f"* &r^\ '\f\f\\ O t? A T\l\\f^ 
 
 R S&f I O.QL K L A .1) 1 N u 
 
 1 / S f F"'^ '% /" 
 
 VAi k i 
 
 SIR WALTER SCOTT 
 
 WILLIAM. -J. RO.LFE
 
 ^thern Branch 
 of the 
 
 Diversity of California 
 
 Los Angeles 
 
 Form L t
 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below 
 
 DEC 1 4 
 
 
 1 5 1Q2H 
 
 APR 
 3 
 
 9 1928 
 
 JAN 
 
 DEC 
 
 Form L-9-15>-8,'24
 
 SIR WALTER SCOTT.
 
 Classics for Ikfjool Htafcmg;. 
 
 TALES OF CHIVALRY 
 
 AND THE OLDEN TIME, 
 
 SELECTED FROM THE WORKS 
 OF 
 
 SIR WALTER SCOTT. 
 
 EDITED, WITH NOTES, 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM J. ROLFE, LiTT.D, 
 
 ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 HARPER & BROTHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE. 
 
 1895-
 
 Copyright, 1887, by HARPER & BROTHERS. 
 
 All rights reserved.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 THE series of which this is the initial volume was planned more 
 than six years ago, and three years have passed since the plan was 
 approved by the publishers ; but its execution has been delayed by 
 work upon other books. My aim is to edit certain selections from 
 standard prose and poetry suited either for "supplementary read- 
 ing," as it is called, or for elementary study in English literature. 
 The brief foot-notes under the text are perhaps all that some teach- 
 ers will regard as necessary for the former purpose ; but I believe 
 that the longer notes at the end of the book will be found more or 
 less useful and suggestive for oral instruction in connection with 
 the reading-lessons. These latter notes, however, are more especially 
 designed for the other purpose I have mentioned elementary study 
 of language and literature. They have been prepared with much 
 care, and I am confident that they will be perfectly intelligible to 
 boys and girls in grammar schools and others of similar grade. I 
 shall not attempt here to explain how I think they should be used, 
 as the little pamphlet of " Hints to Teachers," which may be ob- 
 tained, post-free, on application to the publishers, will give my views 
 more in detail than would be possible in a preface. Suffice it to say 
 now, to forestall possible criticism, that these notes are not designed 
 to give systematic instruction in either grammar or rhetoric. 
 
 The sketches of the life of Scott are my own. For the condensed 
 extracts from his works I have been largely indebted to a little book 
 (without notes) published in England forty years ago, and long since 
 out of print. "The Crusaders " is from the Tales of a Grandfather ; 
 "The Christian Knight and the Saracen," from The Talisman ; and 
 
 all the rest from Ivan/toe. 
 
 W. J. R. 
 CAMBRIDGE, July 19, 1887.
 
 SCOTT'S CHAIR, ABBOTSFOKD.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 THE EARLY LIFE OF SCOTT i 
 
 THE LATER LIFE OF SCOTT 16 
 
 TALES OF CHIVALRY AND THE OLDEN TIME. 21 
 
 THE CRUSADERS 21 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN KNIGHT AND THE SARACEN 26 
 
 SHERWOOD FOREST IN THE REIGN OF . RICHARD THE 
 
 FIRST 37 
 
 CEDRIC THE SAXON, AND ROWENA 50 
 
 TOURNAMENT AT ASHBY-DE-LA-ZOUCHE 62 
 
 ARCHERY ROBIN HOOD 84 
 
 THE SIEGE OF TORQUILSTONE 92 
 
 THE TRIAL OF REBECCA THE JEWESS 116 
 
 NOTES 125
 
 OLD HIGH SCHOOL, EDINBURGH.
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 PACE 
 
 SIR WALTER SCOTT , Frontispiece. 
 
 SCOTT'S CHAIR, ABBOTSFORD vi 
 
 OLD HIGH SCHOOL, EDINBURGH viii 
 
 ABBOTSFORD x 
 
 DRYBURGH ABBEY 20 
 
 RICHARD I. OF ENGLAND 23 
 
 GURTH AND WAMBA IN SHERWOOD FOREST 43 
 
 CRUSADERS 49 
 
 ASHBY-DE-LA-ZOUCHE CASTLE, LEICESTER 8 1 
 
 RICHMOND CASTLE, YORKSHIRE 95 
 
 VIEW OF HOLY SEPULCHRE, JERUSALEM 124 
 
 STONEHENGE 137 
 
 CROMLECH 138 
 
 BRONZE CAST OF THE HEAD OF SCOTT AFTER DEATH, 
 
 FROM PHOTOGRAPH 149 
 
 SCOTT'S STUDY 150 
 
 ARMS OF SIR WALTER SCOTT 154
 
 THE EARLY LIFE OF SCOTT. 
 
 WALTER SCOTT was born in Edinburgh on the 1 5th of 
 August, 1771. His father was a successful lawyer, and 
 his mother was the daughter of Dr. John Rutherford, 
 professor of medicine in the University of Edinburgh. 
 In an account of his own life which Scott began, he s 
 says: 
 
 " I showed every sign of health and strength until I 
 was about eighteen months old. One night, I have been 
 often told, I showed great reluctance to be caught and 
 put to bed, and, after being chased about the room, was 10 
 apprehended and consigned to my dormitory with some 
 difficulty. It was the last time I was to show such per- 
 sonal agility. In the morning I was discovered to be 
 affected with the fever which often accompanies the 
 cutting of large teeth. It held me three days. On the 15 
 fourth, when they went to bathe me as usual, they dis- 
 covered that I had lost the power of my right leg. . . . 
 There appeared to be no dislocation or sprain ; blisters 
 and other topical remedies were applied in vain." 
 
 By the advice of Dr. Rutherford, the child was sent to 
 reside with his paternal grandfather in the country, in 
 order to "give the chance of natural exertion, excited 
 i
 
 2 THE EARLY LIFE OF SCOTT. 
 
 by free air and liberty ;" and here, at the farmhouse of 
 Sandy-Knowe, as it was called, he spent the next two 
 years. 25 
 
 The epistle prefixed to the 3d Canto of Marmion con-' 
 tains a charming picture of the infant poet's feelings 
 amid the scenery and associations of Sandy - Knowe. 
 He says : 
 
 Thus while I ape the measure wild 
 
 Of tales that charmed me yet a child, 
 
 Rude though they be, still with the chime 
 
 Return the thoughts of early time : 
 
 And feelings, roused in life's first day, 
 
 Glow in the line and prompt the lay. as 
 
 Then rise those crags, that mountain tower l 
 
 Which charmed my fancy's wakening hour. 
 
 Though no broad river swept along, 
 
 To claim perchance heroic song, 
 
 Though sighed no groves in summer gale, 40 
 
 To prompt of love a softer tale, 
 
 Though scarce a puny streamlet's speed 
 
 Claimed homage from a shepherd's reed, 2 
 
 Yet was poetic impulse given 
 
 By the green hill and clear blue heaven. 45 
 
 It was a barren scene and wild, 
 
 Where naked cliffs were rudely piled, 
 
 But ever and anon between 
 
 Lay velvet tufts of loveliest green ; 
 
 1 This was Smailholm Tower, the ruined remnant of an old baro- 
 nial castle near Sandy-Knowe. Scott afterwards made it the scene 
 of his ballad, The Eve of Saint John. It is about two miles from 
 Dryburgh Abbey, where the poet is buried. 
 
 a That is, was celebrated in pastoral poetry. The reed, or pipe 
 on which the shepherd plays, is often used as the symbol of such 
 poetry.
 
 THE EARLY LIFE OF SCOTT. 3 
 
 And well the lonely infant knew 50 
 
 Recesses where the wall-flower grew, 
 
 And honeysuckle loved to crawl 
 
 Up the low crag and ruined wall. 
 
 I deemed such nooks the sweetest shade 
 
 The sun in all its round surveyed, 55 
 
 And still I thought that shattered tower 
 
 The mightiest work of human power, 
 
 And marvelled as the aged hind l 
 
 With some strange tale bewitched my mind 
 
 Of forayers, who with headlong force 60 
 
 Down from that strength * had spurred their horse. 
 
 Their southern rapine to renew 
 
 Far in the distant Cheviots blue, 
 
 And, home returning, filled the hall 
 
 With revel, wassail-rout, and brawl. 65 
 
 Methought that still with trump and clang 
 
 The gateway's broken arches rang ; 
 
 Methought grim features, seamed with scars, 
 
 Glared through the window's rusty bars, 
 
 And ever, by the winter hearth, 7 o 
 
 Old tales I heard of woe or mirth, 
 
 Of lovers' sleights, 3 of ladies' charms, 
 
 Of witches' spells, of warriors' arms ; 
 
 Of patriot battles, won of old 
 
 By Wallace wight 4 and Bruce the bold ; 75 
 
 Of later fields of feud and fight, 
 
 When, pouring from their Highland height, 
 
 1 The "aged hind" was "Auld Sandy Ormiston," the cow-herd 
 of the farm, and the favorite companion of Walter. Lockhart says : 
 " If the child saw him in the morning, he could not be satisfied un- 
 less the old man would set him astride on his shoulder, and take 
 him to keep him company as he lay watching his charge." 
 
 3 Stronghold ; the abstract noun used for the concrete. 
 
 s Stratagems. The word is misprinted "slights" in almost all 
 the editions of Scott. * Gallant, warlike.
 
 4 THE EARLY LIFE OF SCOTT. 
 
 The Scottish clans in headlong sway 
 
 Had swept the scarlet ranks 1 away. 
 
 While stretched at length upon the floor, 80 
 
 Again I fought each combat o'er, 
 
 Pebbles and shells, in order laid, 
 
 The mimic ranks of war displayed ; 
 
 And onward still the Scottish Lion bore, 
 
 And still the scattered Southron fled before. 85 
 
 Still, with vain fondness, could I trace 
 Anew each kind familiar face 
 That brightened at our evening fire ! 
 From the thatched mansion's grey-haired sire, 2 
 Wise without learning, plain and good, 90 
 
 And sprung of Scotland's gentler blood ; 
 Whose eye in age, quick, clear, and keen, 
 Showed what in youth its glance had been ; 
 Whose doom discording neighbours sought, 
 Content with equity unbought ; 95 
 
 To him the venerable priest, 8 
 Our frequent and familiar guest, 
 Whose life and manners well could paint 
 Alike the student and the saint, 
 
 Alas ! whose speech too oft I broke 100 
 
 With gambol rude and timeless * joke : 
 For I was wayward, bold, and wild, 
 A self-willed imp, a grandame's child, 
 But half a plague, and half a jest, 
 Was still endured, beloved, caressed. ,05 
 
 When spending a summer day in his old age amid 
 these well-remembered scenes, Scott told a friend that 
 
 1 The English soldiers, or " red-coats." 
 1 Robert Scott, the child's grandfather. 
 
 3 Rev. John Martin, clergyman of the parish in which Sandy- 
 Knowe is situated. See the next page. 
 * Made at the wrong time, inopportune.
 
 THE EARLY LIFE OF SCOTT. 5 
 
 he used to delight in rolling about on the grass all day 
 / long in the midst of the flock, and that " the sort of fel- / 
 lowship he thus formed with the sheep and lambs had " 
 impressed his mind with a degree of affectionate feeling 
 V towards them which had lasted throughout life." There 
 \ is a story of his having been forgotten one day among ^s. 
 the knolls when a thunder-storm came on ; and his aunt, \ 
 suddenly recollecting his situation, and running out to us \ 
 bring him home, is said to have found him lying on his 
 back, clapping his hands at the lightning, and crying / 
 out " Bonny ! bonny !" at every flash. 
 
 Scott's grandmother used to tell him many a tale of 
 Wat of Harden and the other Border heroes of the olden o 
 time ; and his aunt Janet would read to him from Ram- 
 say's Tea-table Miscellany and other books, until he could 
 repeat long passages by heart. He says : 
 
 " The ballad of Hardyknute^ was early master of, to 
 the great annoyance of almost our only visitor, the wor- 125 
 thy clergyman of the parish, who had not patience to 
 have a sober chat interrupted by my shouting forth this 
 ditty. Methinks I now see his tall, thin, emaciated figure, 
 his legs cased in clasped gambadoes, 1 and his face of a 
 length that would have rivalled the Knight of La Man- 13 
 cha's, 2 and hear him exclaim, ' One may as well speak 
 in the mouth of a cannon as where that child is.' " 
 
 When Walter was four years old he was taken to Bath 
 in England, where it was thought the waters might help 
 his lameness. His health was now a good deal con- 135 
 firmed by country air and exercise, and he had become 
 able by degrees to stand, to walk, and to run. " I, who 
 
 1 A kind of gaiters worn to protect the legs from mud when walk* 
 ing or riding. 
 8 Don Quixote, the hero of the famous Spanish novel.
 
 6 THE EARLY LIFE OF SCOTT. 
 
 in a city," he says, " had probably been condemned to 
 hopeless and helpless decrepitude, was now a healthy, 
 high-spirited, and, my lameness apart, a sturdy child." 14 
 
 He spent a year at Bath, with little or no advantage 
 to his lameness ; but during this time he " acquired the 
 rudiments of reading at a day school kept by an old 
 dame." He adds : 
 
 " But the most delightful recollections of Bath are MS 
 dated after the arrival of my uncle, Captain Robert Scott, 
 who introduced me to all the little amusements which 
 suited my age, and above all to the theatre. The play 
 was As You Like It ; and the witchery of the whole 
 scene is alive in my mind at this moment. I made, I *so 
 believe, noise more than enough, and remember being 
 so much scandalized at the quarrel between Orlando 
 and his brother, in the first scene, that I screamed out, 
 ' A'n't they brothers ?' A few weeks' residence at home 
 convinced me, who had till then been an only child in '55 
 the house of my grandfather, that a quarrel between 
 brothers was a very natural event." 
 
 After the year at Bath, Walter returned first to Edin- 
 burgh and afterwards for a season to Sandy-Knowe. 
 When he was a year or two older it was thought that &> 
 sea-bathing might be of service to his lameness, and his 
 aunt took him to Prestonpans. There he made the ac- 
 quaintance of an old soldier named Dalgetty, to whom 
 he refers as follows : 
 
 "As this old gentleman, who had been in all the Ger- 165 
 man wars, found very few to listen to his tales of mili- 
 tary feats, he formed a sort of alliance with me, and I 
 used invariably to attend him for the pleasure of hear- 
 ing these communications. Sometimes our conversation 
 turned on the American war, which was then raging. It 17
 
 THE EARLY LIFE OF SCOTT. 7 
 
 was about the time of Burgoyne's unfortunate expedi- 
 tion, to which my captain and I augured different con- 
 clusions. Somebody had showed me a map of North 
 America, and, struck with the rugged appearance of the 
 country and the quantity of lakes, I expressed some 175 
 doubts on the subject of the general's arriving safely at 
 the end of his journey, which were very indignantly re- 
 futed by the captain. The news of the Saratoga disas- 
 ter, 1 while it gave me a little triumph, rather shook my 
 intimacy with the veteran." 180 
 
 At Prestonpans the young Scott met also with George 
 Constable, who was the original of Jonathan Oldbuck 
 in the novel of The Antiquary. He told the child " about 
 Falstaff and Hotspur and other characters in Shakes- 
 peare," and Scott says that he remembers being inter- 185 
 ested in the subject, which would seem to be beyond 
 his comprehension at that early age. He adds: "In- 
 
 1 Scott speaks of this intimacy with Captain Dalgetty as being 
 when he was in his eighth year ; but as the surrender at Saratoga 
 was in October, 1777, he was little more than six years old at the 
 time. 
 
