me under the most rig-id of thy ecclesiastical founda- tions, the discipline, the fare, and the vigils will be far superior to the existence falling to the share of those whom the King delights to honour, and who therefore must afford the King their society when- ever they are summoned to do so." " It is'hardly for me," said the physician, "to interpose in so higli a matter ; yet, as trusted both by the noble Ursel and by his high- i^ss the Emperor, I have made a brief abstract of these short condi- tions to be kept by the high parties towards each other, suh critiiine falsi:' The Emperor protracted the intercourse with Ursel, until he more fully explamed to him the occasion which he should have that very day for his services. When they parted, Alexius, with a great show of affection, embraced his late prisoner, while it required all the self- command and stoicism of Ursel to avoid expressing in plains terms tlie extent to which he abhorred the person who thus caressed him. CHAPTER XXIX. O, Conspiracy ! Sham'st thou to show thy dangerous brow by night, Wlien evils are most free? O, tlien, by day, Where wilt thou find a cavern dark enough To mask thy monstrous visage? Seek uone, Conspira:y i Hide it in smiles and affability : I'^or if thou path thy native serablauce on, Not Erebus itself were dim enough To hide thee from prevention. Julius Cixsar. The important morning at last arrived, on which, by the Imperial proclamation, the combat between the Caesar and Robert Count of Paris, was appointed to take place. This was a circumstance in a great measure foreign to the Grecian manners, and to which, there- fore, the people annexed different ideas from those which were associated with the same solemn decision of God, as the Latins called it, by the Western nations. The consequence was a vague, but ex- cessive agitation among the people, who connected the extraordinary strife which they were to witness, with the various causes which had been whispered abroad as likely to give occasion to some general insurrection of a great and terrible nature. By the Imperial order, regular lists had been prepared for the combat, witli opposite gates or entrances, as was usual, for the ad- mittance of the two champions ; and it was understood that the appeal COUNT ROBERT OP PARIS. 2&1 was to be made to the Divinity by each, according' to the forms pre- scribed by the Church of which the combatants were respectively members. The situation of these lists was on the side of the shore iidjoiniuo: on the Avest to the continent. At no great distance, the walls of the city were seen, of various architecture, composed of lime and of stone, and furnished with no less than four-and-twenty gates, or posterns, five of which regarded the land, and nineteen the water. All this formed a beautiful prospect, much of which is still visible. The town itself is about nineteen miles in circumference ; and as it is on all sides surrounded with lofty cypresses, its general appearance is that of a city arising out of a stately wood of these magnificent trees, partly shrouding the pinnacles, obelisks, and minarets, whicli then marked the site of many noble Christian temples ; but now, generally speaking, intimate the position of as many Mohammedan mosques. These lists, for the convenience of spectators, were surrounded on all sides by long rows of seats, sloping downwards. In the middle of these seats, and exactly opposite the centre of the lists, was a high throne, erected for the Emperor himself; and which was separated from the more vulgar galleries by a circuit of wooden barricades, which an experienced eye could perceive might, in case of need, be made serviceable for purposes of defence. The lists were sixty yards in length, by perhaps about forty in breadth, and these afforded ample space for the exercise of the com- bat, both on horseback aud on foot. Numerous bands of the Greek citizens began, with the very break of day, to issue from the gates and posterns of the city to examine and wonder at the construction of the lists, pass their criticisms upon the purposes of the peculiar parts of the fabric, and occupy places, to secure them for the spec- tacle. Shortly after arrived a large band of those soldiers who were called the Roman Immortals. These entered without^ ceremony, and placed themselves on either hand of the wooden barricade which fenced the Emperor's seat. Some of them took even a greater liberty ; for, affecting to be pressed against the boundary, there were individuals Avho approached the partition itself, and seemed to medi- tate climbing over it, and placing themselves on the same side with the Emperor. Some old domestic slaves of the household now showed themselves, as if for the purpose of preserving this sacred circle for Alexius and his court ; and, in proportion as the Immortals began to show themselves encroaching and turbulent, the strength of the defenders of the prohibited precincts seemed gradually to increase. There was, though scarcely to be observed, besides the grand access to the Imperial seat from without, another opening also from the outside, secured by a very strong door, by which different per- sons received admissions beneath the seats destined for the Imperial party. These persons, by their length of limb, breadth of shoulders, by the fur of their cloaks, and especially by the redoubted battle- axes which all of them bore, appeared to be Varangians ; but, al- though neither dressed in their usual habit of pomp, nor in their more effectual garb of war, still, when narrowly examined, they might be 253 COU^T ROBERT OF PARIS. seen to possei53 their usual offensive weapons. Tliese men, onferinf? in separate and strag'oiing* parties, miglit be observed to join the slaves of the interior of the palace in opposing- the intrusion of the Immortals upon the seat of tlie Emperor and the benches around. Two or three Immortals, Avho had actually made g-ood their frolic, and climbed over the division, were flung- back again, very unceremo- niously, by tlie barbaric streng-tli and sinewy arms of the Varang-ians. The people around, and in the adjacent galleries, most of whom had the air of citizens in their holiday dresses, commented a good deal on tliese proceedings, and were inclined strongly to make part with the Immortals. "It was a shame to the Emperor," they said, "to encourage these British barbarians to interpose themselves by violence between his person and the Immortal cohorts of the city, who were in some sort his own children." Ste])hanos, the gymnastic, whose bulky strength and stature ren- dered him conspicuous amid his party, said, without hesitation, " If there are two people here who will join in saying that the Immortals arc unjustly deprived of their right of guarding the Emperor's per- son, here is the hand that shall place them beside the Imperial chair." "Not so," quoth a centurion of the Immortals, whom we have already introduced to our readers by the name of Harpax: "Not so, Stephanos; that happy time may arrive, but it is not yet come, my gem of the circus. Thou knowest that on this occasion it is one of these Comits, or western Franks, who undertakes the combat; and tlie Varangians, who call these people their enemies, have some reason to claim a precedency in guarding the lists, which it might not at this moment be convenient to dispute with them. Why, man, if thou wert half so witty as thou art long, tliou wouldst be sensible that it were bad v/oodmanship to raise tlie hollo upon the game ere it had been driven within compass of the nets." Vv^hile the athlete rolled his huge grey eyes as if to conjure out tlie sense of this intimation, his little friend Lysimachus, the artist, putting himself to pain to stand upon his tiptoe and look intelligent, said, approaching as near as he could to Harpax's ear, " Thou mayst trust me, gallant centurion, that this man of mould and muscle shall neither start like a babbling hound on a false scent, nor become mute and inert when the general signal is given. But tell me," said he, speaking' very low, and for that purpose mounting a bench, which brought him on a level with the centurion's ear, "would it not have been better that a strong guard of the valiant Immortals had been placed in this wooden citadel to insure the object of the day?" "^Vithout question," said the centurion, "it was so meant; but these strolling Varangians have altered their station of their ov.n authority." " Vv^ere it not well," said Lysimachus, "that you, v,-ho are greatly more numerous tijan the barbarians, should begin a fray before more of these strangers arrive ? " "Content ye, friend/' said the centurion, coldly; "we know our time. An attack commenced too early v.-ould be worse than thrown away, nor v;ould an opportunity occur of executing our prc^jcct ni Uie fitting time if an alarm were prematurely given at this moment." COUNT 110T3EIIT OF PAUIS. 