 A letter written by Mrs. Cockburn presents an interesting picture 
 of Scott at six : " I last night supped in Mr. Walter Scott's. He 
 has the most extraordinary genius of a boy I ever saw. He was 
 reading a poem to his mother when I went in. I made him read 
 on ; it was the description of a shipwreck. His passion rose with 
 the storm. He lifted his eyes and hands. ' There's the mast gone,' 
 says he ; ' crash it goes ! they will all perish !' After his agitation, 
 he turns to me : ' That is too melancholy ; I had better read you 
 something more amusing.' I preferred a little chat, and asked his 
 opinion of Milton and other books he was reading, which he gave 
 me wonderfully. . . . When taken to bed last night, he told his aunt 
 he liked that lady [the writer], ' for I think she is a virtuoso like 
 myself.' ' Dear Walter,' says Aunt Jenny, ' what is a virtuoso ?' 
 ' Don't ye know ? Why, it 's one who wishes and will know every- 
 thing.' "
 
 8 THE EARLY LIFE OF SCOTT. 
 
 deed, I rather suspect that children derive impulses of 
 . a powerful and important kind in hearing things which 
 they cannot entirely comprehend, and therefore that to 19 
 write down to children's understanding is a mistake : 
 set them on the scent, and let them puzzle it out." 
 
 After the stay at Prestonpans Walter returned to Ed- . 
 inburgh, where he continued to reside for the most part 
 until his marriage. His mother had " a strong turn to 195 
 study poetry and works of imagination," and his leisure 
 hours were usually spent in reading aloud to her from 
 Pope's translation of Homer, which, excepting a few 
 ballads and songs, was the first poetry he had perused. 
 He says in this connection : 200 
 
 " My mother had good natural taste and great feel- 
 ing : she used to make me pause upon those passages 
 which expressed generous and worthy sentiments, and 
 if, she could not divert me from those which were de- 
 /scriptive of battle and tumult, she contrived at least to 305 
 divide my attention between them. My own enthusiasm, 
 however, was chiefly awakened by the wonderful and 
 i the terrible the common taste of children, but in which 
 V^I have remained a child even unto this day. I got by 
 heart, not as a task but almost without intending it, the 210 
 passages with which I was most pleased, and used to 
 recite them aloud, both when alone and to others more 
 willingly, however, in my hours of solitude, for I had 
 observed some auditors smile, and I dreaded ridicule 
 "at that time of life more than I have ever done since." 215 
 
 In 1778 Walter was sent to the High School of Edin- 
 burgh, then taught by Mr. Luke Fraser. Though he 
 had studied Latin under a private teacher, he was some- 
 what behind the class in which he was now placed, and 
 this disadvantage he appears never to have overcome. 220
 
 THE EARLY LIFE OF SCOTT. 9 
 
 "I did not make any great figure at the High School," 
 he tells us; "or, at least, any exertions which I made 
 were desultory and little to be depended on." His rela- 
 tions with his schoolmates were on the whole more 
 pleasant than with his teachers. He says : 225 
 
 ^ Among my companions my good-nature and a flow 
 . ready imagination rendered me very popular. Boys 
 are uncommonly just in their feelings, and at least 
 equally generous. My lameness, and the efforts which 
 I made to supply that disadvantage, by making up in 230 
 address what I wanted in activity, engaged the latter 
 principle in my favor ; and in the winter play - hours, 
 when hard exercise was impossible, my tales used to 
 assemble an admiring audience round Lucky Brown's 
 fireside, and happy was he that could sit next to the 235 
 inexhaustible narrator. I was also, though often negli- 
 / gent of my own task, always ready to assist my friends ; 
 / and hence I had a little party of stanch partisans and 
 adherents, stout of hand and heart, though somewhat 
 dull of head the very tools for raising a hero to emi-240 
 nence. So, on the whole, I made a brighter figure in 
 the yards than in the class. . . . 
 
 " After having been three years under Mr. Fraser, our 
 class was, in the usual routine of the school, turned over 
 to Dr. Adam, the Rector. It was from this respectable 245 
 man that I first learned the value of the knowledge I 
 had hitherto considered only as a burdensome task. It 
 was the fashion to remain two years at his class, where 
 we read Caesar and Livy and Sallust, in prose ; Virgil, 
 Horace, and Terence, in verse. I had by this time 250 
 mastered, in some degree, the difficulties of the language, 
 and began to be sensible of its beauties. This was really 
 gathering grapes from thistles ; nor shall I soon forget
 
 10 THE EARLY LIFE OF SCOTT. 
 
 the swelling of my little pride when the Rector pro- 
 nounced, that, though many of my school-fellows under- 
 stood the Latin better, Gualterus Scott was behind few ass 
 in following and enjoying the author's meaning. Thus 
 encouraged, I distinguished myself by some attempts at 
 poetical versions from Horace and Virgil. 1 Dr. Adam 
 used to invite his scholars to such essays, but never 
 made them tasks. I gained some distinction upon these 260 
 occasions, and the Rector in future took much notice 
 of me ; and his judicious mixture of censure and praise 
 went far to counterbalance my habits of indolence and 
 inattention. I saw I was expected to do well, and I was 
 piqued in honor to vindicate my master's favorable 265 
 opinion. I climbed, therefore, to the first form ; and, 
 though I never made a first-rate Latinist, my school-fel- 
 lows, and, what was of more consequence, I myself, con- 
 sidered that I had a character for learning to main- 
 tain. ... 27 
 
 1 Lockhart informs us that "one of these little pieces, written in 
 a weak boyish scrawl, within pencil marks still visible, had been 
 carefully preserved by his mother." It was folded up in a cover 
 inscribed by the old lady, " My Walter's' first lines, 1782 " (when he 
 was eleven years old), and reads thus : 
 
 " In awful ruins jEtna thunders nigh. 
 And sends in pitchy whirlwinds to the sky 
 Black clouds of smoke, which, still as they aspire, 
 From their dark sides there bursts the glowing fire; 
 At other times huge balls of fire are toss'd, 
 That lick the stars and in the smoke are lost : 
 Sometimes the mount, with vast convulsions torn, 
 Emits huge rocks, which instantly are borne 
 With loud explosions to the starry skies, 
 The stones made liquid as the huge mass flies, 
 Then back again with greater weight recoils, 
 While .(Etna thundering from the bottom boils." 
 
 This is evidently a version of Virgil's sEneid, iii. 571-577.
 
 THE EARLY LIFE OF SCOTT. n 
 
 " From Dr. Adam's class I should, according to the 
 usual routine, have proceeded immediately to college. 
 But, fortunately, I was not yet to lose, by a total dismis- 
 sion from constraint, the acquaintance with the Latin 
 which I had acquired. My health had become rather 275 
 delicate from rapid growth, and my father was easily 
 persuaded to allow me to spend half a year at Kelso 
 with my kind aunt, Miss Janet Scott. . . . My time was 
 here left entirely to my own disposal, excepting for 
 about four hours in the day, when I was expected to at- 280 
 tend the grammar-school 1 of the village. The teacher 
 at that time was Mr. Lancelot Whale, an excellent clas- 
 sical scholar, a humorist, and a worthy man. ... I 
 made considerable progress under his instructions. . . . 
 I acted as usher, and heard the inferior classes, and 1285 
 spouted the speech of Galgacus at the public examina- 
 tion, which did not make the less impression on the au- 
 dience that few of them probably understood one word 
 of it. 
 
 "In the meanwhile my acquaintance with English lit- 290 
 erature was gradually extending itself. In the intervals 
 of my school hours I had always perused with avidity 
 such books of history or poetry or voyages and travels 
 as chance presented to me, not forgetting the usual, or 
 rather ten times the usual, quantity of fairy tales, Eastern 295 
 stories, romances, etc. These studies were totally un- 
 regulated and undirected. My tutor thought it almost 
 a sin to open a profane play or poem ; and my mother, 
 besides that she might be in some degree trammelled 
 by the religious scruples which he suggested, had no 300 
 longer the opportunity to hear me read poetry as for- 
 
 1 Not a grammar-school in the American sense, but a Latin 
 school.
 
 I2 THE EARLY LIFE OF SCOTT. 
 
 merly. I found, however, in her dressing-room (where 
 I slept at one time) some odd volumes of Shakespeare ; 
 nor can I easily forget the rapture with which I sate up 
 in my shirt reading them by the light of a fire in her 3s 
 apartment, until the bustle of the family rising from sup- 
 per warned me it was time to creep back to my bed, 
 where I was supposed to have been safely deposited 
 since nine o'clock. Chance, however, threw in my way 
 a poetical preceptor. This was no other than the excel- 31 
 .lent and benevolent Dr. Blacklock, well known at that 
 time as a literary character. . . . The kind old man 
 opened to me the stores of his library, and through 
 his recommendation I became intimate with Ossian 
 and Spenser. I was delighted with both, yet I think 315 
 chiefly with the latter poet. The tawdry repetitions of 
 the Ossianic phraseology disgusted me rather sooner 
 than might have been expected from my age. But 
 Spenser I could have read forever. Too young to 
 trouble myself about the allegory, I considered all the 320 
 knights and ladies and dragons and giants in their out- 
 ward and exoteric ' sense, and God only knows how de- 
 lighted I was to find myself in such society. As I had 
 always a wonderful facility in retaining in my memory 
 whatever verses pleased me, the quantity of Spenser's 325 
 stanzas which I could repeat was really marvellous. 
 But this memory of mine was a very fickle ally, and has 
 through my whole life acted merely upon its own capri- 
 cious motion. ... It seldom failed to preserve most 
 tenaciously a favorite passage of poetry, a playhouse 33 
 ditty, or, above all, a Border- raid ballad; but names, 
 dates, and the other technicalities of history escaped me 
 in a most melancholy degree. The philosophy of history, 
 1 Obvious.
 
 THE EARLY LIFE OF SCOTT. I3 
 
 a much more important subject, was also a sealed book 
 at this period of my life ; but I gradually assembled 335 
 much of what was striking and picturesque in historical 
 narrative ; and when, in riper years, I attended more to 
 the deduction of general principles, I was furnished with 
 a powerful host of examples in illustration of them. . . . 
 
 "I left the High School, therefore, with a great quan-34 
 tity of general information, ill arranged, indeed, and col- 
 lected without system, yet deeply impressed upon my 
 mind ; readily assorted by my power of connection and 
 memory, and gilded, if I may be permitted to say so, by 
 a vivid and active imagination. If my studies were not 345 
 under any direction at Edinburgh, in the country, it may 
 be well imagined, they were less so. A respectable 
 subscription library, a circulating library of ancient 
 standing, and some private book-shelves were open to 
 my random perusal, and I waded into the stream like a 35 
 blind man into a ford, without the power of searching 
 my way, unless by groping for it. My appetite for books 
 was as ample and indiscriminating as it was indefatiga- 
 ble, and I since have had too frequently reason to repent 
 that few ever read so much, and to so little purpose. ... ass 
 
 " I then first became acquainted with Bishop Percy's 
 Reliques of Ancient Poetry. ... I remember well the 
 spot where I read these volumes for the first time. It 
 was beneath a huge platanus-tree, 1 in the ruins of what 
 had been intended for an old-fashioned arbor in the 36 
 garden I have mentioned. The summer-day sped on- 
 ward so fast, that, notwithstanding the sharp appetite of 
 thirteen, I forgot the hour of dinner, was sought for with 
 anxiety, and was still found entranced in my intellect- 
 
 1 Plane-tree. In Scotland the name is commonly given to the 
 sycamore.
 
 I4 THE EARLY LIFE OF SCOTT. 
 
 ual banquet. To read and to remember was in this 365 
 instance the same thing, and henceforth I overwhelmed 
 my school -fellows, and all who would hearken to me, 
 with tragical recitations from the ballads of Bishop Per- 
 cy. The first time, too, I could scrape a few shillings 
 together, which were not common occurrences with me, 37 
 I bought unto myself a copy of these beloved volumes; 
 nor do I believe I ever read a book half so frequently, 
 or with half the enthusiasm. About this period also I 
 became acquainted with the works of Richardson, and 
 those of Mackenzie (whom in later years I became en- 375 
 titled to call my friend), with Fielding, Smollett, and 
 some others of our best novelists. 
 
 " To this period also I can trace distinctly the awak- 
 ing of that delightful feeling for the beauties of natural 
 objects which has never since deserted me. The neigh- 380 
 borhood of Kelso, the most beautiful if not the most 
 romantic village in Scotland, is eminently calculated to 
 awaken these ideas. It presents objects, not only grand 
 in themselves, but venerable from their associations. . . . 
 The romantic feelings which I have described as pre-3 8 s 
 dominating in my mind, naturally rested upon and as- 
 sociated themselves with these grand features of the 
 landscape around me ; and the historical incidents or 
 traditional legends connected with many of them gave 
 to my admiration a sort of intense impression of rever- 39 
 ence, which at times made my heart feel too big for its 
 bosom. From this time the love of natural beauty, 
 more especially when combined with ancient ruins, or 
 remains of our fathers' piety or splendor, became with 
 me an insatiable passion, which, if circumstances had 395 
 permitted, I would willingly have gratified by travelling 
 over half the globe."
 
 THE EARLY LIFE OF SCOTT. 15 
 
 Scott returned to Edinburgh and resumed his studies 
 in the College, where he began Greek under the same 
 disadvantage with which he had started in Latin, his4o 
 companions having already learned the elements of the 
 language. One of them, who was an excellent scholar, 
 told Walter that he was " distinguished by the name of 
 the Greek blockhead" and exhorted him to redeem his 
 reputation, but to no purpose. Later his teacher de-4s 
 clared that " dunce he was, and dunce was to remain." 
 In after-life he says he "forgot the very letters of the 
 Greek alphabet." 
 
 Of mathematics he got " a very superficial smatter- 
 ing," but made some progress in ethics under Professor 41 
 John Bruce, and " was selected as one of his students 
 whose progress he approved, to read an essay before 
 Principal Robertson." He also studied moral philosophy 
 (under Dugald Stewart) and history, but little else until 
 he began his legal studies. "So that," he says, "if my 415 
 learning be flimsy and inaccurate, the reader must have 
 some compassion even for an idle workman who had 
 so narrow a foundation to build upon. If, however, it 
 should ever fall to the lot of youth to peruse these pages 
 let such a reader remember, that it is with the deepest 420 
 regret that I recollect in my manhood the opportunities 
 of learning which I neglected in my youth; that through 
 every part of my literary career I have felt pinched and 
 hampered by my own ignorance ; and that I would at 
 this moment give half the reputation I have had the 425 
 good-fortune to acquire, if by doing so I could rest the 
 remaining part upon a sound foundation of learning and 
 science."
 
 THE LATER LIFE OF SCOTT. 
 
 To the somewhat detailed account of Scott's early 
 years given in the preceding pages, we may add a brief 
 sketch of his after-life. 
 
 In 1792 he was admitted to the Scottish bar. Through 
 his father's influence he obtained some employment, but 5 
 not enough to keep him busy. It was not, however, 
 until 1796 that he turned his attention to literature. In 
 that year he published translations of the German Burg- 
 er's ballads, Lenore and The Wild Huntsman. These 
 attracted some attention, and led to his contributing a ' 
 few pieces to Lewis's Tales of Wonder. In 1799 he 
 translated Goethe's Gotz von Berlichingen. In 1802 he 
 published the first two volumes of the Border Minstrelsy, 
 printed by his old schoolmate Ballantyne, who had just 
 
 up in business at Kelso. The work was received is 
 with great favor, which was augmented by the appear- 
 ance of the third volume (1803) containing some origi- 
 nal imitations of the old ballads. 
 
 The next important event in Scott's literary life was 
 the publication of The Lay of the Last Minstrel in 1-805. ao 
 Its success was extraordinary, and the author became at 
 once the most popular poet of the day. Marmion fol-
 
 THE LATER LIFE OF SCOTT. tj 
 
 lowed in 1808, and The Lady of the Lake in 1810. With 
 the latter his poetic fame may be said to have reached its 
 height.] The Vision of Don Roderick, Rokeby, The Lord*$ 
 of the Isles, and other poems that followed, were not so 
 well received. 
 