253 So saying', ho shuffled off among' his fellow-soldiers, so as to avoid suspicious iutercourse with such persons as were only concerned with the civic i)ortion of the conspirators. As the morning- advanced, and the sun took a higher station in the horizon, the various persons wlioni curiosity or some more de- cided motive brought to see the proposed combat, were seen stream- ing- from different parts of the town, and rushing to occu])y such accommodation as the circuit round the lists afforded them. In their road to the place where preparation for combat was made, they had to ascend a sort of cape, which, in the form of a small hill, projected into the Hellespont, and the buLt of which, connecting it with the shore, afforded a considerable ascent, and of course a more commanding view of the strait between Europe and Asia than either the immediate vicinity of the city or the still lower ground upon which the lists were erected. In passing- this height,_ the earlier visitants of the lists made little or no halt; but after a time, when it became obvious that those who had hurried forward to the place of combat were lingering tliere without any object or occupation, they that followed them in the same route, with natural curiosity, paid a tribute to the landscape, bestowing- some attention on its beauty, and paused to see Avhat auguries could be collected from the water, Vvhich were likely to have any concern in indicating- the fate of the events that were to take place. KSome straggling- seamen were the first who remarked that a squadron of the Greek small craft (being that of Tancred) were in the act of making- their Avay from Asia, and threatening' a descent upon Constantinople. " It is strang-e," said a person, by rank the captain of a galley, " that these small vessels, which were ordered to return to Constan- tinople as soon as they disembarked the Latins, should have remained so long at Scutari, and should not be rowing back to the Imperial city until this time, on the second day after their departure from thence." " I pray to Heaven," said another of the same profession, " that these seamen may come alone. It seems to me as if their ensign- staffs, bowsprits, and topmasts were decorated with the same ensigns, or nearly the same, with those which the Latins displayed upon them, when, by the Emperor's order, they were transported towards Pales- tine ; so methinks the voyage back ag-ain resembles that of a fleet of merchant vessels, who have been prevented from discharging their cargo at the place of their destination." "There is little good," said one of the politicians whom we for- merly noticed, " in dealing v/ith such commodities, whether they are imported or exported. Yon ample banner which streams over the foremost galley, intimates the presence of a chieftain of no small rank among the Counts, whether it be for valour or for nobility." The seafaring- leader added, with the voice of one who hints alarming tidings, " They seem to have got to a point in the straits as high as will enable them to run dov/n with the tide, and clear the cape which we stand on, although with what purpose they aim to land so close beneath the walls of the city, he is a wiser man than I ■who pretends to determine." 264 COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. " Assuredly," returned Iiis comrade, " the intention is not a kind one. The wealth of the city has temptations to a poor people, who only value the iron which they possess' as aflbrding- them the means of procuring- the gold which they covet." " Ay, brother," answerc-d Demetrius the politician, " but see you not, lying at anchor within this bay which is formed by the cape, and at the very point where these heretics are likely to be carried by the tide, six strong vessels, having the power of sending forth, not merely showers of darts and arrows, but of Grecian fire, as it is called, from their hollow decks ? If these Frank gentry continue directing their course upon the Imperial city, being-, as they are, ' propago Contemptrix Snperftra san^, sserseque avidissima coedis, Et violenta,'! we shall speedily see a combat better worth witnessing- than that announced by the great trumpet of the Varangians, If you love me, let us sit down here for a moment, and see how this matter is to end." " An excellent motion, my ingenious friend," said Lascaris, which was the name of the other citizen ; "but, bethink you, shall we not be in danger from the missiles with which the audacious Latins will not fail to return the Greek fire, if, according to your conjecture, it shall be poured upon them by the Imperial squadron ? " "That is not ill-argued, my friend," said Demetrius; "but know that you have to do with a man who has been in such extremities before now; and if such a discharge should open from the sea, I would propose to you to step back some fifty yards inland, and thus to interpose the very crest of the cape between us and the discharge of missiles ; a mere child might thus learn to face them without any alarm." " You are a wise man, neighbour," said Lascaris, " and possess such a mixture of valour and knowledge as becomes a man whom a friend might be supposed safely to risk his life with. There be those, for instance, who cannot show you the slightest glimpse of what is going on, without bringing you within peril of your life ; whereas you, my worthy friend Demetrius, between your accurate knowledge of military affairs, and your regard for your friend, are sure to show him all that is to be seen without the least risk to a person, who is naturally unwilling- to think of exposing himself to injury. But, Holy Virgin! what is the meaning of that red flag- which the Greek Admiral has this instant hoisted?" " Why, you see, neighbour," answered Demetrius, " yonder western heretic continues to advance without minding- the various signs which our Admiral has made to him to desist, and now he hoists the bloody colours, as if a man should clench his fist and say, If you persevere in your uncivil intention, I will do so and so." " By St Sophia," said Lascaris, " and that is giving him fair warn- ing. But what is it the Imperial Admiral is about to do ? " 1 Ovid, Met. COUNT ROBERT OP TAKIS. 265 " Run . run ! friend Lascaris," said Demetrius, " or you will see more of that than perchance you have any curiosity for." According-ly, to add the strength of example to precept, Deme- trius himself girt up his loins, and retreated mth the most edifying" speed to the opposite side of the ridge, accompanied by the greater part of the crowd, who had tarried there to witness the contest which the newsmonger promised, and were determined to take his word for their own safety. The sound and sight which had alarmed Demetrius, was the discharge of a large portion of Greek fire, which perhaps may be best compared to one of those immense Congreve rockets of the present day, which takes on its shoulders_ a small grapnel or anchor, and proceeds groaning through the air, like a fiend overburdened by the mandate of some inexorable magician, and of which the operation was so terrifying, that the crews of the ves- sels attacked by this strange weapon frequently forsook every means of defence, and ran themselves ashore. One of the principal ingre- dients of this dreadful fire was supposed to be naphtha, or the bitu- men which is collected on the banks of the Dead Sea, and which, when in a state of ignition, could only be extinguished by a very sin- gular mixture, and which it was not likely to come in contact with. It produced a thick smoke and loud explosion, and was capable, says Gibbon, of communicating its flames with equal vehemence in des- cent or lateral progress.^ In sieges, it was poured from the ram- parts, or launched like our bombs, in red-hot balls of stone or iron, or it was darted in flax twisted round arrows and in javelins. It was considered as a state secret of the greatest importance ; and for well-nigh four centuries it was unknown to the Mohammedans. But at length the composition was discovered by the Saracens, and used by them for repelling the crusaders, and overpowering the Greeks, upon whose side it had at one time been the most formidable imple- ment of defence. Some exaggeration we must allow for a barbar- ous period ; but there seems no doubt that the general description of the crusader Joinville shotdd be admitted as correct : — " It came flying through the air," says that good knight, "like a winged dra- gon, about the thickness of a hogshead, with the report of thunder and the speed of lightning, and the darkness of the night was dis- pelled by this horrible illumination." Not only the bold Demetrius and his pupil Lascaris, but all the crowd whom they influenced, fled manfully when the commodore of the Greeks fired the first discharge ; and as the other vessels in the squadron followed his example, the heavens were filled with the unusual and outrageous noise, while the smoke was so thick as to darken the very air. As the fugitives passed the crest of the hill, they saw the seaman, whom we formerly mentioned as a spectator, snugly reclining under cover of a dry ditch, where he manao-ed so as to secure himself as far as possible from any accident, lie could not, however, omit breaking his jest on the politicians. "What, ho!" he cried, "my good friends," without raising himself above the counterscarp of his ditch, " will you not remain upon your J For a full account of the Greek fire, see Gibbon, chapter lifL 25G coujsrr robeut of imiiis. station long' enoiig'li to finish that hopeful lecture upon battle by sea and land, -which you had so happy an opportunity of comnienciug-? Believe me, the noise is more alarming- than hurtful; the fire is all pointed in a direction opposite to yours, and if one of those dragons ' which you see does happen to fly landward instead of seaward, it is but the mistake of some cabin-boy, who has used his linstock with more willing-ness than ability." Demetrius and Lascaris just heard enoug-h of the naval hero's harangue, to acquaint them with the nev/ dang-er Avith which they miglit be assailed by the possible misdirection of the v/capons, and, rushing- down tovrards the lists at the head of a crowd half desperate Avith fear, they hastily propagated the appalling news, that the Latins were coming back from Asia with the purpose of landing in arms, l)il]aging, and burning the city. The uproar, in the mean time, of this unexpected occurrence, was such as altogether to vindicate, in public opinion, the reported