 Meanwhile Scott had been appointed Sheriff of Sel- 
 kirkshire and one of the clerks of the Court of Session, 
 the combined salaries being about ;i8oo ($9000) a 3 
 year, independent of his large receipts from his books. 
 He became ambitious to be a large landed proprietor, 
 and ran into debt by the purchase of the estate of Ab- 
 botsford and the erection of the mansion, to which he 
 removed in 1812. He also engaged in unfortunate com-ss 
 mercial transactions to which reference will be made far- 
 ther on. 
 
 The decline in his popularity as a poet had turned his 
 thoughts to the almost forgotten manuscript of Waverley, 
 which he had begun nine years before, but had laid aside 4 
 on account of the discouraging comments of a friend to 
 whom he had shown it. He now resolved to complete 
 it, and it was published anonymously in 1814. The un- 
 known " author of Waverley " leaped into greater fame 
 than the poet Scott had attained by the Lay and Mar-& 
 mion ; but he preserved his incognito, and sent forth 
 Guy Mannering, The Antiquary, Rob Roy, etc., in rapid 
 succession and with ever-increasing renown. Carlyle, 
 who lived through all the excitement, says : " Hardly 
 any literary reputation ever rose so high in our island ; s 
 no reputation at all ever spread so wide. Walter Scott 
 became Sir Walter Scott, Baronet, of Abbotsford, on 
 whom fortune seemed to pour her whole cornucopia of 
 wealth, honor, and worldly good, the favorite of princes 
 and of peasants and all intermediate men. His Waverley ss
 
 1 8 THE LATER LIFE OF SCOTT. 
 
 series, swift following one on the other apparently without 
 end, was the universal reading ; looked for like an an- 
 nual harvest, by all ranks, in all European countries." 
 
 Scott himself was naturally led to regard his literary 
 powers as an exhaustless mine of wealth, and became 60 
 more and more extravagant in enlarging his estate, fit- 
 ting up Abbotsford, and exercising a generous hospi- 
 tality. Unknown to his friends he had also become a 
 partner in the printing business of the Ballantynes ; and 
 when the house failed, owing to the bankruptcy of the 65 
 publisher Constable in 1826, he found himself a debtor 
 to the extent of 120,000 ($600,000). 
 
 The catastrophe would have crushed most men, but 
 Scott determined to pay off the heavy debt with his pen 
 if his creditors would allow him time. He disclosed the r> 
 secret of the Waverley authorship, and began a new novel 
 at once. This was Woodstock, which brought his credit- 
 ors 8000 ($40,000). His Life of Napoleon, written with 
 almost incredible speed and published the next year 
 (1827), realized from the first and second editions 18-75 
 ooo more. In two years Scott paid off 40,000 of his 
 debts, and in the course of four years almost 70,000. 
 But the strain upon his powers of mind and body was 
 too severe, and in 1831 he was led to give up literary work 
 for a time and make a tour to the Continent. He spent 80 
 five months in Italy, in the hope of regaining his health ; 
 but it was too late. "There are glimpses in the me- 
 moirs of that time glimpses inexpressibly sad of the 
 dying man in Italy, at Naples, on the Campagna. 1 It 
 is only the shadow of the stalwart Scott. He sits for 85 
 hours gazing upon the sea ; he moves restlessly about ; 
 
 i The Roman Campagna (Italian for open country), the desolate 
 plain surrounding the city of Rome.
 
 THE LATER LIFE OF SCOTT. 19 
 
 he repeats, in a tone so mournful that the heart breaks 
 to hear, snatches of the old, old ballads that his youth 
 loved, and which are dear to all men who speak his lan- 
 guage because he loved them. Then he comes home to 9 
 die. Gentle as a child, he has been unspoiled by the 
 flattery of a world. Through the mists of the fast-fading 
 mind looks out that true and tender manhood which is 
 forever memorable. ' Be a good man, my dear,' he whis- 
 pers to his son-in-law Lockhart, and on a soft September 95 
 afternoon, with all the windows wide open, and the gen- 
 tle ripple of the Tweed murmuring upon the air, while 
 his children knelt around the bed, Walter Scott died, 
 'and his eldest son kissed and closed his eyes.'" 
 
 It was in June, 1832, that Scott returned to England, 
 and his death occurred on the 2ist of September fol- 
 lowing. He was buried in St. Mary's Aisle, the most 
 beautiful part of the ruined Dryburgh Abbey, in the 
 tomb of his ancestors, the Haliburtons of Newmains, 
 who were at one time proprietors of the abbey. His I0 5 
 wife, who died six years before him, lies by his side. 
 His eldest son, Sir Walter Scott, and his son-in-law and 
 biographer Lockhart are also buried here. 
 
 Scott's children were all dead within fifteen years of 
 his own decease, and at the present time (1887) onlyno 
 one of his direct descendants survives Mary Monica 
 Hope-Scott, the grandchild of Mrs. Lockhart and great- 
 grandchild of the founder of Abbotsford.
 
 TALES OF CHIVALRY AND THE 
 OLDEN TIME. 
 
 THE CRUSADERS. 
 
 THE devotional journeys, called pilgrimages, to the 
 tombs of the religious persons mentioned in Scripture, 
 or the places where they had wrought their miracles, 
 were accounted meritorious displays of piety, the per- 
 formance of which, by the tenets of the Catholic Church, 5 
 was held the surest and most acceptable mode of avert- 
 ing the wrath of Heaven for past transgressions, or ex- 
 hibiting gratitude for mercies received. Men who were 
 in difficulties or in dangers often made a vow, that, in 
 the event of their being extricated, they would make a 10 
 journey to some sanctified shrine in Italy or in Pales- 
 tine, and there testify their sense of the protection of 
 Heaven, by alms, prayers, and gifts to the church. The 
 Holy Sepulchre itself, of which the site was handed down 
 by tradition, was naturally a principal object of these re-s 
 ligious peregrinations, as best entitled to the respect 
 and adoration of all Christians. 
 
 While Palestine remained a part of the Grecian or 
 Eastern Empire, the access of the European pilgrims to 
 the holy places which they desired to visit, was natu-ao 
 rally facilitated by every means in the power of the Chris- 
 tian governors of the provinces where they lay, and of
 
 22 THE CRUSADERS. 
 
 the priests to whose keeping these places were commit- 
 ted. Their churches were enriched by the gifts which 
 failed not to express the devotion of the pilgrims, and 25 
 the vanity of the priests was flattered by the resort of so 
 many persons of consequence from the most distant parts 
 of Christendom, to worship at their peculiar shrines. 
 
 Even when, in the course of the tenth century, the 
 Holy Land fell under the power of the Saracens, that 2 
 people, although votaries of another faith, felt their own 
 interest in permitting, under payment of a certain capi- 
 tation tax, 1 the concourse of European pilgrims to Jeru- 
 salem, and other places which they accounted sacred. 
 But when the power of the Saracens was in a great meas- as 
 ure divided or destroyed, and the Turks, also followers 
 of Mahomet, but a far more rude and fanatical, race, 
 became masters of Jerusalem, the treatment of the Chris- 
 tians, whether natives of Palestine or pilgrims who came 
 to worship there, was in every respect changed for the 4 
 worse. The Saracens, a civilized and refined people 
 compared with the Turks, had governed the country un- 
 der fixed rules of tribute, and preferred the moderate 
 but secure profit derived from the taxes imposed on the 
 pilgrims, to that which might be obtained by a system 45 
 of robbery, plunder, and ill-usage. But the Turks, a 
 fiercer, more bigoted, and more short-sighted race, pre- 
 ferred the pleasure of insulting and maltreating the Chris- 
 tians, whom they contemned and hated, and not only 
 harassed them by the most exorbitant exactions, but often 5 
 added to these personal ill-usage of the most revolting 
 kind. The pilgrims were entirely at the mercy of every 
 paltry Turkish officer, and an act of devotion, in itself 
 perilous and expensive, was rendered too frequently an 
 1 Poll-tax, or a tax on each person. 

 
 RICHARD I. OF ENGLAND.
 
 24 THE CRUSADERS. 
 
 introduction to martyrdom. The clergy of the Chris- ss 
 tians were insulted, stripped, and thrown into dungeons ; 
 nor was any circumstance omitted by the savage mas- 
 ters of the Holy City which could show the pilgrims at 
 how great a hazard they must in future expect permis- 
 sion to pay their homage there. 6 
 
 These evils had been sufficiently felt by all who had 
 visited the East, but at length they made so strong an 
 impression on the spirit of one man that, like fire alight- 
 ing among materials highly combustible, the flame spread 
 throughout all Europe. The person who effected so great 65 
 a sensation by such slight means was called Peter the 
 Hermit. He was, we are informed, of a slight and in- 
 different figure, which sometimes exposed him to be neg- 
 lected ; but he was a powerful orator. He had himself 
 been a pilgrim in Palestine, and possessed the impres-7 
 sive requisite that he could bear testimony as an eye-wit- 
 ness to the atrocities of the Turks and the sufferings of 
 the Christians. He repaired from court to court, from 
 castle to castle, from city to city, setting forth at each 
 the shame done to Christendom, in leaving the holiest 75 
 places connected with her religion in possession of a 
 heathen and barbarous foe. He appealed to the relig- 
 ion of one sovereign, to the fears of another, to the spirit 
 of chivalry professed by them all. Urban II., then Pope, 
 saw the importance of uniting the European nations, sol- 80 
 diers by habit and inclination, in a task so honorable to 
 religion, and so likely to give importance to the Roman 
 See. At the Council of Clermont [A.D. 1095], ambas- 
 sadors from the Grecian emperor were introduced to the 
 assembly, who, with humble deference, stated to the 85 
 prelates and the lay chivalry of Europe the dangers to 
 their Christian sovereign, arising from the .increasing
 
 THE CRUSADERS. 25 
 
 strength of the Moslem empire, by which he was sur- 
 rounded, and, forgetting the wordy and assuming lan- 
 guage which they were accustomed to use, supplicated, 9 
 with humiliating earnestness, the advantage of some as- 
 sistance from Europe. The Pontiff himself set forth the 
 advantage, or rather necessity, of laying all meaner or 
 more worldly tasks aside, until the Holy Land should 
 be freed from the heathen usurpers who were its tyrants. 95 
 To all, however criminal, who should lend aid to this 
 sacred warfare, Urban promised a full remission of their 
 sins here, and an indubitable portion of the joys of heaven 
 hereafter. He then appealed to the temporal princes, 
 with the enthusiastic quotation of such texts of Script- 
 ure as were most likely to inflame their natural valor. 
 " Gird on your swords," he said, " ye men of valor ; it 
 is our part to pray, it is yours to fight. It is ours, with 
 Moses, 1 to hold up our hands unremittingly to God ; it 
 is yours to stretch out the sword against the children of is 
 Amalek. So be it." The assembly answered, as to a 
 summons blown by an archangel, " It is the will of 
 God it is the will of God !" Thousands devoted them- 
 selves to the service of God, as they imagined, and to 
 the recovery of Palestine, with its shrines, from the hands " 
 of the Turks, and, as a mark of being enlisted in the 
 service, began to wear the figure of a cross on the shoul- 
 der of their cloak, but of a different color from that of 
 the garment itself. From this cross the undertaking 
 was called a Crusade, and those who were engaged in "s 
 it Crusaders. The eagerness with which this holy sym- 
 bol was adopted was so great that some of the princes 
 cut their robes in pieces, in order to furnish crosses for 
 the multitudes around. 
 
 * See Exodus, xvii. 8-13.
 
 THE CHRISTIAN KNIGHT AND THE 
 SARACEN. 
 
 THE burning sun of Syria had not yet attained its 
 highest point in the heavens, when a knight of the Red- 
 cross, who had left his distant northern home and joined 
 the host of the Crusaders in Palestine, was pacing slowly 
 along the sandy deserts which lie in the vicinity of the s 
 Dead Sea, or, as it is called, the Lake Asphaltites, where 
 the waves of the Jordan pour themselves into an inland 
 sea, from which there is no discharge of waters. 
 
 The warlike pilgrim had toiled among cliffs and preci- 
 pices during the earlier part of the morning ; more lately, 10 
 issuing from those rocky and dangerous defiles, he had 
 entered upon that great plain 1 where the accursed cities 
 provoked in ancient days the direct and dreadful ven- 
 geance of the Omnipotent. 
 
 The toil, the thirst, the dangers of the way were for- is 
 gotten, as the traveller recalled the fearful catastrophe 
 which had converted into an arid and dismal wilderness 
 the fair and fertile valley of Siddim, once well watered, 
 even as the Garden of the Lord, now a parched and 
 blighted waste, condemned to eternal sterility. ao 
 
 Crossing himself, as he viewed the dark mass of roll- 
 
 1 The Plain of Jordan, in which Sodom and Gomorrah were sit- 
 uated. See Genesis, xiii. 10-13, etc -
 
 THE CHRISTIAN KNIGHT. 37 
 
 ing waters, in color as in quality unlike those of every 
 other lake, the traveller shuddered as he remembered 
 that beneath these sluggish waves lay the once proud 
 cities of the plain, whose grave was dug by the thunder 25 
 of the heavens, or the eruption of subterraneous fire, and 
 whose remains were hid, even by that sea which holds 
 no living fish in its bosom, bears no skiff on its surface, 
 and, as if its own dreadful bed were the only fit recep- 
 tacle for its sullen waters, sends not, like other lakes, a 3 
 tribute to the ocean. The whole land around, as in the 
 days of Moses, was " brimstone and salt ; it is not sown, 
 nor beareth, nor any grass groweth thereon ;" l the land 
 as well as the lake might be termed dead, as producing 
 nothing having resemblance to vegetation, and even the 35 
 very air was entirely devoid of its ordinary winged in- 
 habitants, deterred probably by the odor of bitumen and 
 sulphur, which the burning sun exhaled from the waters 
 of the lake in steaming clouds, frequently assuming the 
 appearance of waterspouts. Masses of the slimy and 40 
 sulphurous substance called napjjiha, which floated idly < 
 on the sluggish and sullen waves, supplied those rolling 
 clouds with new vapors, and afforded awful testimony to 
 the truth of the Mosaic history. 
 
 Upon this scene of desolation the sun shone with al-45 
 most intolerable splendor, and all living nature seemed 
 to have hidden itself from the rays, excepting the soli- 
 tary figure which appeared the sole breathing thing on 
 the wide surface of the plain. The_dress_of the rider 
 and the accoutrements of his horse were peculiarly unfit so 
 for the traveller in such a country. A coat of linked 
 mail, with long sleeves, plated gauntlets, and a steel 
 breast-plate, had not been esteemed a sufficient weight 
 1 See Deuteronomy, xxix. 23.
 
 2 8 THE CHRISTIAN KNIGHT 
 
 of armor ; there was also his triangular shield sus- 
 pended round his neck, and his barred helmet of steel, 55 
 over which he had a hood and collar of mail, which was 
 drawn around the warrior's shoulders and throat, and 
 rilled up the vacancy between the hauberk 1 and the 
 headpiece. His lower limbs were sheathed, like his 
 body, in flexible mail, securing the legs and thighs, while 60 
 the feet rested in plated shoes, which corresponded with 
 the gauntlets. A long, broad, straight-shaped, double- 
 edged falchion, with a handle formed like a cross, cor- 
 responded with a stout poniard, on the other side. 
 The knight also bore, secured to his saddle, with one 6 S 
 end resting on his stirrup, the long steel-headed lance, 
 his own proper weapon, which, as he rode, project- 
 ed backwards, and displayed its little pennoncelle, a 
 to dally with the faint breeze, or drop in the dead 
 calm. To this cumbrous equipment must be added a 70 
 surcoat 3 of embroidered cloth, much frayed and worn, 
 which was thus far useful, that it excluded the burning 
 rays of the sun from the armor, which they would other- 
 wise have rendered intolerable to the wearer. The sur- 
 coat bore, in several places, the arms 4 of the owner, al- 75 
 though much defaced. These seemed to be a couchant 6 
 leopard, with the motto, "I sleep wake me not." An 
 outline of the same device might be traced on his shield, 
 though many a blow had almost effaced the painting. 
 The flat top of his cumbrous cylindrical helmet was un- 80 
 
 1 The coat of mail mentioned just above. 
 
 s Small pennon, or flag, attached to the lance. See p. 70, line 244. 
 1 A loose sleeveless wrapper worn outside the armor. 
 4 Figures or devices embroidered upon it, indicating who the knight 
 was. See Notes. 
 * Lying down.
 