cause, liowever exaggerated. The thunder of the Greek fire came succes- sively, one hard upon the other, and each, in its turn, spread a blot of black smoke upon the face of the landscape, which, tliickened by so many successive clouds, seemed at last, like that raised by a sus- tained fire of modern artillery, to overshadow the whole horizon. The small squadron of Tancred were completely hid from view in the surging volumes of darkness, which the breadth of the weapons of the enemy had spread around him; and it seemed by a red light, which began to show itself among the thickest of the veil of darkness, that one of the flotilla at least had caught fire. Yet the Latins resisted, with an obstinacy worthy of their own courage, and the fame of their celebrated leader. Some advantage they had, on account of their small size, and' their lowness in the water, as well as tlie clouded state of the atmosphere, which rendered them difficult marks for the fire of the Greeks. To increase these advantages, Tancred, as well by boats as by the kind of rude signals made use of at the period, dispersed orders to his fleet, that each bark, disregarding the fixte of the others, should press forward individually, and that the men from each should be put on shore wheresoever and howsoever they could eficct that manoeuvre. Tancred himself set a noble example ; he was on board a stout vessel, fenced in some degree against the efi'ect of the Greek fire by being in a great measure covered with raw hides, which hides had also been recently steeped in water. This vessel contained up- -wards of a hundred valiant warriors, several of them of knightly order, who had all night toiled at the humble labours of the oar, and iiov/- in the morning- applied their chivalrous hands to the arblasfc and to the bow, v/hich were in general accounted the weapons of persons of a lov/er rank. Thus armed, and thus manned, Prince Tancred bestowed upon his bark the full velocity which wind, and tide, and oar could enable her to obtain, and, placing her in the situa- tion to profit by them as much as his maritime skill could direct, he drove with the speed of lightning among the vessels of Lemnos, plying on eitlier side bows, cross-bows, javelins, and military mis- siles of every k\nx\, with the greater adYantaj^e that the Greeks COUNT ROBERT OF PARI3. 257 trusltng- to tlieir arLificial fire, liad omitted arming' tljcmsolves with otlier weapons; so that when tlie valiant Crusader boro down on them witli so much fury, repayino- the terrors of their lire v>ith a, storm of bolts and arrows no less formidable, they began to feel that their own advantage was much less than they had supposed, and tliat, like most other dangers, the maritime fire of the Greeks, when un- dauntedly confronted, lost at least one-half of its terrors. The Gre- cian sailors, too, when they observed the vessels approacli so uear, filled with the steel-clad Latins, began to shrink from a contest to be maintained hand to hand with so terrible an enemy. By^ degrees, smoke began to issue from the sides of the great Grecian argosy, and the voice of Tancred announced to his soldiers that the Grecian Admiral's vessel had taken fire, owing to negli- gence in the management of the means of destruction she possessed, and tliat all they had now to do was to maintain such a distance as to avoid sharing her fate. Sparkles and flashes of flame were next seen leaping from place to place on board of the great hulk, as if the clement had had the sense and purpose of spreading wider the con- sternation, and disabling the few who still paid attention to the com- mands of their Admiral, and endeavoured to extinguish the fire. The consciousness of the combustible nature of the freight, begau to add despair to terror ; from the boltsprit, the rigging, the yards, the sides, and every part of the vessel, the unfortunate crew were seen dropping themselves, to exchange, for the most part, a watery death for one by the more dreadful agency of fire. The crew of Tancred's bark, ceasing, by that generous prince's commands, to ofi'er any additional annoyance to an enemy who was at once threat- ened by the perils of the ocean and of conflagration, rau their vessel ashore in a smooth part of the bay, and jumping into the shallow sea, ■ made the land v/ithout difficulty ; many of their steeds being, by the I exertions of the owners, and the docility of the animals, brought i ashore at the same time with their masters. Their commander lost ': 110 time in forming their serried ranks into a phalanx of lancers, few ' indeed at first, but perpetually increasing as ship after ship of tlie I little flotilla rau ashore, or, having more deliberately moored their [barks, landed their men, and joined their companions. i The cloud which had been raised by the conflict was now driven to leeward before the wind, and the strait exhibited only the relics of the combat. Here tossed upon the billows the scattered and broken remains of one or two of the Latin vessels which had been burnt at the commencement of the combat, though their crews, by the exer- tions of their comrades, had in general been saved. Lower down were seen the remaining five vessels of the Lemnos squadron, holding a disorderly and difficult retreat, with the purpose of gaining the harbour of "Constantinople. In the place so late the scene of combat, ilay moored the hulk of the Grecian Admiral, burnt to the water's edge, and still sending forth a black smoke from its scathed beams and planks. The flotilla of Tancred, busied in discharging its troops, lay irregularly scattered along the ba}', the men making ashore as they could and taking their course to join the standard of their leader. Various bhick substances floated ou the surfixcc of the water, nearer, s 258 COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS.^ or more distant to the shore ; some proved to be tlie wreck of the vesseia which had been destroyed, and others, more ominous still, the lifeless bodies of mariners who had fallen in the conflict. The standard had been borne ashore by tlie Prince's favourite pag-e, Ernest of Apulia, so soon as the keel of Tancred's g'alley had grazed upon the sand. It was then pitched on the top of that elevated cape between Constantinople and the lists, where Lascaris, Deme- trius, and other gossips, had hekl their station at the commencement of the eng-agement, but from which all had ilcd, between the mingled dread of the Greek fire and the missiles of the Latin crusaders. CHAPTER XXX. Sheathed in complete armour, and supporting with his right hand the standard of his fathers, Tancred remained with his hand- ful of warriors like so many statues of steel, expecting some sort of attack from the Grecian party which had occupied the lists, or from the numbers whom the city gates began now to pour forth — soldiers some of them, and others citizens, many of whom were arrayed as if for conflict. These persons, alarmed by the various accounts which were given of the combatants, and the progress of the fight, rushed towa-rds the standard of Prince Tancred, with the intention of beat- ing it to the earth, and dispersing the guards who owed it homage and defence. But if the reader shall have happened to have ridden at any time through a pastoral country, with a dog of a noble race following him, he must have remarked, in the deference ultimately paid to the high-bred animal by the shepherd's cur as he crosses the lonely glen, of which the latter conceives himself the lord and guardian, something very similar to the demeanour of the incensed Greeks, wdien they approached near to the little band of Franks. At the first symptom of the intrusion of a stranger, the dog of the shepherd starts from his slumbers, and rushes towards the noble intruder with a clamorous declaration of war ; but when the diminu- tion of distance between them shows to the aggressor the size and strength of his opponent, he becomes like a cruiser, who, in a chase, has, to his surprise and alarm, found two tier of guns opposed to him instead of one. He halts — suspends his clamorous yelping, and, in fine, ingloriously retreats to his master, with all the dishonourable marks of positively declining the combat. \ It was in this manner that the troops of the noisy Greeks, with much hallooing and many a boastful shout, hastened both from the town and from the lists, with the apparent intention of sweeping from the field the few companions of Tancred. As they advanced, liowever, within the power of remarking the calm and regular order of those men who had landed, and arranged themselves under this noble chieftain's banner, their minds were altogether changed as to the resolution of instant combat; their advance became an uncertain and staggering gait, their heads were more frequently turned back COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. 259 to the point from which they came, than towards the enemy ; and their desire to provoke an instant scuffle vanislied totally, when there did not appear the least symptom that their opponents cared about the matter. It added to the extreme confidence with whicli the Latins kept their g-round, that they were receiving* frequent, though small rein- forcements from their comrades, who were landing' by detachments all along- the beach ; and that, in the course of a sliort hour, their amount had been raised, on horseback and foot, to a number, allow- ing- for a few casualties, not much less than that which set sail from Scutari. Another reason why the Latins remained unassailed, was certainly the indisposition of the two principal armed parties on shore to enter into a quarrel with them. The guards of every kind, who were faithful to the Emperor, and more especially the Varangians, had their orders to remain firm at their posts, some' in the lists, and others at various places of rendezvous in Constantinople, wliere their pres- ence was necessary to prevent the efi:ects of the sudden insurrection which Alexius knew to be meditated against him. These, therefore, made no hostile demonstration towards the baud of Latins, nor was it the purpose of the Emperor they should do so. On the other hand, the greater part of the Immortal Guards, and those citizens who were prepared to play a part in the conspiracy, had been impressed by the agents of tlie deceased Agelastes with the opinion, that this band of Latins, commanded by Tancred, the relative of Bohemond, had been despatched by the latter to their assistance. These men, therefore, stood still, and made no attempt to guide or direct the popular efforts of such as inclined to attack these unexpected visitors ; in which purpose, therefore, no very great party were united, while the majority were willing enough to find an apology for remaining quiet. In the mean time the Emperor, from his palace of Blacquernal, observed what passed upon the straits, and beheld his navy from Lemnos totally foiled in their attempt, by means of the Greek fire, to check the intended passage of Tancred and his men. He had no sooner seen the leading ship of this squadron begin to beacon the darkness with its own fire, than the Emperor formed a secret resolu- tion to disown the unfortunate Admiral, and make peace with the Latins, if that should be absolutely necessary, by sending them his head. He had hardly, therefore, seen the flames burst forth, and the rest of the vessels retreat from their moorings, than in his own mind, the doom of the unfortunate Phraortes, for such was the name of the Admiral, was signed and sealed. Achilles Tatius, at the same instant, determining to keep a close eye upon the Emperor at this important crisis, came precipitately into the palace, with an appearance of great alarm. " My Lord ! — my Imperial Lord ! I am unhappy to be the messen- ger of such unlucky news ; but the Latins have in great numbers succeeded in crossing the strait from Scutari. The Lemnos squad- ron endeavoured to stop them, as was last night determined upon in tiie Imperial Council of War. By a heavy discharge of the Greek 2G0 COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. fire, 011G or two of the crusaders' vessels were consuraed, hut hy far the greater luimher of them pushed on their course, hurnt the lead- ing- ship of the unfortunate Phraortes, and it is strongly reported he has himself perished, with almost all his men. The rest have cut their cables, and abandoned the defence of the passage of the Helles- pont." '•' And you, Achilles Tatius," said the Emperor, " with what pur- pose is it that you novv bring- me this melancholy news, at a period so late, when I cannot amend the consequences?" " Under favour, most gracious Emperor," replied the conspirator, not without colouring and stammering, " such was not my intention — I had hoped to submit a plan, by which I might easily have pre- pared the way for correcting thas little error." " Well, your plan, sir ? " said the Emperor, drily. " With your sacred Majesty's leave," said the Acolyte, " I would myself have undertaken instantly to lead against this Tancred and liis Italians the battle-axes of the faithful Varangian guard, Vv'ho v/ill make no more account of the small number of Franks who have come ashore, than the farmer holds of the hordes of rats and miceand such like mischievous vermin, who have harboured in his granaries."' " And what mean you," said the Emperor, " that I am to do, while my Anglo-Saxons fight for my sake ?" '' Your Majesty," replied Achilles, not exactly satisfied Avith the dry and caustic manner in which the Emperor addressed hinij '' may put yourself at the head of the Immortal cohorts of Constantinople ; and I am your security, that you may either perfect the victory over the Latins, or at least redeem the most distant chance of a defeat, by advancing at the head of this choice body of domestic troops, should the day appear doubtful." "You, yourself, Achilles Tatius," returned the Emperor, "have repeatedly assured us that these Immortals retain a perverse attach- ment to our rebel Ursel. How is it, then, you would have us intrust our defence to these bands, when we have engaged our valiant Varan- gians in the proposed conilict with the flower of the western army? — Did you think of this risk, Sir Follower ? " Achilles Tatius, much alarmed at an intimation indicative of his purpose being known, answered, "That in his haste he had been more anxious to recommend the plan which should expose his own person to the greater danger than that perhaps which was most attended with personal safety to his Imperial Master." " I thank you for so doing," said the Emperor ; "you have anti- cipated my wishes, though it is not in my power at present to follow the -i^^W'-zQ you have given me. I would have been well contented, undouoicdly, had these Latins measured their way over the strait again, as suggested by last night's council; but since they have arrived, and stand embattled on our shores, it is better that we pay them with money and witU spoil than with the lives of our gallaiit subjects. We cannot, after all, believe that they come with any serious intention of doing us injury; it is but the insane desire of witnessing feats of battle and single combat, which is to them the breath of their nostrils, that can have impelled them to this v)artial COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. 261 countormarcli. 1 impose upon you, Achilles Tatius, corabiniiig- the Protosputluiire in the same commission with you, the duty of riding- up to yonder standard, and learning" of their chief, called the Prince Tancred, if he is there in person, the purpose of his return^ and the cause of his entering- into debate with Phraortes and the Lemnos squadron. If they send us any reasonable excuse, we shall not be averse to receive it at their hands ; for we have not made so many sacrifices for the preservation of peace, to break f(n-th into war, if, after ail, so great an evil can be avoided. Thou Avilfc receive, there- fore, with a candid and complacent mind, sucli apologies as they may incline to bring forward; and be assured that the sight of this puppet-show of a single combat will be enough of itself to banish every other consideration from the reflection of these giddy crusaders." A knock was at this moment heard at the door of the Emperor's apartment; and upon the word being' given to enter, tlie Protos- pathaire made his appearance. He was arrayed in a splendid suit of ancient Roman fashioned armour. The want of a visor left his countenance entirely visible ; which, pale and anxious as it was, did not well become the martial crest and dancing plume with which it was decorated. He received the commission already mentioned with the less alacrity, because the Acolyte was added to him as his colleague ; for, as the reader may have observed, these two oliicei's were of separate factions in the army, and on indifferent terms with each other. Neither did the Acolyte consider his being' united in commission with the Protospathaire as a mark either of the Em- peror's confidence or of his ov/n safety. He was, liowever, in the mean time, in the Blacquernal, where the slaves of the interior made not the least hesitation, when ordered, to execute any ofificer of the court. The two generals had, therefore, no other alternative than that which is allowed to two greyhounds who are reluctantly coupled together. The hope of Achilles Tatius was, that he might get safely through his mission to Tancred, after which he thought the suc- cessful explosion of the conspiracy might take ])lace and haveits course, either as a matter desired and countenanced by those Latins, or passed over as a thing- in which they took no interest on either side. By the parting order of the Emperor, they were to mount on horse- back at the sounding of the great Varangian trumpet, put them- selves at the head of those Anglo-Saxon guards in the courtyard of their barrack, and await the Emperor's further orders. There was something in this arrangement which pressed hard on the conscience of Achilles Tatius, yet he was at a loss to justify his apprehensions to himself, unless from a conscious feeling' of his own guilt. He felt, however, that in being- detained, under pretence of an honourable mission, at the head of the Varangians, he was de- prived of the liberty of disposing- of himself, by wliich he had hoped to communicate with the Caisar and Hereward, whom he reckoned upon as his active accomplices, not knowing- that the first was at this moment a prisoner in the Blacquernal, where Alexius had ar- rested him in the apartments of the Empress, and that the second 2G2 COUNT UOBERT OF PARIS. was the most important support of Comneniis during- the wliole of that eyentful day. When the g-igantic trumpet of the Varangian guard sent forth its deep signal through the city, the Protospathaire hurried Achilles along with him to the rendezvous of the Varangians, and on the way said to him, in an easy and indifferent tone, " As the Emperor is in the field in person, you, his representative, or Follower, will of course transmit no orders to the body-guard, except such as shall receive their origin from himself, so that you will consider your authority as this day suspended." "I regret," said 'Achilles, "that there should have seemed any cause for such precautions ; I had hoped my own truth and fidelity —but— I am obsequious to his imperial pleasure in all