 AND THE SARACEN. 29 
 
 adorned with any crest. In retaining their own unwieldy 
 defensive armor, the Northern Crusaders seemed to set 
 at defiance the nature of the climate and country to 
 which they had come to war. 
 
 The accoutrements of the horse were scarcely less 85 
 massive and unwieldy than those of the rider. The 
 animal had a heavy saddle plated with steel, uniting in 
 front with a species of breast-plate, and behind with 
 defensive armor made to cover the loins. Then there 
 was a steel axe, or hammer, called a mace-of-arms, and 90 
 which hung to the saddle-bow ; the reins were secured 
 by chain-work, and the front-stall of the bridle was a 
 steel plate, with apertures for the eyes and nostrils, 
 having in the midst a short, sharp pike, projecting from 
 the forehead of the horse like the horn of the fabulous 95 
 unicorn. 
 
 But habit had made the endurance of this load of pan- 
 oply a second nature, both to the knight and his gallant 
 charger. Numbers, indeed, of the Western warriors who 
 hurried to Palestine died ere they became inured to the 100 
 burning climate ; but there were others to whom that 
 climate "became innocent and even friendly, and among 
 this fortunate number was the solitary horseman who 
 now traversed the border of the Dead Sea. 
 
 Nature, which cast his limbs in a mould of uncommon 105 
 strength, fitted to wear his linked hauberk with as much 
 ease as if the meshes had been formed of cobwebs, had 
 endowed him with a constitution as strong as his limbs, 
 and which bade defiance to almost all changes of cli- 
 mate, as well as to fatigue and privations of every kind, no 
 His disposition seemed, in some degree, to partake of 
 the qualities of his bodily frame ; and as the one pos- 
 sessed great strength and endurance, united with the
 
 3 o THE CHRISTIAN KNIGHT 
 
 power of violent exertion, the other, under a calm and 
 undisturbed semblance, had much of the fiery and en- us 
 thusiastic love of glory which constituted the principal 
 attribute of the renowned Norman ' line, and had ren- 
 dered them sovereigns in every corner of Europe where 
 they had drawn their adventurous swords. 
 
 It was not, however, to all the race that fortune pro- 120 
 posed such tempting rewards; and those obtained by 
 the solitary knight during two years' campaign in Pales- 
 tine had been only temporal fame, and, as he was taught 
 to believe, spiritual privileges. Meantime, his slender 
 stock of money had melted away, the rather that he did 125 
 not pursue any of the ordinary modes by which the fol- 
 lowers of the Crusade condescended to recruit their di- 
 minished resources, at the expense of the people of Pal- 
 estine ; he exacted no gifts from the wretched natives 
 for sparing their possessions when engaged in warfare '3 
 with the Saracens, and he had not availed himself of 
 any opportunity of enriching himself by the ransom of 
 prisoners of consequence. The small train which had 
 followed him from his native country had been gradu- 
 ally diminished as the means of maintaining them dis-'3S 
 appeared; and his only remaining squire 2 was at present 
 on a sick-bed, and unable to attend his master, who trav- 
 elled, as we have seen, singly and alone. This was of 
 little consequence to the Crusader, who was accustomed 
 to consider his good sword as his safest escort, and de- M 
 vout thoughts as his best companion. 
 
 Nature had, however, her demands for refreshment 
 and repose, even on the iron frame and patient dispo- 
 sition of the Knight of the Sleeping Leopard ; and at 
 
 1 Belonging to Normandy, the northern part of France. 
 * Attendant on a knight, armor-bearer.
 
 AND THE SARACEN. 3 ! 
 
 noon, when the Dead Sea lay at some distance on his 145 
 right, he joyfully hailed the sight of two or three palm- 
 trees, which arose beside the well which was assigned 
 for his midday station. His good horse, too, which 
 had plodded forward with the steady endurance of his 
 master, now lifted his head, expanded his nostrils, and 150 
 quickened his pace, as if he snuffed afar off the living 
 waters which marked the place of repose and refresh- 
 ment. But labor and danger were doomed to intervene 
 ere the horse or horseman reached the desired spot. 
 
 As the Knight of the Couchant Leopard continued to 155 
 fix his eyes attentively on the yet distant cluster of palm- 
 trees, it seemed to him as if some object was moving 
 among them. The distant form separated itself from 
 the trees, which partly hid its motions, and advanced 
 towards the knight with a speed which soon showed a 160 
 mounted horseman, whom his turban, long spear, and 
 green caftan ' floating in the wind, on his nearer ap- 
 proach, showed to be a Saracen cavalier. " In the des- 
 ert, '^saithan_Jaj5tej[n_j3n)y^ 
 
 The Crusader was totally indifferent whether the infidel, 165 
 who now approached on his gallant barb, as if borne on 
 the wings' of an eagle, came as friend or foe perhaps, 
 as a vowed champion of the Cross, he might rather have 
 preferred the latter. He disengaged his lance from his 
 saddle, seized it with the right hand, placed it in rest* 170 
 with its point half elevated, gathered up the reins in the 
 left, waked his horse's mettle with the spur, and prepared 
 to encounter the stranger with the calm self-confidence 
 belonging to the victor in many contests. 
 
 1 A kind of long vest with sleeves, fastened round the waist with 
 a girdle ; worn in Oriental countries. 
 
 8 To lay the spear in rest, or couch it, was to put its butt in the
 
 32 THE CHRISTIAN KNIGHT 
 
 The Saracen came on at the speedy gallop of an 175 
 Arab horseman, managing his steed more by his limbs 
 and the inflection of his body than by any use of the 
 reins, which hung loose in his left hand ; so that he was 
 enabled to wield the light round buckler of the skin of 
 the rhinoceros, ornamented with silver loops, which he 180 
 wore on his arm, swinging it as if he meant to oppose 
 its slender circle to the formidable thrust of the Western 
 lance. His own long spear was not couched or levelled 
 like that of his antagonist, but grasped by the middle 
 with his right hand, and brandished at arm's length above 185 
 his head. As the cavalier approached his enemy at full 
 career, he seemed to expect that the Knight of the Leop- 
 ard should put his horse to the gallop to encounter him. 
 But the Christian knight, well acquainted with the cus- 
 toms of Eastern warriors, did not mean to exhaust his 19 
 good horse by any unnecessary exertion ; and, on the 
 contrary, made a dead halt, confident that if the en- 
 emy advanced to the actual shock, his own weight, and 
 that of his powerful charger, would give him sufficient 
 advantage, without the additional momentum of rapid 195 
 motion. Equally sensible and apprehensive of such a 
 probable result, the Saracen cavalier, when he had ap- 
 proached towards the Christian within twice the length 
 of his lance, wheeled his steed to the left with inimita- 
 ble dexterity, and rode twice round his antagonist, who, 200 
 turning without quitting his ground, and presenting his 
 front constantly to his enemy, frustrated his attempts to 
 attack him on an unguarded point ; so that the Saracen, 
 wheeling his horse, was fain to retreat to the distance 
 
 projection on the side of the armor called the rest ; that is, in posi- 
 tion for use in attack or defence.
 
 AND THE SARACEN, 33 
 
 of an hundred yards. A second time, like a hawk * at- 205 
 tacking a heron, the heathen renewed the charge, and a 
 second time was fain to retreat without coming to a close 
 struggle. A third time he approached in the same man- 
 ner, when the Christian knight, desirous to terminate this 
 elusory warfare, in which he might at length have been 210 
 worn out by the activity of his foeman, suddenly seized 
 ' the mace which hung at his saddlebow, and, with a strong 
 hand and unerring aim, hurled it against the head of the 
 Emir, 2 for such and not less his enemy appeared. The 
 Saracen was just aware of the formidable missile in time 215 
 to interpose his light buckler betwixt the mace and his 
 head ; but the violence of the blow forced the buckler 
 down on his turban, and though that defence also con- 
 tributed to deaden its violence, the Saracen was beaten 
 from his horse. Ere the Christian could avail himself of 220 
 this mishap, his nimble foeman sprung from the ground, 
 and calling on his horse, which instantly returned to his 
 side, he leapt into his seat without touching the stjj-mp. 
 and regained all the advantage of which the Knight of 
 the Leopard hoped to deprive him. But the latter had 225 
 in the meanwhile recovered his mace, and the Eastern 
 cavalier, who remembered the strength and dexterity 
 with which his antagonist had aimed it, seemed to keep 
 cautiously out of reach of that weapon, of which he had 
 so lately felt the force, while he showed his purpose of 230 
 waging a distant warfare with missile weapons of his 
 own. Planting his long spear in the sand at a distance 
 from the scene of combat, he strung, with great address, 
 
 1 That is, a tame hawk or falcon, trained to attack or capture 
 other birds. 
 
 8 The title given in Mohammedan countries to an independent 
 chief.
 
 34 THE CHRISTIAN KNIGHT 
 
 a short bow, which he carried on his back, and putting 
 his horse to the gallop, once more described two or three 235 
 circles of a wider extent than formerly, in the course of 
 which he discharged six arrows at the Christian with 
 such unerring skill that the goodness of his harness 1 
 alone saved him from being wounded in as many places. 
 The seventh shaft apparently found a less perfect part 24 
 of the armor, and the Christian dropped heavily from 
 his horse. But what was the surprise of the Saracen, 
 when, dismounting to examine the condition of his pros- 
 trate enemy, he found himself suddenly within the grasp 
 of the European, who had had recourse to this artifice to 245 
 bring his enemy within his reach! Even in this deadly 
 grapple, the Saracen was saved by his agility and pres- 
 ence of mind. He unloosed the sword-belt, in which 
 the Knight of the Leopard had fixed his hold, and, thus 
 eluding his fatal grasp, mounted his horse, which seemed 250 
 to watch his motions with the intelligence of a human 
 being, and again rode off. But in the last encounter the 
 Saracen had lost his sword and his quiver of arrows, 
 both of which were attached to the girdle, which he was 
 obliged to abandon. He had also lost his turban in the 255 
 struggle. These disadvantages seemed to incline the 
 Moslem to a truce. He approached the Christian with 
 his right hand extended, but no longer in a menacing 
 attitude. 
 
 " There is truce betwixt our nations," he said, in the 260 
 lingua franca 2 commonly used for the purpose of com- 
 munication with the Crusaders ; " wherefore should there 
 be war betwixt thee and me ? Let there be peace be- 
 twixt us." 
 
 1 Armor. 
 
 8 Literally, free tongue ( Italian ) ; a language or dialect under-
 
 AND THE SARACEN. 
 
 35 
 
 "I am well contented," answered he of the CouchantaCs 
 Leopard ; " but what security dost thou offer that thou 
 wilt observe the truce ?" 
 
 "The word of a follower of the Prophet * was never ***" 
 broken," answered the Emir! " It is thou, brave Naza- 
 rene, 2 from whom I should demand security, did I not*7 
 know that treason seldom dwells with courage." 
 
 The Crusader felt that the confidence of the Moslem 
 made him ashamed of his own doubts. 
 
 " By the cross of my sword," he said, laying his hand 
 on the weapon as he spoke, " I will be true companion 275 
 to thee, Saracen, while our fortune wills that we remain 
 in company together !" 
 
 " By Mohammed, Prophet of God, and by Allah, God 
 of the Prophet," replied his late foeman, " there is not 
 treachery in my heart towards thee ! And now wend we 280 
 to yonder fountain, for the hour of rest is at hand, and 
 the stream had hardly touched my lip when I was called 
 to battle by thy approach." 
 
 The Knight of the Couchant Leopard yielded a ready 
 and courteous assent ; and the late foes, without an an- 285 
 gry look or gesture of doubt, rode side by side to the 
 little cluster of palm-trees. 
 
 We have spoken of a moment of truce in the midst 
 of war ; and this, a spot of beauty in the midst of a ster- 
 ile desert, was scarce less dear to the imagination. It 2 9 ; 
 was a scene which perhaps would elsewhere have de- 
 served little notice ; but as the single speck in a bound- 
 stood over a wide extent of territory in which several languages 
 may be spoken. 
 
 1 Mohammed, or Mahomet. 
 
 * A contemptuous term for Christian, or follower of Jesus of 
 Nazareth.
 
 3 6 THE CHRISTIAN KNIGHT. 
 
 less horizon which promised the refreshment of shade 
 and living water, these blessings, held cheap where they 
 are common, rendered the fountain and its neighborhood 295 
 a little paradise. Some generous or charitable hand, ere 
 yet the evil days of Palestine began, had walled in and 
 arched over the fountain, to preserve it from being ab- 
 sorbed in the earth, or choked by the flitting clouds of 
 dust with which the least breath of wind covered the des- 3 
 ert. The arch was now broken and partly ruinous ; but 
 it still so far projected over, and covered in the foun- 
 tain, that it excluded the sun in a great measure from 
 its waters, which, hardly touched by a straggling beam 
 while all around was blazing, lay in a steady repose, 305 
 alike delightful to the eye and the imagination. Steal- 
 ing from under the arch, they were first received in a 
 marble basin, much defaced indeed, but still cheering 
 the eye, by showing that the place was anciently con- 
 sidered as a station, that the hand of man had been 31 
 there, and that man's accommodation had been in some 
 measure attended to. The thirsty and weary traveller 
 was reminded by these signs that others had suffered 
 similar difficulties, reposed in the same spot, and doubt- 
 less found their way in safety to a more fertile country. 315 
 Again, the scarce visible current which escaped from the 
 basin served to nourish the few trees which surrounded 
 the fountain, and where it sunk into the ground and dis- 
 appeared its refreshing presence was acknowledged by a 
 carpet of velvet verdure. 32 

 
 SHERWOOD FOREST 
 IN THE REIGN OF RICHARD THE FIRST. 
 
 IN that pleasant district of merry England which is 
 watered by the river Don, there extended in ancient 
 times a large forest, covering the greater part of the 
 beautiful hills and valleys which lie between Sheffield 
 and the pleasant town of Doncaster. The remains of 5 
 this extensive wood are still to be seen at the noble 
 seats of Wentworth, of Wharncliffe Park, and around 
 Rotherham. Here haunted of yore the fabulous Dragon 
 of Wantley ; here were fought many of the most des- 
 perate battles during the Civil Wars of the Roses ; and i 
 here also flourished in ancient times those bands of gal- 
 
 o 
 
 lant outlaws, whose deeds have been rendered so popu- 
 lar in English song. 
 
 Such being our chief scene, the date of our story re- 
 fers to a period towards the end of the reign of Richard "5 
 I., when his return from his long captivity had become 
 an event rather wished than hoped for by his despairing 
 subjects, who were in the meantime subjected to every 
 species of subordinate oppression. The nobles, whose 
 power had become exorbitant during the reign of Ste- 20 
 phen, and whom the prudence of Henry the Second had 
 scarce reduced into some degree of subjection to the 
 crown, had now resumed their ancient license in its 
 utmost extent ; despising the feeble interference of the
 
 3 8 SHERWOOD FOREST. 
 
 English Council of State, fortifying their castles, increas- a s 
 ing the number of their dependants, reducing all around 
 them to a state of vassalage, and striving by every means 
 in their power to place themselves each at the head of 
 such forces as might enable him to make a figure in the 30 
 national convulsions which appeared to be impending. 
 