things." " Such are his orders," said the other oflicer, " and you know under what penalty obedience is enforced." " If I did not," said Achilles, " the composition of this body of guards would remind me, since it comprehends not only great part of those Varangians, who are the immediate defenders of the Em- l)eror's throne, but those slaves of the interior, who are the execu- tioners of his pleasure." To this the Protospathaire returned no answer, while the more closely the Acolyte looked upon the guard which attended, to the unusual number of nearly three thousand men, the more had he reason to believe that he might esteem himself fortunate, if, by the intervention of either the Ctesar, Agelastes, or Hereward, he could pass to the conspirators a signal to suspend the intended explosion, which seemed to be provided against by the Emperor with unusual caution. He would have given the full dream of empire, with which he had been for a short time lulled asleep, to have seen but a glimpse of the azure plume of Nicephorus, the white mantle of the philoso- pher, or even a glimmer of Hereward's battle-axe. No such objects could be seen anywhere, and not a little was the faithless Follower displeased to see that whichever way he turned his eyes, those of the Protospathaire, but especially of the trusty domestic officers of the empire, seemed to follow and watch their occupation. Amidst the numerous soldiers whom he saw on all sides, his eye did not recognise a single man with whom he could exchange a friendly or confidential glance, and he stood in all that agony of ter- ror, which is rendered the more discomfiting, because the traitor is conscious that, beset by various foes, his own fears are the most likely of all to betray him. Internally, as the danger seemed to increase, and as his alarmed imagination attempted to discern new reasons for it, he could only conclude that either one of the three principal con- spirators, or at least some of the inferiors, had turned informers ; and his doubt was, whether he should not screen his own share of what had been premeditated, by flinging himself at the feet of the Emperor, and making a full confession. But still the fear of being- premature in having recourse to such a base means of saving himself, joined to the absence of the Emperor, united to keep within his lips a secret, which concerned not only all his future fortunes, but life itself. He was in the mean time, therefore, plunged as it were in a COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. 233 sea of trouble and uncertainty, ^vhile the specks of land, which seemed to promise him refug-e, were distant, dimly aecn, and ex- tremely difficult of attainment. CHAPTER XXXI. To-morrow— oh, that's sudden ! Spare him, spare hira : lie's not prepared to die. Shakespbark. At the moment Avhen Achilles Tatius, with a feeling- of much inse- curity, awaited the unwinding* of the perilous skein of state politics, a private council of the Imperial family was held in the hall termed the Temple of the Muses, repeatedly distinguished as the apartment in which the Princess Anna Comnena was wont to make her evening- recitations to those who were permitted the honour of hearing pre- lections of her history. The council consisted of the Empress Irene, the Princess herself, and the Emperor, with the Patriarch of the Greek Church, as a sort of mediator between a course of severity and a dangerous degree of lenity. "Tell not me, Irene," said the Emperor, "of the tine things at- tached to the praise of mercy. Here have I sacrificed my just re- venge over my rival Ursel, and what good do I obtain by it? Why, the old obstinate man, instead of being' tractable, and sehsible of the g-enerosity whicli has spared his life and eyes, can be with difficulty brought to exert himself in favour of the Prince to whom he owes them. I used to think that eyesight and the breath of life were things which one would preserve at any sacrifice ; but, on the con- trary, I now beheve men value them like mere toys. Talk not to me, therefore, of the gratitude to be excited by saving" this ungrateful cub ; and believe me, girl," turning- to Anna, " that not only will all my subjects, should I follow your advice, laugh at me for sparing-a man so predetermined to work my ruin, but even thou thyself wilt be the first to upbraid me with the'fooHsh kindness thou art now so anxious to extort from me." " Your Imperial pleasure then," said the Patriarch, " is fixed that your unfortunate son-in-law shall suffer death for his accession to this conspiracy, deluded by that heathen villain Agelastes, and the trai- torous Achilles Tatius ? " " Such is my purpose," said the Emperor ; " and in evidence that I mean not again to pass over a sentence of this kind with a seeming- execution only, as in the case of Ursel, this ungrateful traitor of ours shall be led from the top of the staircase, or ladder of Acheron, as it is called, through the large chamber named the Hall of Judgment, at the upper end of which are arranged the apparati;:^ ior execution, by which I swear " " Swear not at all ! " said the Patriarch ; " I forbid thee, in the name of that Heaven whose voice (though unworthy) speaks in my person, to quench the smoking flax, or destroy the slight hope which 264 COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. there may remain, tliat you may finally bo persuaded to alter your purpose respecting' your raisg-uided son-in-law, within the space al- lotted to him to sue for your mercy. . Remember, I pray you, the re- morse of Constantine." " What means your reverence ?" said Irene. "A trifle," replied the Emperor, "not worthy being quoted from such a mouth as the Patriarch's, being, as it probably is, a relic of paganism," ''What is it?" exclaimed the females anxiously, in the hope of liearing something which might strengthen their side of the ai'gu- ment, and something- moved, perhaps, by curiosity, a motive whidi seldom slumbers in a female bosom, even when the stronger passions are in arms. " The Patriarch will tell you," answered Alexius, " since you must needs know; though I promise you, you will not receive any assist- ance in your argument from a silly legendary tale." "Hear it, however," said the Patriarch ; "for though it is a tale of the olden time, and sometimes supposed to refer to the period when heatlienism predominated, it is no less true, that it was a vow made and registered in the chancery of the rightful Deity, by an Em])eror of Greece. "What I am now to relate to you," continued he, "is, in truth, a tale not only of a Christian Emperor, but of him who made the whole empire Christian ; and of that very Constantine, who was also the first wlio declared Constantinople to be the metropolis of the empire. This hero, remarkable alike for his zeal for religion and for his war- like achievements, was crov/ned by Heaven with repeated victory, and with all manner of blessings, save that unity in his family which •wise men are most ambitious to possess. Not only was the blessing of concord among brethren denied to the family of this triumphant Emperor, but a deserving son of mature age, who had been supposed to aspire to share the throne witli his father, was suddenly, and at midnight, called upon to enter his defence against a capital charge of treason. You will readily excuse my referring to the arts by Avhicli the son was rendered guilty in the eyes of the father. Be it enougli to say, that the unfortunate young man fell a victim to the g"uilt of his stepmother, Fausta, and that he disdained to exculpate liiraself from a charge so gross and so erroneous. It is said, that the anger of the Emperor was kept up against liis son by the syco- ])hants v*ho called upon Constantine to observe that the culprit dis- dained even to supplicate for mercy, or vindicate his innocence from •so foul a charge. *'But the death-blow had no sooner struck the innocent youth, than his father obtained proof of tiie rashness with which he liad acted. He had at this period been engaged i^ constructing the subterranean parts of tiie Blacquernal palace, which his remorse appointed to contain a record of his paternal grief and contrition. At the upper part of the staircase, called the Pit of Acheron, he caused to be constructed a large chamber, still called the Hall of Judgment, for the purpose of execution, A passage through an archway in the upper wall leads from the hall to the place of misery, COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. 2G5 where tlie axe, or other engine, is disposed for the execution of state prisoners of consequence. Over this arclnvay was placed a species of marble altar, surmounted by an image of the unfortunate Crispus ^the materials were gold, and it bore the memorable inscription, To MY SOX WHOM I RASnLY CONDEMNED, AND TOO HASTILY EXECUTED. When constructing" this passage, Constantino made a vow, that he himself and his posterity, being reigning Emperors, would stand be- side the Statue of Crispus, at the time when any individual of their family should be led to execution, and before they sujffered him to pass from the Hall of Judgment to the Chamb«r of Death, that they should themselves be personally convinced of the truth of the charge under which he suftered. "Time rolled on — the memory of Constantino v.'as remembered almost like that of a saint, and the respect paid to it throve into shadow the anecdote of his son's death. The exigencies of the state rendered it difficult to keep so large a sum in specie invested in a statue, which called to mind the unpleasant failings of so great a man. Your Imperial Ilighness's predecessors applied the metal which formed the statue to support the Turkish Avars; and the re- morse and penance of Constantine died away in an obscure traditioii of the Church or of the palace. Still, hov/ever, unless your Imperial Majesty has strong reasons to the contrary, I should give it as my opinion, that you will hardly achieve what is due to the memory of the greatest of your predecessors, unless you give this unfortunate criminal, being so near a relation of your own, an opportunity of pleading his cause before passing by the altar of refuge; being the name which is commonly given to the monument of the unfortunate Crispus, son of Constantine, although now deprived both of the golden letters which composed the inscription, and the golden iniage which represented the roval sufferer." A mournful strain of music was now heard to ascend the stair so often mentioned. " If I must hear the Csesar Nicephorus Bnennius, ere he pass the altar of refuge, there must be no loss of time," said the Emperor; " for these melancholy sounds announce that he has already ap- proached the Hall of Judgment." Both the Imperial ladies began instantly, Avith the utmost earnest- ness, to deprecate the execution of the Casar s doom, and to conjure Alexius, as he hoped for quiet in his household, and the everlasting gratitude of his Avife and daughter, that he Avcaild listen to their entreaties in behalf of an unfortunate man, Avho had been seduced into guilt, but not from his heart. "I Avill at least see him," said the Emperor, "and the holy voav of Constantine shall be in the present instance strictly observed. But remember, you foolish Avonaen, that the state of Crispus and the pre- sent Csesar is as different as guilt from innocence, and that their fates, therefore, may be justly decided upon opposite principles, and Avith opposite results. But I Avill confront this criminal ; and 3'ou, Patriarch,, may be present to render Avhat help is in your power to a dying man ; for you, the Avife and mother of the traitor, you Avill, methinks; do avcII to retire to the church, and pray God for the soul 266 COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. of the deceased, rather than disturb his last moments with unavailing lamentations." " Alexius," said the Empress Irene, "Ibascech you to be contented ; be assured that we will not leave you in this dogged humour of blood- shedding, lest you make such materials for history as are fitter for the time of Nero than of Constantine.'' The Emperor, without reply, led the way into the Hall of Judg- ment, where a much stronger li^-ht than usual was already shining up the stair of Acheron, from wnich were heard to sound, by sullen and intermitted fits, the penitential psalms which the Greek Church has appointed to be sung at executions. Twenty mute slaves, the pale colour of whose turbans gave a ghastly look to the withered cast of their features and the glaring whiteness of their eyeballs, ascended two by two, as it were from the bowels of the earth, each of tliem bearing in one hand a naked sabre, and in the other a lighted torch. After these came the unfortunate Nicephorus ; his looks were those of a man half-dead from the terror of immediate dissolution, and what he possessed of remaining attention was turned successively to two black-stoled monks, who were anxiously repeating religious pas- sages to him alternately from the Greek Scripture, and the form of devotion adopted by the Court of Constantinople. The Csesar's dress also corresponded to his mournful fortunes : his legs and arms were bare, and a simple white tunic, the neck of which was already open, showed that he liad assumed the garments which were to serve his last turn. A tall, muscular Nubian slave, who considered him- self obviously as the principal person in the procession, bore on his shoulder a large, heavy, headsman's axe, and, like a demon waiting on a sorcerer, stalked step for step after his victim. The rear of the procession was closed by a band of four priests, each of whom chanted from time to time the devotional psalm which was thundered forth on the occasion; and another of slaves, armed with bows and quivers and with lances, to resist any attempt at rescue, if sucli should be ofiered. It would have required a harder heart than that of the unlucky princess to have resisted this gloomy apparatus of fear and sorrow, surrounding, at the same time directed against, a beloved object, the lover of her youth, and the husband of her bosom, within a few minutes of the termination of his mortal career. As the mournful train approached towards the altar of refuge, half-encircled as it now was by the two great and expanded arms which projected from the wall, the Emperor, who stood directly in the passage, threw upon the flame of the altar some chips of aromatic wood, steeped in spirit of wine, which, leaping at once into a blaze, illumiuated the doleful procession, the figure of the principal culprit, and the slaves, who had most of them extinguished their flambeaux so soon as they had served the purpose of lighting them up the staircase. The sudden light spread from the altar failed not to make the Emperor and the Princesses visible to the mournful group which ap- proached through the hall. All halted — all were silent. It was a meeting, as the Princesshasexpressedherself in her historical work, COUNT K013ERT OF I'AUIS. 267 such as took place betwixt Ulyss(?s and the iuhabitants of the other world, who, when they tasted of the blood of his sacrifices, recognised him indeed, hut with empty lamentations, and gestures feeble and shadowy. The hymn of contrition sunk also into silence ; and, of the whole group, the only figure rendered more distinct, was the gigantic execution yr, whose high and furrowed forehead, as well as the broad steel of his axe, caught and reflected back the bright gleam from the altar. Alexius saw the necessity of breaking the silence which ensued, lest it should give the intercessors for the prisoner an opportunity of renewing their entreaties. "Nicephorus Briennius," he said, with a voice which, althougli generally interrupted by a slight hesitation, which procured him, among his enemies, the nickname of the Stutterer, yet, upon import- ant occasions^like the present, was so judiciously tuned and balanced in its sentences that no such defect was at all visible — " Nicephorus Briennius," he said, " late Csesar, the lawful doom hath been spoken, that, having conspired against the life of thy rightful sovereign ancl affectionate father, Alexius Comnenus, thou shalt suffer the appro- priate sentence, by having thy head struck from thy body. Here, therefore, at the last altar of refuge, 1 meet thee, according to the vow of the immortal Constantine, for the purpose of demanding whether thou hast anything to allege why this doom should not be executed? Even at this eleventh hour, thy tongue is unloosed to speak with freedom what may concern thy life. All is prepared in this world and in the next. Look forward beyond yon archway — the block is fixed. Look behind thee, thou seest the axe already sharp- ened — thy place for good or evil in the next world is already deter- mined-— time flies— eternity approaches. If thou hast aught to say, speak it freely — if nought, confess the justice of thy sentence, and pass on to death. The Emperor commenced this oration with those looks described by his daughter as so piercing, that they dazzled like lightning, and his periods, if not precisely flowing like burning lava, were yet the accents of a man having the power of absolute command, and as such produced an effect not only on the criminal, but also upon the Prince himself, whose watery eyes" and fiilteriug voice acknowledged his sense and feeling of the fatal import of the present moment. Rousing himself to the conclusion of what he had commenced, the Emperor again demanded whether the prisoner had anything to say in his own defence. Nicephorus was not one of those hardened criminals who may be termed the very prodigies of history, from the coolness with which they contemplated the consummation of their crimes, whether in their own punishment or the misfortunes of others. " I have been tempted," he said, dropping on his knees, '* and I have fallen. I have nothing to allege in excuse of my folly and ingratitude ; but I stand prepared to die to expiate my guilt." A deep sigh, almost amounting to a scream, was here heard, close behind the Emperor, and its cause assigned by the sudden exclamation of Irene — " My lord! my lord! your daughter is gone!" And in fact Anna Com- aena had sunk into her mother's avms without either sense or mo- 2G8 COLLNT liOBEUT OV TAllIS. lion. The fiitlier's attention was instantly called to support hia swooning child, while the unhap'py husband strove with the guards to be permitted to go to the assistance of his wife. " Give me but five minutes of that time which the law lias abridged— let my efforta but assist in recalling her to a life which should be as long as her virtues and her talents deserve; and then let me die at her feet, for I care not to go an inch beyond." The Emperor, who in fact had been more astonished at the bold- ness and rashness of Nicephorus than alarmed by his power, con- sidered him as a man rather misled than misleading others, andfelt, therefore, the full effect of this last interview. Pie was, besides, not naturally cruel, where severities were to be enforced under his own eye. '•The divine and immortal Constantine," he said, "did not, I am persuaded, subject his descendants to this severe trial in order fur- tiicr to search out the innocence of the criminals, but rather to give to those v/ho came after him an opportunity of generously forgiving a crime which could not, without pardon— the express pardon of the Prince— escape unpunished. 