 The situation of the inferior gentry, or franklins as 
 they were called, who by the law and spirit of the Eng- 
 lish constitution were entitled to hold themselves inde- 
 pendent of feudal tyranny, became now unusually preca- 35 
 rious. If, as was most generally the case, they placed 
 themselves under the protection of any of the petty 
 kings 1 in their vicinity, accepted of feudal offices in his 
 household, or bound themselves by mutual treaties of 
 alliance and protection to support him in his enter- 40 
 prises, they might indeed purchase temporary repose ; 
 but it must be with the sacrifice of that independence 
 which was so dear to every English bosom, and at the 
 certain hazard of being involved as a party in whatever 
 rash expedition the ambition of their protector might 45 
 lead him to undertake. On the other hand, such and 
 so multiplied were the means of vexation and oppres- 
 sion possessed by the great barons, that they never 
 wanted the pretext, and seldom the will, to harass and 
 pursue, even to the very edge of destruction, any of their y> 
 less powerful neighbors who attempted to separate them- 
 selves from their authority, and to trust for their protec- 
 tion, during the dangers of the times, to their own inof- 
 fensive conduct and to the laws of the land. 
 
 The power had been completely placed in the hands 55 
 of the Norman nobility by the event of the battle of 
 Hastings, and it had been used, as our histories assure 
 1 The nobles, or feudal chieftains, mentioned above.
 
 SHERWOOD FOREST. 
 
 39 
 
 us, with no moderate hand. The whole race of Saxon 
 princes and nobles had been extirpated or disinherited, 
 with few or no exceptions ; nor were the numbers great 
 who possessed land in the country of their fathers, even 60 
 as proprietors of the second, or of yet inferior classes. 
 The royal policy had long been to weaken by every 
 means, legal or illegal, the strength of a part of the pop- 
 ulation which was justly considered as nourishing the 
 most inveterate antipathy to their victor. All the mon-6s 
 archs of the Norman race had shown the most marked 
 predilection for their Norman subjects; the laws of the 
 chase, and many others equally unknown to the milder 
 and more free spirit of the Saxon constitution, had been 
 fixed upon the necks of the subjugated inhabitants, to 70 
 add weight, as it were, to the feudal chains with which 
 they were loaded. At court, and in the castles of the \ 
 great nobles, where the pomp and state of a court was 
 emulated, Norman-French was the only language em- 
 ployed ; in courts of law, the pleadings and judgments 75 
 were delivered in the same tongue. In short, French 
 was the language of honor, of chivalry, and even of jus- 
 tice, while the far more manly and expressive Anglo- 
 Saxon was abandoned to the use of rustics and hinds, 
 who knew no other. Still, however, the necessary inter- 80 
 course between the lords of the soil and those oppressed 
 inferior beings by whom that soil was cultivated occa- 
 sioned the gradual formation of a dialect, compounded 
 betwixt the French and the Anglo-Saxon, in which they 
 could render themselves mutually intelligible to each 8s 
 other ; and from this necessity arose by degrees the 
 structure of our present English language, in which the 
 speech of the victors and the vanquished have been so 
 happily blended together, and which has since been so
 
 40 SHERWOOD FOREST. 
 
 richly improved by importations from the classical Ian- 90 
 guages and from those spoken by the Southern nations 
 of Europe. 
 
 The sun was setting upon one of the rich glassy glades 
 of that forest which we have already mentioned. Hun- 
 dreds of broad-headed, short-stemmed, wide-branched 95 
 oaks, which had witnessed perhaps the stately march of 
 the Roman soldiery, 1 flung their gnarled arms over a 
 thick carpet of the most delicious green sward ; in some 
 places they were intermingled with beeches, hollies, and 
 copsewood of various descriptions, so closely as totally 100 
 to intercept the level beams of the sinking sun ; in others 
 they receded from each other, forming those long sweep- 
 ing vistas, in the intricacy of which the eye delights to 
 lose itself, while imagination considers them as the paths 
 to yet wilder scenes of sylvan solitude. Here the red 105 
 rays of the sun shot a broken and discolored light, that 
 partially hung upon the shattered boughs and mossy 
 trunks of the trees, and there they illuminated in brilliant 
 patches the portions of turf to which they made their 
 way. A considerable open space in the midst of this no 
 glade seemed formerly to have been dedicated to the 
 rites of Druidical " superstition ; for on the summit of a 
 hillock, so regular as to seem artificial, there still re- 
 mained part of a circle of rough, unhewn stones, of large 
 dimensions. Seven stood upright ; the rest had been us 
 dislodged from their places, probably by the zeal of some 
 convert to Christianity, and lay, some prostrate near 
 
 1 Referring to the time of the Roman occupation of Britain, in 
 the early centuries of the Christian era. 
 
 9 Pertaining to the Druids, the priests of the aboriginal Britons. 
 See Notes.
 
 SHERWOOD FOREST. 41 
 
 their former site, and others on the side of the hill. One 
 large stone only had found its way to the bottom, and 
 in stopping the course of a small brook, which glided 12 
 smoothly round the foot of the eminence, gave by its 
 opposition a feeble voice of murmur to the placid and 
 elsewhere silent streamlet. 
 
 The human figures which completed this landscape 
 were in number two, partaking in their dress and ap-i2$ 
 pearance of that wild and rustic character which be- 
 longed to the woodlands of the West-Riding ' of York- 
 shire at that early period. The eldest of these men had 
 a stern, savage, and wild aspect. His garment was of 
 the simplest form imaginable, being a close jacket with 13 
 sleeves, composed of the tanned skin of some animal, on 
 which the hair had been originally left, but which had 
 been worn off in so many places that it would have been 
 difficult to distinguish from the patches that remained 
 to what creature the fur had belonged. This primeval 133 
 vestment reached from the throat to the knees, and 
 served at once all the usual purposes of body-clothing; 
 there was no wider opening at the collar than was nec- 
 essary to admit the passage of the head, from which it 
 may be inferred that it was put on by slipping it over 140 
 the head and shoulders in the manner of a modern shirt 
 or ancient hauberk. 2 Sandals, bound with thongs made ' 
 of boar's hide, protected the feet, and a roll of thin 
 leather was twined artificially around the legs, and, as- 
 cending above the calf, left the knees bare, like those MS 
 of a Scottish Highlander. To make the jacket sit yet 
 
 1 The county of Yorkshire is divided into three districts known 
 as the North, East, and West Ridings originally thrithings, or 
 tritkings=.thirds. 
 
 ' 2 Coat of mail. See p. 28 above.
 
 42 SHERWOOD FOREST. 
 
 more close to the body, it was gathered at the middle by 
 a broad leathern belt, secured by a brass buckle; to one 
 side of which was attached a sort of scrip, 1 and to the 
 other a ram's horn, accoutred with a mouthpiece, for the *s 
 purpose of blowing. In the same belt was stuck one 
 of those long, broad, sharp -pointed, and two-edged 
 knives, with a buck's-horn handle, which were fabricated 
 in the neighborhood, and bore even at this early period 
 the name of a Sheffield whittle." The man had no cover- 155 
 ing upon his head, which was only defended by his own 
 thick hair, matted and twisted together, and scorched 
 by the influence of the sun into a rusty dark -red col- 
 or, forming a contrast with the overgrown beard upon 
 his cheeks, which was rather of a yellow or amber hue. 160 
 One part of his dress only remains, but it is too remark- 
 able to be suppressed ; it was a brass ring resembling a 
 dog's collar, but without any opening, and soldered fast 
 round his neck, so loose as to form no impediment to his 
 breathing, yet so tight as to be incapable of being re- 165 
 moved, excepting by the use of the file. On this singular 
 gorget 3 was engraved, in Saxon characters, an inscrip- 
 tion of the following purport : " Gurth, the son of Beo- 
 wulph, is the born thrall 4 of Cedric of Rotherwood." 
 
 Beside the swineherd, for such was Gurth's occupa- '7 
 tion, was seated, upon one of the fallen Druidical monu- 
 ments, a person about ten years younger in appearance, 
 and whose dress, though resembling his companion's 
 in form, was of better materials and of a more fantastic 
 
 1 Pouch, or bag ; as in Matthew, x. 10, etc. 
 5 An old word for knife. 
 
 3 Properly a piece of armor for the throat or neck ; here applied 
 to the collar just described. 
 
 4 Serf, or bondman ; now used only as an abstract noun. 

 
 . :
 
 44 
 
 SHERWOOD FOREST. 
 
 appearance. His jacket had been stained of a bright 175 
 purple hue, upon which there had been some attempt to 
 paint grotesque ornaments in different colors. To the 
 jacket he added a short cloak, which scarcely reached 
 half-way down his thigh ; it was of crimson cloth, though 
 a good deal soiled, lined with bright yellow ; and as he 180 
 could transfer it from one shoulder to the other, or at 
 his pleasure draw it all around him, its width, contrasted 
 with its want of longitude, formed a fantastic piece of 
 drapery. He had thin silver bracelets upon his arms, 
 and on his neck a collar of the same mefal, bearing the 185 
 inscription, " Waniba, the son of Witless, is the thrall of 
 Cedric of Rotherwood." This personage had the same 
 sort of sandals with his companion, but instead of the 
 roll of leather thong his legs were cased in a sort of gait- 
 ers, of which one was red and the other yellow. He 190 
 was provided also with a cap, having around it more 
 than one bell, about the size of those attached to hawks, 1 
 which jingled as he turned his head to one side or 
 other ; and as he seldom remained a minute in the same 
 posture, the sound might be considered as incessant. 195 
 Around the edge of this cap was a stiff bandeau 2 of 
 leather, cut at the top into open work, resembling a cor- 
 onet, while a prolonged bag arose from within it, and fell 
 down on one shoulder like an old-fashioned nightcap, or 
 a jelly-bag, or the head-gear of a modern hussar. 3 It 200 
 was to this part of the cap that the bells were attached ; 
 which circumstance, as well as the shape of his head- 
 
 1 Small bells were fastened to the tame hawks used in falconry, 
 to frighten the birds that were their prey. 
 
 * French for band. 
 
 3 Light-armed horseman ; originally applied to Hungarian cav- 
 alry. For a common form of the fool's cap, see cut on page 153. 

 
 SHERWOOD FOREST. 45 
 
 dress, and his own half-crazed, half-cunning expression 
 of countenance, sufficiently pointed him out as belong- 
 ing to the race of domestic clowns or jesters maintained 205 
 in the houses of the wealthy, to help away the tedium of 
 those lingering hours which they were obliged to spend 
 within doors. He bore, like his companion, a scrip at- 
 tached to his belt, but had neither horn nor knife, being 
 probably considered as belonging to a class whom it is 210 
 esteemed dangerous to intrust with edge-tools. In place 
 of these, he was equipped with a sword of lath, resem- 
 bling that with which Harlequin ' operates his wonders 
 upon the modern stage. 
 
 The outward appearance of these two men formed 215 
 scarce a stronger contrast than their look and demeanor. 
 That of the serf or bondsman was sad and sullen ; his 
 aspect was bent on the ground with an appearance of 
 deep dejection, which might be almost construed into 
 apathy, had not the fire which occasionally sparkled in 220 
 his red eye manifested that there slumbered, under the 
 appearance of sullen despondency, a sense of oppres- 
 sion and a disposition to resistance. The looks of Wam- 
 ba, on the other hand, indicated, as usual with his class, 
 a sort of vacant curiosity and fidgety impatience of 225 
 any posture of repose, together with the utmost self-sat- 
 isfaction respecting his own situation and the appear- 
 ance which he made. The dialogue which they main- 
 tained between them was carried on in Anglo-Saxon, 
 which, as we said before, was universally spoken by the 2 3 
 inferior classes, excepting the Norman soldiers and the 
 immediate personal dependants of the great feudal no- 
 bles. But to give their conversation in the original 
 would convey but little information to the modern 
 1 A clown, or buffoon. See Notes.
 
 46 SHERWOOD FOREST. 
 
 reader, for whose benefit we beg to offer the following =35 
 translation : 
 
 "The curse of St. Withold ! upon these porkers !" said 
 the swineherd, after blowing his horn obstreperously to 
 collect together the scattered herd of swine, which, an- 
 swering his call with notes equally melodious, made, 24 
 however, no haste to remove themselves from the luxuri- 
 ous banquet of beech-mast* and acorns on which they had 
 fattened, or to forsake the marshy banks of the rivulet, 
 where several of them, half plunged in mud, lay stretched 
 at their ease, altogether regardless of the voice of their 245 
 keeper. " The curse of St. Withold upon them and 
 upon me !" said Gurth ; " if the two-legged wolf snap 
 not up some of them ere nightfall, I am no true man. 
 Here, Fangs ! Fangs !" he ejaculated at the top of his 
 voice to a ragged, wolfish-looking dog, a sort of lurcher, 3 250 
 half mastiff, half greyhound, which ran limping about as 
 if with the purpose of seconding his master in collecting 
 the refractory grunters ; but which, in fact, from misap- 
 prehension of the swineherd's signals, ignorance of his 
 own duty, or malice prepense, 4 only drove them hither 255 
 and thither, and increased the evil which he seemed to 
 design to remedy. " A devil draw the teeth of him," 
 said Gurth, " and the mother of mischief confound the 
 Ranger of the forest, that cuts the foreclaws off our dogs 
 and makes them unfit for their trade ! 5 Wamba, up and 260 
 
 1 A corruption of St. Vitalis. 
 
 3 Beech-nuts. 
 
 8 A dog that lurches (lurks), or lies in wait for game. 
 
 4 Premeditated, deliberate ; rarely used except in the phrase mal- 
 ice prepense. 
 
 5 A most sensible grievance of those aggrieved times were the 
 Forest Laws. These oppressive enactments were the produce of 
 the Norman Conquest, for the Saxon laws of the chase were mild
 
 SHERWOOD FOREST, 47 
 
 help me an ' thou beest a man ; take a turn round the 
 back o' the hill to gain the wind on them ; and when 
 thou'st got the weather-gage, thou mayst drive them be- 
 fore thee as gently as so many innocent lambs." 
 
 " Truly," said Wamba, without stirring from the spot, 265 
 "I have consulted my legs upon this matter, and they 
 are altogether of opinion that to carry my gay garments 
 through these sloughs would be an act of unfriendship 
 to my sovereign person and royal wardrobe ; wherefore, 
 Gurth, I advise thee to call off Fangs, and leave the 27 
 herd to their destiny, which, whether they meet with 
 bands of travelling soldiers, or of outlaws, or of wander- 
 ing pilgrims, can be little else than to be converted into 
 Normans before morning, to thy no small ease and com- 
 fort." 275 
 
 "The swine turned Normans to my comfort !" quoth 
 Gurth ; " expound that to me, Wamba, for my brain is 
 too dull and my mind too vexed to read riddles." 
 
 " Why, how call you those grunting brutes running 
 about on their four legs ?" demanded Wamba. 280 
 
 and humane ; while those of William, enthusiastically attached to 
 the exercise and its rights, were to the last degree tyrannical. The 
 formation of the New Forest bears evidence to his passion for 
 hunting, where he reduced many a happy village to the condition of 
 that one commemorated by Mr. William Stewart Rose : 
 
 " Amongst the ruins of the church 
 The midnight raven found a perch, 
 
 A melancholy place ; 
 The ruthless Conqueror cast down, 
 Wo worth the deed, that little town, 
 
 To lengthen out his chase." 
 
 The disabling dogs, which might be necessary for keeping flocks 
 and herds from running at the deer, was called lowing, and was in 
 general use (Scott). 
 
 1 If.
 
 
 48 SHERWOOD FOREST. 
 
 " Swine, fool, swine," said the herd ; " every foci 
 knows that." 
 
 " And swine is good Saxon," said the Jester ; " but 
 how call you the sow when she is flayed, and drawn, and 
 quartered, and hung up by the heels, like a traitor?" 285 
 
 " Pork," answered the swineherd. 
 
 " I am very glad every fool knows that too," said 
 Wamba, " and pork, I think, is good Norman-French ; 
 and so when the brute lives, and is in the charge of a 
 Saxon slave, she goes by her Saxon name ; but becomes 29 
 a Norman, and is called pork, when she is carried to the 
 Castle-hall to feast among the nobles ; what dost thou 
 think of this, friend Gurth, ha ?" 
 
 " It is but too true doctrine, friend Wamba, however 
 it got into thy fool's pate." 295 
 
 " Nay, I can tell you more," said Wamba, in the same 
 tone ; " there is old Alderman Ox continues to hold his 
 Saxon epithet while he is under the charge of serfs and 
 bondsmen such as thou, but becomes Beef, a fiery French 
 gallant, when he arrives before the worshipful jaws that 30 
 are destined to consume him. Mynheer Calf, too, be- 
 comes Monsieur de Veau ' in the like manner ; he is 
 Saxon when he requires tendance, and takes a Norman 
 name when he becomes matter of enjoyment." 
 
 "A murrain 4 take thee," rejoined the swineherd ; ss 
 "wilt thou talk of such things while a terrible storm of 
 thunder and lightning is raging within a few miles of 
 us? Hark, how the thunder rumbles ! and for summer 
 rain, I never saw such broad, downright, flat drops fall 
 out of the clouds ; the oaks, too, notwithstanding the 310 
 calm weather, sob and creak with their great boughs as 
 
 1 French for veal, which is really the same word. 
 1 Plague. See Bxodus, ix. 3, etc.
 
 SHERWOOD FOREST. 
 
 49 
 
 if announcing a tempest. Thou canst play the rational 
 if thou wilt ; credit me for once, and let us home ere 
 the storm begins to rage, for the night will be fearful." 
 
 Wamba seemed to feel the force of this appeal, and 315 
 accompanied his companion, who began his journey af- 
 ter catching up a long quarter-staff 1 which lay upon the 
 grass beside him. This second Eumaeus 2 strode hastily 
 down the forest glade, driving before him, with the as- 
 sistance of Fangs, the whole herd of his inharmonious 3 2 
 charge. 
 
 1 An old English weapon, a stout pole about six feet and a half 
 long, generally loaded with iron at both ends. 
 
 9 The faithful swineherd of Ulysses in Homer's Odyssey. 
 
 CRUSADERS.
 
 CEDRIC THE SAXON, AND ROWENA. 
 
 THEY stood before the mansion of Cedric a low 
 irregular building, containing several court-yards or en- 
 closures, extending over a considerable space of ground, 
 and which, though its size argued the inhabitant to be a 
 person of wealth, differed entirely from the tall, turreted, 5 
 and castellated buildings in which the Norman nobility 
 resided, and which had become the universal style of 
 architecture throughout England. 
 
 Rotherwood was not, however, without defences ; no 
 habitation in that disturbed period could have been so, 10 
 without the risk of being plundered and burnt before 
 the next morning. A deep fosse, or ditch, was drawn 
 round the whole building, and filled with water from a 
 neighboring stream. A double stockade, or palisade, 
 composed of pointed beams, which the adjacent forest 15 
 supplied, defended the outer and inner bank of the 
 trench. There was an entrance from the west through 
 the outer stockade, which communicated by a draw- 
 bridge with a similar opening in the interior defences. 
 Some precautions had been taken to place those en- 20 
 trances under the protection of projecting angles, by 
 which they might be flanked ' in case of need by archers 
 or slingers. 
 
 In a hall, the height of which was greatly dispropor- 
 1 Defended from the side ; a military term.
 
 CEDRIC THE SAXON, AND ROWENA. 51 
 
 tioned to its extreme length and width, a long oaken 25 
 table, formed of planks rough-hewn from the forest, and 
 which had scarcely received any polish, stood ready 
 prepared for the evening meal of Cedric the Saxon. The 
 roof, composed of beams and rafters, had nothing to 
 divide the apartment from the sky excepting the plank- 3 
 ing and thatch ; 1 there was a huge fireplace at either 
 end of the hall, but as the chimneys were constructed 
 in a very clumsy manner, at least as much of the 
 smoke found its way into the apartment as escaped by 
 the proper vent. The constant vapor which this occa- 35 
 sioned had polished the rafters and beams of the low- 
 browed 2 hall, by encrusting them with a black varnish 
 of soot. On the sides of the apartment hung imple- 
 ments of war and of the chase, and there were at each 
 corner folding-doors, which gave access to other parts 40 
 of the extensive building. 
 
 The other appointments of the mansion partook of 
 the rude simplicity of the Saxon period, which Cedric 
 piqued himself upon maintaining. The floor was com- 
 posed of earth mixed with lime, trodden into a hard 45 
 substance, such as is often employed in flooring our 
 modern barns. For about one quarter of the length of 
 the apartment the floor was raised by a step, and this 
 space, which was called the dais, was occupied only by 
 the principal members of the family and visitors of dis-s 
 tinction. For this purpose, a table richly covered with 
 scarlet cloth was placed transversely across the plat- 
 form, from the middle of which ran the longer and lower 
 board, at which the domestics and inferior persons fed, 
 
 1 The roof was thatched with straw, instead of being covered with 
 tiles. 
 1 Low-studded, as we should say.
 
 5 a CEDRIC THE SAXON, AND ROWENA. 
 
 down towards the bottom of the hall. The whole resem-ss 
 bled the form of the letter T, or some of those ancient 
 dinner-tables, which, arranged on the same principles, 
 may be still seen in the antique Colleges of Oxford or 
 Cambridge. Massive chairs and settles ' of carved oak 
 were placed upon the dais, and over these seats and the 60 
 more elevated table was fastened a canopy of cloth, 
 which served in some degree to protect the dignitaries 
 who occupied that distinguished station from the weath- 
 er, and especially from the rain, which in some places 
 found its way through the ill-constructed roof. 65 
 
 The walls of this upper end of the hall, as far as the 
 dais extended, were covered with hangings or curtains, 
 and upon the floor there was a carpet, both of which 
 were adorned with some attempts at tapestry, or em- 
 broidery, executed with brilliant or rather gaudy color- 7 
 ing. Over the lower range of table, the roof, as we have 
 noticed, had no covering ; the rough plastered walls 
 were left bare, and the rude earthen floor was uncar- 
 peted ; the board was uncovered by a cloth, and rude 
 massive benches supplied the place of chairs. 75 
 
 In the centre of the upper table were placed two 
 chairs more elevated than the rest, for the master and 
 mistress of the family, who presided over the scene of 
 hospitality, and from doing so derived their Saxon title 
 of honor, 2 which signifies "the Dividers of Bread." 8o 
 
 To each of these chairs was added a footstool, curi- 
 ously carved and inlaid with ivory, which mark of dis- 
 tinction was peculiar to them. One of these seats was 
 at present occupied by Cedric the Saxon, who, though 
 
 1 Settees, or benches with backs. 
 
 a Both lord and lady are derived from loaf.
 
 CEDRIC THE SAXON, AND ROWENA. 53 
 
 but in rank a thane, 1 or, as the Normans called him, a 85 
 franklin, felt, at the delay of his evening meal, an irrita- 
 ble impatience which might have become an alderman, 11 
 whether of ancient or of modern times. 
 
 It appeared, indeed, from the countenance of this pro- 
 prietor, that he was of a frank but hasty and choleric 9 
 temper. He was not above the middle stature, but 
 broad-shouldered, long-armed, and powerfully made, like 
 one accustomed to endure the fatigue of war or of the 
 chase ; his face was broad, with large blue eyes, open 
 and frank features, fine teeth, and a well-formed head, 95 
 altogether expressive of that sort of good-humor which 
 often lodges with a sudden and hasty temper. Pride 
 and jealousy there was in his eye, for his life had been 
 spent in asserting rights which were constantly liable to 
 invasion ; and the prompt, fiery, and resolute disposition 100 
 of the man had been kept constantly upon the alert by 
 the circumstances of his situation. His long yellow hair 
 was equally divided on the top of his head and upon his 
 brow, and combed down on each side to the length of 
 his shoulders : it had but little tendency to gray, although 105 
 Cedric was approaching to his sixtieth year. 
 
 His dress was a tunic of forest green, furred at the 
 throat and cuffs with what was called minever a kind 
 of fur inferior in quality to ermine, 3 and formed, it is be- 
 lieved, of the skin of the gray squirrel. This doublet * 
 
 1 An Anglo-Saxon title of honor. After the Norman Conquest 
 thanes and barons were classed together. 
 
 3 Alluding to the association of the name with a fondness for 
 good living. 
 
 3 A costly white fur, formerly worn by kings and still by judges 
 in England. 
 
 * The garment was so called because made double, that is, lined 
 or padded originally for defence.
 
 ij4 CEDRIC THE SAXON, AND ROWENA. 
 
 hung unbuttoned over a close dress of scarlet, which 
 sate tight to his body; he had breeches of the same, 
 but they did not reach below the lower part of the thigh, 
 leaving the knee exposed. His feet had sandals of the 
 same fashion with the peasants, but of finer materials, us 
 and secured in the front with golden clasps. He had 
 bracelets of gold upon his arms, and a broad collar of 
 the same precious metal around his neck. About his 
 waist he wore a richly-studded belt, in which was stuck 
 a short, straight, two-edged sword with a sharp point, so 120 
 disposed as to hang almost perpendicularly by his side. 
 Behind his seat was hung a scarlet cloth cloak lined 
 with fur, and a cap of the same materials richly embroid- 
 ered, which completed the dress of the opulent land- 
 holder when he chose to go forth. A short boar-spear, 125 
 with a broad and bright steel head, also reclined against 
 the back of his chair, which served him, when he walked 
 abroad, for the purposes of a staff or of a weapon, as 
 chance might require. 
 
 Several domestics, whose dress held various propor- t3 o 
 tions betwixt the richness of their master's and the 
 coarse and simple attire of Gurth the swineherd, 
 watched the looks and waited the commands of the 
 Saxon dignitary. Two or three servants of a superior 
 order stood behind their master upon the dais ; the rest 135 
 occupied the lower part of the hall. Other attendants 
 there were of a different description : two or three large 
 and shaggy greyhounds, such as were then employed in 
 hunting the stag and wolf; as many slow-hounds 1 of a 
 large bony breed, with thick necks, large heads, and 140 
 long ears ; and one or two of the smaller dogs, now 
 
 1 Bloodhounds, or sleuth-hounds ; so called from sleuth, the track 
 of a deer.
 
 CEDRIC THE SAXON, AND ROWENA. 55 
 
 called terriers, which waited with impatience the arrival 
 of the supper, but, with the sagacious knowledge of phys- 
 iognomy peculiar to their race, forbore to intrude upon 
 the moody silence of their master, apprehensive proba- MS 
 bly of a small white truncheon l which lay by Cedric's 
 trencher 2 for the purpose of repelling the advances of 
 his four-legged dependants. One grizzly old wolf-dog 
 alone, with the liberty of an indulged favorite, had 
 planted himself close by the chair of state, and occa- 150 
 sionally ventured to solicit notice by putting his large 
 hairy head upon his master's knee, or pushing his nose 
 into his hand. Even he was repelled by the stern com- 
 mand, " Down, Balder, down ! I am not in the humor 
 for foolery." 155 
 
 In fact, Cedric, as we have observed, was in no very 
 placid state of mind. The Lady Rowena, who had been 
 absent to attend an evening mass at a distant church, 
 had but just returned, and was changing her garments 
 which had been wetted by the storm. There were as 160 
 yet no tidings of Gurth and his charge, which should 
 long since have been driven home from the forest ; and 
 such was the insecurity of the period as to render it 
 probable that the delay might be explained by some 
 depredation of the outlaws, with whom the adjacent for- 165 
 est abounded, or by the violence of some neighboring 
 baron, whose consciousness of strength made him equal- 
 ly negligent of the laws of property. The matter was 
 of consequence, for great part of the domestic wealth of 
 the Saxon proprietors consisted in numerous herds of *7 
 swine, especially in forest -land, where those animals 
 easily found their food. 
 
 From his musing Cedric was suddenly awakened by 
 1 Cudgel, club. * Wooden plate.
 
 56 CEDRIC THE SAXON, AND ROWENA. 
 
 the blast of a horn, which was replied to by the clamor- '/s 
 ous yells and barking of all the dogs in the hall, and 
 some twenty or thirty which were quartered in other 
 parts of the building. It cost some exercise of the white 
 truncheon, well seconded by the exertions of the domes- 
 tics, to silence this canine clamor. i8 
 
 "To the gate, knaves!" said the Saxon, hastily, as 
 soon as the tumult was so much appeased that the de- 
 pendants could hear his voice. " See what tidings that 
 horn tells us of to announce, I ween, 1 some hership 2 
 and robbery which has been done upon my lands." ^s 
 
 Returning in less than three minutes, a warder an- 
 nounced, " that the prior Aymer of Jorvaulx, and the 
 good knight Brian de Bois-Guilbert, commander of the 
 valiant and venerable order of Knights Templars, with 
 a small retinue, requested hospitality and lodging for the 19 
 night, being on their way to a tournament 3 which was 
 to be held not far from Ashby-de-la-Zouche 4 on the sec- 
 ond day from the present." 
 
 "Aymer, the prior Aymer? Brian de Bois-Guilbert?" 
 muttered Cedric ; " Normans both ; but Norman or 195 
 Saxon, the hospitality of Rotherwood must not be im- 
 peached ; they are welcome, since they have chosen to 
 halt more welcome would they have been to have rid- 
 den farther on their way. But it were unworthy to mur- 
 mur for a night's lodgings and a night's food; in the* 
 quality of guests, at least, even Normans must suppress 
 their insolence. Go, Hundebert," he added, to a sort 
 
 1 Think ; rarely used now except in poetry. 
 a The crime of carrying off cattle by force. 
 
 3 A martial sport, or exercise of knights on horseback to show 
 their skill in arms. It is described at length farther on. 
 
 4 A town in Leicestershire.
 
 CEDRIC THE SAXON, AND ROWENA. 57 
 
 of major-domo ' who stood behind him with a white 
 wand ; " take six of the attendants, and introduce the 
 strangers to the guests' lodging. Look after their horses 203 
 and mules, and see their train lack nothing. Let them 
 have change of vestments if they require it, and fire, and 
 water to wash, and wine and ale; and bid the cooks 
 add what they hastily can to our evening meal ; and let 
 it be put on the board when those strangers are ready 21 
 to share it." 
 
 The prior Aymer had taken the opportunity afforded 
 him of changing his riding-robe for one of yet more 
 costly materials, over which he wore a cope * curiously 
 embroidered. Besides the massive golden signet ring 215 
 which marked his ecclesiastical dignity, his fingers, though 
 contrary to the canon, 3 were loaded with precious gems ; 
 his sandals were of the finest leather which was import- 
 ed from Spain ; his beard trimmed to as small dimen- 
 sions as his order would possibly permit, and his shaven 220 
 crown concealed by a scarlet cap richly embroidered. 
 
 The appearance of the Knight Templar was also 
 changed ; and, though less studiously bedecked with or- 
 nament, his dress was as rich, and his appearance far 
 more commanding than that of his companion. He had 225 
 exchanged his shirt of mail for an under-tunic of dark 
 purple silk, garnished with furs, over which flowed his 
 long robe of spotless white in ample folds. The eight- 
 pointed cross of his order was cut on the shoulder of his 
 mantle in black velvet. The high cap no longer invest- 2 3 
 ed his brows, which were only shaded by short and thick 
 curled hair of a raven blackness, corresponding to his 
 
 1 Steward. Compare line 279. % 
 
 3 A long cloak-like garment worn by priests. 
 3 Ecclesiastical rule or law.
 
 tj8 CEDRIC THE SAXON, AND ROWENA. 
 
 unusually swart ' complexion. Nothing could be more 
 gracefully majestic than his step and manner, had they 
 not been marked by a predominant air of haughtiness, 235 
 easily acquired by the exercise of unresisted authority. 
 These two dignified persons were followed by their re- 
 spective attendants. 
 