1 rejoice that I am born of the willow rather than of tlie oak, and I acknowledge my weakness, that not even the safety of my own life, or resentment of this unhappy man's treasonable machinations, have the same effect with me as the tears of my wife and the swooning of my daughter, llise up, Nicephorus Jjriennius, freely pardoned, and restored even to the rank of Ctesar. We will direct thy pardon to be made out by the great Logothete, and sealed with tlie golden bull. For four-and-twenty hours thou art a prisoner, until aii arrangement is made for preserving the pub- lic peace. Meanwhile, thou wilt remain under the charge of the l*atriarch, who will be answerable for thy forthcoming. — Daughter and wife, you must now go hence to your own apartment ; a future time will come, during which you may have enough of weeping and embracing, mourning and rejoicing. Pray Heaven that I, who, hav- ing been trained on till I have sacrificed justice and true policy to uxorious compassion and paternal tenderness of heart, may not have cause at last for grieving in good earnest for all the events of thia miscellaneous drama." The pardoned Caisar, who endeavoured to regulate his ideas ac- cording to this unexpected cliange, foimd it as difficult to reconcile himself to the reality of his situation as Ursel to the face of nature, after having been long deprived of enjoying it ; so much do the diz- ziness and confusion of ideas, occasioned by moral and physical causes of surprise and terror, resemble each other in their effects on the understanding. At length he stammered forth a request that he might be permitted to go to the field with the Emperor, and divert, by the interposition of his own body, the traitorous blows which some desperate man might aim against that of his Prince, in a day which v.'as too likely to be one of danger and bloodshed. "Hold there!" said Alexius Comnenus; — "we will not beginthy newly-redeemed life by rencAved doubts of thine allegiance ; yet it ia but fitting to remind thee that thou art still the nominal and ostcu COUNT ROBERT OF rARIS. 2G9 Bible head of those "who expect to take a part in this day's insurrec- tion, and it will be the safest course to trust its pacification to others than to thee. Go, sir, compare notes with the Patriarch, and merit your pardon by confessing" to him any traitorous intentions concern- ino' this 'oul conspiracy with which we may be as yet unacquainted. — Daug'hter and wife, fiirewell! I must now depart for the lists, where I have to speak witli the traitor Achilles Tatius and the heathenish infidel Agelastes, if he still lives, but of whose providen- tial death I hear a confirmed rumour." " Yet do not go, my dearest father ! " said the Princess ; ''but let me rather go to encourag-e the loyal subjects in your behalf. Tlie extreme kindness which you have extended towards ray guilty hus- band convinces me of the extent of your affection towards your un- wortliy daughter, and the greatness of the sacrifice which you have made to her almost childish affection for an ungrateful man who put your life in danger." '•' That is to say, daughter," said the Emperor, smiling, " that the pardon of your husband is a boon which has lost its merit when it is granted? Take my advice, Anna, and think otherwise; wives and their husbands ought in prudence to forget their oftonces towards each other as soon as human nature will permit them. Life is too short, and conjugal tranquillity too uncertain, to admit of dwelling long upon such irritating subjects. To your apartments, Princesses, and prepare the scarlet buskins, and the embroidery which is dis- played on the cuffs and collars of the Csesar's robe, indicative of his high rank. He must not be seen without them on the morrow. — ■ Reverend father, I remind you once more that the Cjesar is in your personal custody from this moment until to-morrow at the same hour." They parted ; the Emperor repairing to put himself at the head of his Varangian Guards — the Csesar, under the superintendence of the Patriarch, withdrawing into the interior of the Blacquernal Palace, where Kicephorus Briennius was under the necessity of " unthread- ing tlic rude eye of rebellion," and throwing such lights as were in his power upon the progress of the conspiracy. "Agelastes," he said, "Achilles Tatius, and Hereward the Varan- gian, were the persons principally intrusted in its progress. But whether they had been all true to their engagements, he did not pre- tend to be assured." In the female apartments, there was a violent discussion betwixt Anna Comnena and her mother. The Princess had undergone dur- ing the day many changes of sentiment and feeling; and though they had finally united themselves into one strong interest in her Imsband's favour, yet no sooner was the fear of his punishment re- moved, than the sense of his ungrateful behaviour began to revive. She became serisible also that a woman of her extraordinary attain- ments, who had been by a universal course of flattery disposed to en- tertain a very high opinion of her own consequence, made rather -a, poor figure when she had been the passive subject of along series of intrigues, by which she was destined to be disposed of in one way or the other, according to the humour of a set of subordinate conspira- tors, who never so much as dreamed of regarding her as a being 270 COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. capable of formings a wish in her own behalf, or even yielding' or re- fusing' a consent. Her father's authority over her, and right to dis pose of her, was less questionable ; but even then it was something- derog'atory to the dignity of a Princess born in the purple —an au- thoress besides, and g-iver of immortality — to be, without her own consent, thrown, as it were, at the head now of one suitor, now of another, however mean or disg'usting", whose alliance could for the time benefit the Emperor. The consequence of these moody reflec- tions was, that Anna Comnena deeply toiled in spirit for the discovery of some means by which she mig-ht assert her sulHed dig-nity, and various were the expedients which she revolved. CHAPTER XXXn. But now the band of fate is on the curtain , And brings the scene to light. Don Seiastian. The g'ig'antic trumpet of the Yarang-ians sounded its loudest note of march, and the squadrons of the faithful guards, sheathed in com- plete mail, and enclosing- in their centre the person of their Imperial master, set forth upon their procession through the streets of Con- stantinople. The form of Alexius, glittering in his splendid armour, seemed no unmeet central point for the force of an empire ; and, while the citizens crowded in the train of him and his escort, there might be seen a visible difference between those who came with the premeditated intention of tumult, and the greater part, who, like the multitude of every great city, thrust each other, and shout for rapture on account of any cause for which a crowd maybe collected together. The hope of the conspirators was lodged chiefly in the Immortal Guards, who were levied principally for the defence of Constanti- nople, parto"ok of the general prejudices of the citizens, and had been particularly influenced by those in favour of Ursel, by whom, previous to his imprisonment they had themselves been commanded. The conspirators had determined that those of this body who were con- sidered as most discontented, should early in the morning take posses- sion of the posts in the lists most favourable for their purpose of as- saulting the Emperor's person. But, in spite of all efforts short of actual violence, for which the time did not seem to be come, they found themselves disappointed in this purpose, by parties of the Varangian Guards planted with apparent carelessness, but, in fact, with perfect skill for the prevention of their enterprise. Some- what confounded at perceiving that a design which they could not suppose to be suspected, was, nevertheless, on every part controlled and counter-checked, the conspirators began to look for the principal persons of their own party, on whom they depended for orders in this emergency; but neither the Csesar nor Agelastes was to be seen, whether in the lists or on the military march from Constantinople COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. 