 Cedric rose to receive his guests with an air of digni- 
 fied hospitality, and, descending from the dais, or elevat-24 
 ed part of his hall, made three steps towards them, and 
 then awaited their approach. 
 
 " I grieve," he said, " reverend prior, that my vow 
 binds me to advance no farther upon this floor of my 
 fathers, even to receive such guests as you, and this 245 
 valiant knight of the Holy Temple. Let me also pray, 
 that you will excuse my speaking to you in my native 
 language, and that you will reply in the same if your 
 knowledge of it permits ; if not, I sufficiently understand 
 Norman to follow your meaning." 250 
 
 "Vows," said the abbot, "must be unloosed, worthy 
 franklin, or permit me rather to say, worthy thane, 
 though the title is antiquated. Vows are the knots 
 which tie us to Heaven they are the cords which bind 
 the sacrifice to the horns of the altar and are therefore, 255 
 as I said before, to be unloosened and discharged, un- 
 less our holy Mother Church shall pronounce the con- 
 trary. And respecting language, I willingly, hold com- 
 munication in that spoken by my respected grandmother, 
 Hilda of Middleham, who died in odor of sanctity, lit- 260 
 tie short, if we may presume to say so, of her glorious 
 namesake, the blessed Saint Hilda * of Whitby, God be 
 gracious to her soul !" 
 
 1 Swarthy, dark. 
 
 8 A famous female saint, who long resided in the Abbey at Whit- 
 by, on the coast of Yorkshire. See Scott's Matmion, canto ii.
 
 CEDRIC THE SAXON, AND ROWENA. 59 
 
 The feast which was spread upon the board needed 
 no apologies from the lord of the mansion. Swine's 265 
 flesh, dressed in several modes, appeared on the lower 
 part of the board, as also that of fowls, deer, goats, and 
 hares, and various kinds of fish, together with huge 
 loaves and cakes of bread, and sundry confections made 
 of fruits and honey. The smaller sorts of wild-fowl, of 27 
 which there was abundance, were not served up in plat- 
 ters, but brought in upon small wooden spits or broaches, 
 and offered by the pages and domestics who bore them 
 to each guest in succession, who put from them such a 
 portion as he pleased. Beside each person of rank was 275 
 placed a goblet of silver ; the lower board was accom- 
 modated with large drinking-horns. 1 
 
 When the repast was about to commence, the major- 
 domo, or steward, suddenly raising his wand, said aloud, 
 "Forbear! Place for the Lady Rowena." A side-door 280 
 at the upper end of the hall now opened behind the 
 banquet -table, and Rowena, followed by four female 
 attendants, entered the apartment. Cedric, though sur- 
 prised, and perhaps not altogether agreeably so, at his 
 ward appearing in public on this occasion, hastened to 285 
 meet her, and to conduct her with respectful ceremony 
 to the elevated seat at his own right hand, appropriated 
 to the lady of the mansion. All stood up to receive 
 her; and, replying to their courtesy by a mute gesture 
 of salutation, she moved gracefully forward to assume 29 
 her place at the board. Brian de Bois-Guilbert kept 
 his eyes riveted on the Saxon beauty, more striking per- 
 haps to his imagination because differing widely from 
 that of the Eastern sultanas. 
 
 Formed in the best proportions of her sex, Rowena 2 9S 
 1 These cups were actually made of the horns of animals.
 
 60 CEDRIC THE SAXON, AND ROWENA. 
 
 was tall in stature, yet not so much so as to attract ob- 
 servation on account of superior height. Her complex- 
 ion was exquisitely fair, but the noble cast of her head 
 and features prevented the insipidity which sometimes 
 attaches to fair beauties. Her clear blue eye, which s 
 sate enshrined beneath a graceful eyebrow of brown, 
 sufficiently marked to give expression to the forehead, 
 seemed capable to kindle as well as melt, to command 
 as well as to beseech. If mildness were the more natural 
 expression of such a combination of features, it was plain 3s 
 that in the present instance the exercise of habitual su- 
 periority and the reception of general homage had 
 given to the Saxon lady a loftier character, which min- 
 gled with and qualified that bestowed by nature. Her 
 profuse hair, of a color betwixt brown and flaxen, was 31 
 arranged in a fanciful and graceful manner in numerous 
 ringlets, to form which art had probably aided nature. 
 These locks were braided with gems, and, being worn at 
 full length, intimated the noble birth and free-born con- 
 dition of the maiden. A golden chain, to which was 315 
 attached a small reliquary ' of the same metal, hung^ round 
 her neck. She wore bracelets on her arms, which were 
 bare. Her dress was an under-gown and kirtle'of pale 
 sea-green silk, over which hung a long, loose robe which 
 reached to the ground, having very wide sleeves, which 320 
 came down, however, very little below the elbow. This 
 robe was crimson, and manufactured out of the very 
 finest wool. A veil of silk, interwoven with gold, was 
 attached to the upper part of it, which could be, at the 
 wearer's pleasure, either drawn over the face and bosom 325 
 
 1 Casket for holding relics. 
 
 * Here apparently a jacket or upper garment. It often means a 
 skirt, or petticoat.
 
 CEDRIC THE SAXON, AND ROWENA. 6 1 
 
 after the Spanish fashion, or disposed as a sort of drapery 
 round the shoulders. 
 
 When Rowena perceived the Knight Templar's eyes 
 bent on her with an ardor that, compared with the dark 
 caverns under which they moved, gave them the effect of 33 
 lighted charcoal, she drew with dignity the veil around 
 her face, as an intimation that the determined freedom 
 of his glance was disagreeable. Cedric saw the motion 
 and its cause. " Sir Templar," said he, " the cheeks of 
 our Saxon maidens have seen too little of the sun to en- 335 
 able them to bear the fixed glance of a crusader." 
 
 " If I have offended," replied Sir Brian, " I crave your 
 pardon that is, I crave the Lady Rowena's pardon 
 for my humility will carry me no lower." 
 
 " The Lady Rowena," said the prior, " has punished 340 
 us all in chastising the boldness of my friend. Let me 
 hope she will be less cruel to the splendid train which 
 are to meet at the tournament."
 
 TOURNAMENT AT ASHBY-DE-LA-ZOUCHE. 
 
 THE scene was singularly romantic. On the verge of 
 a wood, which approached to within a mile of the town 
 of Ashby, was an extensive meadow of the finest and 
 most beautiful green turf, surrounded on one side by the 
 forest, and fringed on the other by straggling oak-trees, s 
 some of which had grown to an immense size. The 
 ground, as if fashioned on purpose for the martial dis- 
 play which was intended, sloped gradually down on all 
 sides to a level bottom, which was enclosed for the lists * 
 with strong palisades, forming a space of a quarter of a 10 
 mile in length, and about half as broad. The form of 
 the enclosure was an oblong square, save that the cor- 
 ners were considerably rounded off, in order to afford 
 more convenience for the spectators. The openings for 
 the entry of the combatants were at the northern and '5 
 southern extremities of the lists, accessible by strong 
 wooden gates, each wide enough to admit two horsemen 
 riding abreast. At each of these portals were stationed 
 two heralds, attended by six trumpets, as many pur- 
 suivants, and a strong body of men-at-arms for maintain- 20 
 ing order and ascertaining the quality of the knights 
 who proposed to engage in this martial game. 
 
 On a platform beyond the southern entrance, formed 
 by a natural elevation of the ground, were pitched five 
 1 The enclosure within which the knightly sports were performed.
 
 TOURNAMENT AT ASHBY-DE-LA-ZOUCHE. 63 
 
 magnificent pavilions, adorned with pennons of russet 25 
 and black, the chosen colors of the five knights-chal- 
 lengers. The cords of the tents were of the same color. 
 Before each pavilion was suspended the shield of the 
 knight by whom it was occupied, and beside it stood 
 his squire, -quaintly disguised as a salvage 1 or sylvan 30 
 man, or in some other fantastic dress, according to the 
 taste of his master and the character he was pleased to 
 assume during the game. The central pavilion, as the 
 place of honor, had been assigned to Brian de Bois-Guil- 
 bert, whose renown in all games of chivalry, no less than 35 
 his connection with the knights who had undertaken 
 this passage of arms, had occasioned him to be eagerly 
 received into the company of the challengers, and even 
 adopted as their chief and leader, though he had so re- 
 cently joined them. On one side of his tent were 4 
 pitched those of Reginald Front-de-Bceuf and Richard 
 de Malvoisin, and on the other was the pavilion of Hugh 
 de Grantmesnil, a noble baron in the vicinity, whose an- 
 cestor had been Lord High-Steward of England in the 
 time of the Conqueror and his son William Rufus. 45 
 Ralph de Vipont, a knight of St. John of Jerusalem, who 
 had some ancient possessions at a place called Heather, 
 near Ashby -de- la -Zouche, occupied the fifth pavilion. 
 From the entrance into the lists, a gently sloping pas- 
 sage, ten yards in breadth, led up to the platform on 50 
 which the tents were pitched. It was strongly secured 
 by a palisade on each side, as was the esplanade in front 
 of the pavilions, and the whole was guarded by men-at- 
 arms. 
 
 The northern access to the lists terminated in a simi-ss 
 lar entrance of thirty feet in breadth, at the extremity of 
 1 An old form of savage.
 
 64 TOURNAMENT AT ASHBY-DE-LA-ZOUCHE. 
 
 which was a large enclosed space for such knights as 
 might be disposed to enter the lists with the challengers, 
 behind which were placed tents containing refreshments 
 of every kind for their accommodation, with armorers, 60 
 farriers, and other attendants, in readiness to give their 
 services wherever they might be necessary. 
 
 The exterior of the lists was in part occupied by tem- 
 porary galleries, spread with tapestry and carpets, and 
 accommodated with cushions for the convenience ofes 
 those ladies and nobles who were expected to attend 
 the tournament. A narrow space betwixt these galleries 
 and the lists gave accommodation for yeomanry 1 and 
 spectators of a better degree than the mere vulgar, and 
 might be compared to the pit of a theatre. The pro- 70 
 miscuous multitude arranged themselves upon the large 
 banks of turf prepared for the purpose, which, aided by 
 the natural elevation of the ground, enabled them to over- 
 look the galleries, and obtain a fair view into the lists. 
 Besides the accommodation which these stations afforded, 75 
 many hundreds had perched themselves on the branches 
 of the trees which surrounded the meadow ; and even 
 the steeple of a country church at some distance was 
 crowded with spectators. 
 
 It only remains to notice respecting the general ar-8o 
 rangement, that one. gallery in the very centre of the 
 eastern side of the lists, and consequently exactly oppo- 
 site to the spot where the shock of the combat was to 
 take place, was raised higher than the others, more richly 
 decorated, and graced by a sort of throne and canopy, 8$ 
 on which the royal arms were emblazoned. Squires, 
 pages, and yeomen in rich liveries waited around this 
 
 1 The class ranking between gentlemen and laborers; small land- 
 ed proprietors.
 
 TOURNAMENT AT ASHBY-DE-LA-ZOUCHE. 6=? 
 
 J 
 
 place of honor, which was designed for Prince John and 
 his attendants. Opposite to this royal gallery was an- 
 other, elevated to the same height, on the western side 9 
 of the lists ; and more gayly if less sumptuously deco- 
 rated than that destined for the prince himself. A train 
 of pages and of young maidens, the most beautiful who 
 could be selected, gayly dressed in fancy habits of green 
 and pink, surrounded a throne decorated in the same 95 
 colors. Among pennons and flags bearing wounded 
 hearts, burning hearts, bleeding hearts, bows and quiv- 
 ers, and all the commonplace emblems of the triumphs 
 of Cupid, a blazoned inscription informed the specta- 
 tors that this seat of honor was designed for La Royne 100 
 de la Beaultk et des Amours? But who was to represent 
 the Queen of Beauty and of Love on the present occa- 
 sion no one was prepared to guess. 
 
 Meanwhile, spectators of every description thronged 
 forward to occupy their respective stations, and not with- 105 
 out many quarrels concerning those which they were 
 entitled to hold. Some of these were settled by the 
 men-at-arms with brief ceremony ; the shafts of their 
 battle-axes and pummels of their swords being readily 
 employed as arguments to convince the more refractory, no 
 Others, which involved the rival claims of more elevated 
 persons, were determined by the heralds, or by the two 
 marshals of the field, William de Wyvil and Stephen de 
 Martival, who, armed at all points, rode up and down 
 the lists to enforce and preserve good order among the "s 
 spectators. 
 
 Gradually the galleries became filled with knights and 
 
 1 This is old French for "The Queen of Beauty and Love." 
 In modern French Royne would be Rente, and Beaulte would be 
 Beautl. 
 
 5
 
 66 TOURNAMENT AT ASHBY-DE-LA-ZOUCHE. 
 
 nobles in their robes of peace, whose long and rich-tinted 
 mantles were contrasted with the gayer and more splen- 
 did habits of the ladies, who, in a greater proportion 120 
 than even the men themselves, thronged to witness a 
 sport which one would have thought too bloody and 
 dangerous to afford their sex much pleasure. The lower 
 and interior space was soon filled by substantial yeomen 
 and burghers, and such of the lesser gentry as, from 125 
 modesty, poverty, or dubious title, durst not assume any 
 higher place. It was of course among these that the 
 most frequent disputes for precedence occurred. 
 
 " Dog of an unbeliever," said an old man, whose thread- 
 bare tunic bore witness to his poverty, as his sword, and 13 
 dagger, and golden chain intimated his pretensions to 
 rank, "whelp of a she-wolf! darest thou press upon a 
 Christian, and a Norman gentleman of the blood of 
 Montdidier ?" 
 
 This rough expostulation was addressed to Isaac [the 135 
 Jew], who, richly and even magnificently dressed in a 
 gaberdine 1 ornamented with lace and lined with fur, 
 was endeavoring to make place in the foremost row 
 beneath the gallery for his daughter, the beautiful Re- 
 becca, who had joined him at Ashby, and who was now M 
 hanging on her father's arm, not a little terrified by the 
 popular displeasure which seemed generally excited by 
 her parent's presumption. But Isaac, though sufficiently 
 timid on other occasions, knew well that at present he 
 had nothing to fear. It was not in places of general re- MS 
 sort, or where their equals were assembled, that any ava- 
 ricious or malevolent noble durst offer him injury. At 
 such meetings the Jews were under the protection of 
 the general law ; and if that proved a weak assurance, 
 1 A loose frock.
 
 TOURNAMENT AT ASHBY-DE-LA-ZOUCHE. 67 
 
 it usually happened that there were among the persons 150 
 assembled some barons who, for their own interested 
 motives, were ready to act as their protectors. 
 
 In his joyous caracole * round the lists, the attention 
 of the prince was called by the commotion which had 
 attended the ambitious movement of Isaac towards the 155 
 higher places of the assembly. The quick eye of Prince 
 John instantly recognized the Jew, but was much more 
 agreeably attracted by the beautiful daughter of Zion, 
 who, terrified by the tumult, clung close to the arm of 
 her aged father. 160 
 
 The figure of Rebecca might indeed have compared 
 with the proudest beauties of England, even though it 
 had been judged by as shrewd a connoisseur 2 as Prince 
 John. Her form was exquisitely symmetrical, and was 
 shown to advantage by a sort of Eastern dress, which 165 
 she wore according to the fashion of the females of her 
 nation. Her turban of yellow silk suited well with the 
 darkness of her complexion. The brilliancy of her eyes, 
 the superb arch of her eyebrows, her well-formed aqui- 
 line nose, her teeth as white as pearl, and the pro- 7 
 fusion of her sable tresses, which, each arranged in its 
 own little spiral of twisted curls, fell down upon as 
 much of a lovely neck as a simarre 3 of the richest 
 Persian silk, exhibiting flowers in their natural colors 
 embossed upon a purple ground, permitted to be 175 
 visible all these constituted a combination of loveli- 
 ness which yielded not to the most beautiful of the 
 maidens who surrounded her. Of the golden and pearl- 
 
 1 A half-turn of a horseman to right or left. 
 * Critical judge. 
 
 8 A light and loose garment ; also spelt simar, simars, cimar, cy~ 
 mar, and chimmar.
 
 68 TOURNAMENT AT ASHBY-DE-LA-ZOUCHE. 
 
 studded clasps which closed her vest from the throat 
 to the waist, the three uppermost were left unfastened 180 
 on account of the heat. A diamond necklace, with 
 pendants of inestimable value, was by this means made 
 more conspicuous. The feather of an ostrich, fastened 
 in her turban by an agraffe 1 set with brilliants, was 
 another distinction of the beautiful Jewess, scoffed i8 5 
 and sneered at by proud dames who sat above her, 
 but secretly envied by those who affected to deride 
 them. 
 