27l find though Achilles Tatius rode in the latter asserably, yet it might be plearly observed that he Avas rather attending- upon the Protospa- thaire, than assuming that independence as an officer which he loved to affect. In tliis manner, as the Emperor with his glittering bands ap- proached the phalanx of Tancred and his followers, who were drawn up, it will be remembered, upon a rising cape between the city and the lists, the main body of the Imperial procession deflected in some degTee from the straight road in order to march past them without in- terruption ; while the Protospathaire and the Acolyte passed under the escort of a band of Varangians, to bear the Emperor's inquiries to Prince Tancred, concerning the purpose of his being there with his band. The short mf»;-cli was soon performed — the large trumpet which attended the two officers sounded a ])arley, and Tancred him- self, remarkable for that personal beauty which Tasso has preferred to any of the crusaders, except Rinaldo d'Este, the creature of his own poetical imagination, advanced to parley with them. " The Emperor of Greece," said the Protospathaire to Tancred, " requires the Prince of Otr.iiito to shew, by the two high officers who shall deliver him this message, with what purpose lie has returned, contrary to his oath, to the right side of these straits; assuring Prince Tancred at the same time, that nothing will so much please the Emperor, as to receive an answer not at variance with his treaty with the Duke of Bouillon, and the oath which was taken by the crusading nobles and their soldiers ; since that would enable the Emperor, in conformity to his own wishes, by his kind reception of Prince Tancred and his troop, to show how high is his estimation of the dignity of the one, and the bravery of both — We wait an answer. The tone of the message had nothing in it very alarming, and its substance cost Prince Tancred very little trouble to answer. *' The cause," he said, " of the Prince of Otranto appearing here with fifty lances, is this cartel, in which a combat is appointed betwixt Nice- ph^vus Bi:?:inr,i , called the Csesar, a high member of this empire, and a worthy knight of great fame, the partner of the Pilgrims who have taken the Cross, in their high vow to rescue Palestine from the infidels. The name of the said Knight is the redoubted Robert of Paris. It becomes, therefore, an obligation, indispensable upon the Holy Pilgrims of the Crusade, to send one chief of their number, with a body of men-at-arms, sufficient to see, as is usual, fair play between the combatants. That such is their intention, may be seen from their sending no more than fifty lances, with their furniture and following; whereas it would have cost them no trouble to have detached ten times the number, had they nourished any purpose of interfering by force, or disturbing the fair combat which is about to take place. The Prince of Otranto, therefore, and his followers, will place them- selves at the disposal of. the Imperial Court, and witness the proceed- ings of the combat, with the most perfect confidence that the rules of fjiir battle will be punctually observed." The two Grecian officers transmitted this reply to the Emperor, who heard it with pleasure, and, immediately proceeding' to act upon 272 COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. the principle wliieli he lifid laid down, of maintaining" peace, if pos- sible, with the crusaders, named Prince Tancred with the Protos- pathaire as Field Marslials of the lists, fully empowered, under the Emperor, to decide all the terms of the combat, and to have recourse to Alexias himself where there opinions disagTeed. This was made known to the assistants, who were thus prepared for the entry into the lists of the C4recian officer and the Italian prince in full armour, v.hile a ])rociamation announced to all the spectators their solemn office. The same annunciation commanded the assistants of every kind to clear a convenient part of the seats which surrounded the lists on one side, that it m.ig-ht serve for the accommodation of Prince Tan- cred's followers. Acliilles Tatius, who was a heedful observer of all these passng-es, saw with alarm, that by the last collocation the armed Latins were interposed between the Immortal Guards and the discontented citi- zens, which made it most probable that the conspiracy was discovered, and that Alexius found he had a i^ood rig-ht to reckon upon the assist- ance of Tancred and his forces in the task of suppressing- it. This, added to the cold and caustic manner in v>'hich the Emperor com- municated his commands to him, made the Acolyte of opinion, that liis best chance of escape from the dang-er in which he was now ])laced, was, that the whole conspiracy should fall to the ground, and that the day should pass without the least attempt to shake the throne of Alexius Comnenus. Even then it continued highly doubtful whether a despot, so v/ily and so suspicious as the Emperor, would think it sufficient to rest satisfied with the private knowledge of the undertaking-, and its failure, with which he appeared to be possessed, without putting- into exercise the bow-strings and the blinding-irons of the nmtes of the interior. There was, however, little possibility either of flight or of resistance. The least attempt to withdraw iiini- self from the neighbourhood of those faithful followers of the Em- peror, personal foes of his own, by whom he was gradually and more closely surrounded, became each moment more perilous, and more certain to provoke a rupture, which it was the interest of the weaker party to delay, with whatever difficulty. And while the soldiers under Achilles's immediate authority seemed still to treat him as their su- perior officer, and appeal to him for the word of command, it became more and more evident that the slightest degree of suspicion which should be excited, Avould be the instant signal for his being placed under arrest. V/itli a trembling heart, therefore, and eyes dimmed by the powerful idea of soon parting with the light of day, and all that it made visible, the Acolyte sav/ himself condemned to watch the turn of circumstances, over which he could have no influence, and to content himself with waiting the result of a drama, in which his own life was concerned, although the piece v/as played by others. Indeed, it seemed as if through the whole assembly some signal v/as waited for, which no one was in readiness to give. The discontented citizens and soldiers looked in vain for Agelastes and the C?esar ; and when they observed the condition of Achilles Tatius, it seemed such as rather to express doubt and consternation, than to give encouragement to the hopes they had entertained. COUNT KOBEKT OF PAEIS. 273 Many of the lower classes, however, felt too secure in (heir OAvn in- sig-nificancc to fear the personal consequences of a tumult, and were desirous, therefore, to provoke the disturbance, which seemed husli- ing- itself to sleep. A hoarse^ murmur, which attained almost the importance of a shout, exclaimed, — " Justice, justice ! — Ursel, Ursel!— The rights of the Immortal Guards ! " &c. At this the trumpet of the Varangians awoke, and its tremendous tones were heard to peal loudly over the whole assembly, as the voice of its presiding- deity. A dead silence prevailed in the multitude, and the voice of a herald announced, iu the name of Alexius Comnenus, his sovereig^n will and pleasure. " Citizens of the Roman Empire, your complaints, stirred up by factious men, have reached the ear of your Emperor; you shall your- selves be witness to his power of g-ratifying his people. At your re- quest, and before your own sight, the visual ray which hath been quenched shall be re-illumined — the mind whose efforts were re- stricted to the imperfect supply of individual wants shall be ag-ain extended, if such is the owner's will, to the charge of an ample Theme or division of the Empire. Political jealousy, more hard to receive conviction than the blind to receive sight, shall yield itself conquered, by the Emperor's paternal love of his people, and his desire to give them satisfoction. Ursel, the darling- of your wishes, supposed to be long- dead, or at least believed to exist in blinded seclusion, is restored to you well in health, clear in eyesight, and possessed of every faculty necessary to adorn the Emperor's favour, or merit the affection of the people." As the herald thus spoke, a figure, which had hitherto stood shrouded behind some officers of the interior, now stepped forth, and flinging from him a dusky veil, in which he was wrai)t, appeared in a dazzling- scarlet garment, of which the sleeves and buskins dis- played those ornaments which expressed a rank nearly adjacent to that of the Emperor himself. He held in his hand a silver truncheon, the badge ot delegated command over the Immortal Guards, and, kneeling before the Emperor, presented it to his hands, intimating a virtual resignation of the command which it implied. The whole as- sembly were electrified nt tlie appearance of a person long' supposed eithei' dead, or by cruel means rendered incapable of public trust. Some recognised the man whose appearance and features were not easily forgot, and gratulated him upon his most unexpected return to the service of his country. Others stood suspended in amazement, not knowing whether to trust their eyes, while a few determined malcontents eagerly pressed upon the assembly an allegation that the person presented as Ursel was only a counterfeit, and the whole a trick of the Emperor. " Speak to them, noble Ursel," said the Emperor. " Tell tliem, that if I have sinned against thee, it has been because I was deceived, and that my disposition to make thee amends is as ami)le as ever was my purpose of doing thee wrong." " Friends and countrymen," said Ursel, turning himself to the as- sembly, "his Imperial Majesty permits me to offer my assurance, that if in any former part of my life I have suffered at his hand, it is more T 274 COUNT ROBERT OF TARIS. tliau wiped out by the feeling's of a moment so g-lorious as this; and tliat I am well satisfied, from the present instant, to spend what re* miiins of my life in tlie service of the most generous and beneficent of sovereie the famous monogram which expresses at once the figure, of the cross and the initial letters of the name of Christ. The bearer of the Labarum was an officer of high rank down to the last day.s of the Byzantine government.— See Gibbon, chap. 20. Ducdrg:! seems to have proved, from the evidence of coins and triumphal monu- ments, that a standard of the fom of the Labarum was used by various barbaious nations long before it was adopted by their Koman conqueror?, a'-d he is of opinion that its name al o was borrowed from tither Teutonic Gdrm iny or Celtic Gaul, or Scla- vonic IHyiia. It is certain that either tiie German languag or the Wel.-h may afford at this day a perfectly .satisfactory etymon : Lap-heer in the former, and Lab-hair in the latter, iiaving precisely the same meaning—