 \The Jew and his daughter obtain places in front of the 
 lower ring, and Prince John gives signal to the heralds to 
 proclaim the laws of the Tournament^ 
 
 First, the five challengers were to undertake 3 all 
 comers. 19 
 
 Secondly, any knight proposing to combat, might, if 
 he pleased, select a special antagonist from among the 
 challengers by touching his shield. If he did so with 
 the reverse of his lance, the trial of skill was made with 
 what were called the arms of courtesy, that is, with lances 195 
 at whose extremity a piece of round flat board was fixed, 
 so that no danger was encountered save from the shock 
 of the horses and riders. But if the shield was touched 
 with the sharp end of the lance, the combat was under- 
 stood to be at outrance ;* that is, the knights were to fight 200 
 with sharp weapons, as in actual battle. 
 
 Thirdly, when the knights present had accomplished 
 their vow, by each of them breaking five lances, the 
 prince was to declare the victor in the first day's tour- 
 
 1 Clasp (French agrafe). 
 9 That is, to meet or encounter. 
 
 1 The French a entrance (often incorrectly given cl f oittraiicc\ or 
 " to the bitter end."
 
 TOURNAMENT AT ASHBY-DE-LA-ZOUCHE. 69 
 
 ney, who should receive as prize a war-horse of exquisite 205 
 beauty and matchless strength; and in addition to this 
 reward of valor, it was now declared that he should have 
 the peculiar honor of naming the Queen of Love and 
 Beauty. 
 
 The lists now presented a most splendid spectacle. ** 
 The sloping galleries were crowded with all that was 
 noble, great, wealth)', and beautiful in the northern and 
 midland parts of England ; and the contrast of the va- 
 rious dresses of these dignified spectators rendered the 
 view as gay as it was rich, while the interior and lower 215 
 space, filled with the substantial burgesses ' and yeomen 
 of merry England, formed, in their more plain attire, a 
 dark fringe or border around this circle of brilliant em- 
 broidery, relieving and, at the same time, setting off its 
 splendor. 220 
 
 The heralds finished their proclamation with their 
 usual cry of " Largesse, largesse, 2 gallant knights!" and 
 gold and silver pieces were showered on them from the 
 galleries, it being a high point of chivalry to exhibit 
 liberality towards those whom the age accounted at 225 
 once the secretaries and the historians of honor. The 
 bounty of the spectators was acknowledged by the cus- 
 tomary shouts of "Love of Ladies Death of Cham- 
 pions Honor to the Generous Glory to the Brave !" 
 to which the more humble spectators added their accla- 230 
 mations, and a numerous band of trumpeters the flour- 
 ish of their martial instruments. When these sounds 
 had ceased, the heralds withdrew from the lists in gay 
 and glittering procession, and none remained within 
 
 1 Citizens or freemen of a borough, or walled town. 
 * " The cry with which heralds acknowledged the gifts of the 
 knights " (Scott). It is the French form of our largess.
 
 7 TOURNAMENT AT ASHBY-DE-LA-ZOUCHE. 
 
 them save the marshals of the field, who, armed cap-a- 233 
 pie, 1 sat on horseback, motionless as statues, at the op- 
 posite ends of the lists. Meantime, the enclosed space 
 at the northern extremity of the lists, large as it was, 
 was now completely crowded with knights desirous to 
 prove their skill against the challengers, and, when 240 
 viewed from the galleries, presented the appearance of 
 a sea of waving plumage, intermixed with glistening hel- 
 mets and tall lances to the extremities of which were, 
 in many cases, attached small pennons of about a span's 
 breadth, which, fluttering in the air as the breeze caught 245 
 them, joined with the restless motion of the feathers to 
 add liveliness to the scene. 
 
 At length the barriers were opened, and five knights, 
 chosen by lot, advanced slowly into the area; a single 
 champion riding in front, and the other four following 250 
 in pairs. All were splendidly armed, and my Saxon au- 
 thority (in the Wardour Manuscript) records at great 
 length their devices, their colors, and the embroidery 
 of their horse-trappings. It is unnecessary to be par- 
 ticular on these subjects. To borrow lines from a con- 2 ss 
 temporary poet, 2 who has written but too little : 
 
 " The knights are dust 
 And their good swords are rust, 
 Their souls are with the saints, we trust." 
 
 Their escutcheons 3 have long mouldered from the walls 
 of their castles. Their castles themselves are but green 
 mounds and shattered ruins the place that once knew 
 them knows them no more nay, many a race since =&> 
 theirs has died out and been forgotten in the very land 
 
 1 From head to foot (old French). 
 
 a Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834). 
 
 8 Family shields, or coats-of-arms.
 
 TOURNAMENT AT ASHBY-DE-LA-ZOUCHE. 71 
 
 which they occupied with all the authority of feudal pro- 
 prietors and feudal lords. What then would it avail 
 the reader to know their names, or the evanescent sym- 
 bols of their martial rank ? 265 
 
 Now, however, no whit ' anticipating the oblivion which 
 awaited their names and feats, the champions advanced 
 through the lists, restraining their fiery steeds, and com- 
 pelling them to move slowly, while at the same time 
 they exhibited their paces, together with the grace and 27 
 dexterity of the riders. As the procession entered the 
 lists, the sound of a wild barbaric music was heard from 
 behind the tents of the challengers, where the perform- 
 ers were concealed. It was of Eastern origin, having 
 been brought from the Holy Land ; and the mixture of 275 
 the cymbals and bells seemed to bid welcome at once 
 and defiance to the knights as they advanced. With 
 the eyes of an immense concourse of spectators fixed 
 upon them, the five knights advanced up the platform 
 upon which the tents of the challengers stood, and there 280 
 separating themselves, each touched slightly, and with 
 the reverse of his lance, the shield of the antagonist to 
 whom he wished to oppose himself. The lower orders 
 of spectators in general nay, many of the higher class, 
 and it is even said several of the ladies, were rather dis- ^85 
 appointed at the champions choosing the arms of cour- 
 tesy. For the same sort of persons who, in the present 
 day, applaud most highly the deepest tragedies, were 
 then interested in a tournament exactly in proportion 
 to the danger incurred by the champions engaged. 290 
 
 Having intimated their more pacific purpose, the cham- 
 pions retreated to the extremity of the lists, where they 
 remained drawn up in a line ; while the challengers, sal- 
 1 Not at all, by no means.
 
 ?2 TOURNAMENT AT ASHBY-DE-LA-ZOUCHE. 
 
 lying each from his pavilion, mounted their horses, 
 and, headed by Brian de Bois - Guilbert, descended 2 9S 
 from the platform, and opposed themselves individ- 
 ually to the knights who had touched their respective 
 shields. 
 
 At the flourish of clarions and trumpets, they started 
 out against each other at full gallop ; and such was the 3 
 superior dexterity or good - fortune of the challengers 
 that those opposed to Bois-Guilbert, Malvoisin,and Front- 
 de-Boeuf, rolled on the ground. The antagonist of Grant- 
 mesnil, instead of bearing his lance-point fair against the 
 crest or the shield of his enemy, swerved so much from 3s 
 the direct line as to break the weapon athwart 1 the per- 
 son of his opponent a circumstance which was account- 
 ed more disgraceful than that of being actually unhorsed; 
 because the latter might happen from accident, whereas 
 the former evinced awkwardness and want of manage- 31 
 ment of the weapon and of the horse. The fifth knight 
 alone maintained the honor of his party, and parted fair- 
 ly with the Knight of St. John, both splintering their 
 lances without advantage on either side. 
 
 The shouts of the multitude, together with the accla-3'5 
 mations of the heralds and the clangor of the trumpets, 
 announced the triumph of the victors and the defeat of 
 the vanquished. The former retreated to their pavilions, 
 and the latter, gathering themselves up as they could, 
 withdrew from the lists in disgrace and dejection, to 32 
 agree with their victors concerning the redemption of 
 their arms and their horses, which, according to the laws 
 of the tournament, they had forfeited. The fifth of their 
 number alone tarried in the lists long enough to be greet- 
 ed by the applauses of the spectators, among whom he 325 
 1 Crosswise.
 
 TOURNAMENT AT ASHBY-DE-LA-ZOUCHE. 73 
 
 retreated, to the aggravation, doubtless, of his compan- 
 ions' mortification. 
 
 A second and a third party of knights took the field ; 
 and although they had various success, yet, upon the 
 whole, the advantage decidedly remained with the chal- 33 
 lenders, not one of whom lost his seat or swerved from 
 
 O 7 
 
 his charge misfortunes which befell one or two of their 
 antagonists in each encounter. The spirits, therefore, of 
 those opposed to them seemed to be considerably damped 
 by their continued success. Three knights only appeared 335 
 on the fourth entry, who, avoiding the shields of Bois- 
 Guilbert and Front-de-Bceuf, contented themselves with 
 touching those of the three other knights who had not 
 
 O *-3 
 
 altogether manifested the same strength and dexterity. 
 This politic selection did not alter the fortune of the 340 
 field ; the challengers were still successful : ofie of their 
 antagonists was overthrown, and both the others failed 
 in the attaint, that is, in striking the helmet and shield 
 of their antagonist firmly and strongly, with the lance 
 held in a direct line, so that the weapon might break 345 
 unless the champion was overthrown. 
 
 After this fourth encounter there was a considerable 
 pause ; nor did it appear that any one was very desir- 
 ous of renewing the contest. The spectators murmured 
 among themselves ; for, among the challengers, Malvoi- 35 
 sin and Front-de-Bceuf were unpopular from their char- 
 acters, and the others, except Grantmesnil, were disliked 
 as strangers and foreigners. 
 
 But none shared the general feeling of dissatisfaction 
 so keenly as Cedric the Saxon, who saw in each advan-sss 
 tage gained by the Norman challengers a repeated tri- 
 umph over the honor of England. His own education 
 had taught him no skill in the games of chivalry, although,
 
 74 
 
 TOURNAMENT AT ASHBY-DE-LA-ZOUCHE. 
 
 with the arms of his Saxon ancestors, he had manifested 
 himself on many occasions a brave and determined sol- 360 
 dier. 
 
 At length, as the Saracenic music of the challengers 
 concluded one of those long and high flourishes with 
 which they had broken the silence of the lists, it was an- 
 swered by a solitary trumpet, which breathed a note of 365 
 defiance from the northern extremity. All eyes were 
 turned to see the new champion which these sounds an- 
 nounced, and no sooner were the barriers opened than 
 he paced into the lists. As far as could be judged of a 
 man sheathed in armor, the new adventurer did not 37 
 greatly exceed the middle size, and seemed to be rather 
 slender than strongly made. His suit of armor was 
 formed of steel, richly inlaid 1 with gold, and the device 
 on his shueld was a young oak-tree pulled up by the 
 roots, with the Spanish word Desdichado, signifying Dis- 375 
 inherited. He was mounted on a gallant black horse, 
 and as he passed through the lists he gracefully saluted 
 the prince and the ladies by lowering his lance. The 
 dexterity with which he managed his steed, and some- 
 thing of youthful grace which he displayed in his manner, 380 
 won him the favor of the multitude, which some of the 
 lower classes expressed by calling out, "Touch Ralph 
 de Vipont's shield touch the Hospitaller's 2 shield; 
 he has the least sure seat, he is your cheapest bar- 
 gain." 385 
 
 The champion, moving onward amid these well-meant 
 hints, ascended the platform by the sloping alley which 
 
 1 Many fine specimens of armor thus inlaid with gold may be 
 seen in the Tower of London and other foreign collections. 
 
 * The Hospitallers were an order of knights who built a hospital 
 for pilgrims at Jerusalem in the year 1042.
 
 TOURNAMENT AT ASHBY-DE-LA ZOUCHE. 
 
 75 
 
 led to it from the lists, and to the astonishment of all 
 present, riding straight up to the central pavilion, struck 
 with the sharp end of his spear the shield of Brian de 39 
 Bois-Guilbert until it rung again. All stood astonished 
 at his presumption, but none more than the redoubted 
 knight whom he had thus defied to mortal combat, and 
 who, little expecting so rude a challenge, was standing 
 carelessly at the door of the pavilion. 39S 
 
 " Have you confessed yourself, brother," said the Tem- 
 plar, " and have you heard mass this morning, that you 
 peril your life so frankly ?" 
 
 " I am fitter to meet death than thou art," an- 
 swered the Disinherited Knight ; for by this name the 400 
 stranger had recorded himself in the books of the 
 tourney. 
 
 " Then take your place in the lists," said Bois-Guil- 
 bert, " and look your last upon the sun ; for this night 
 thou shall sleep in Paradise." 405 
 
 " Gramercy 1 for thy courtesy," replied the Disinher- 
 ited Knight ; " and to requite it, I advise thee to take a 
 fresh horse and a new lance, for by my honor you will 
 need both." 
 
 Having expressed himself thus confidently, he reined 41 
 his horse backward down the slope which he had as- 
 cended, and compelled him in the same manner to move 
 backward through the lists till he reached the northern 
 extremity, where he remained stationary, in expectation 
 of his antagonist. This feat of horsemanship again at-4'S 
 tracted the applause of the multitude. 
 
 However incensed at his adversary for the precautions 
 which he recommended, Brian de Bois-Guilbert did not 
 neglect his advice; for his honor was too nearly con- 
 1 Great thanks ; a corruption of the French grand merci.
 
 7 6 rc> Wff M4 ME NT A T A SHE Y-DE-LA -ZO UCHE. 
 
 cerned to permit his neglecting any means which might 42 
 insure victory over his presumptuous opponent. He 
 changed his horse for a proved and fresh one of great 
 strength and spirit. He chose a new and a tough spear, 
 lest the wood of the former might have been strained in 
 the previous encounters he had sustained. Lastly, he 425 
 laid aside his shield, which had received some little dam- 
 age, and received another from his squires. His first 
 had only borne the general device of his rider, represent- 
 ing two knights riding upon one horse, an emblem ex- 
 pressive of the original humility and poverty of the Tern- 43 
 plars, qualities which they had since exchanged for the 
 arrogance and wealth that finally occasioned their sup- 
 pression. Bois-Guilbert's new shield bore a raven in 
 full flight, holding in its claws a skull, and bearing the 
 motto, Gare le. Cor beau. 1 '435 
 
 When the two champions stood opposed to each 
 other at the two extremities of the lists, the public ex- 
 pectation was strained to the highest pitch. Few au- 
 gured the possibility that the encounter could terminate 
 well for the Disinherited Knight, yet his courage and 44 
 gallantry secured the general good wishes of the specta- 
 tors. 
 
 The trumpets had no sooner given the signal than the 
 champions vanished from their posts with the speed of 
 lightning, and closed in the centre of the lists with the 445 
 shock of a thunderbolt. The lances burst into shivers 
 up to the very grasp, and it seemed at the moment that 
 both knights had fallen, for the shock had made each 
 horse recoil backwards upon its haunches. The address 
 of the riders recovered their steeds by use of the bridle 45 
 and spur ; and having glared on each other for an in- 
 1 Beware the Raven (French).
 
 TOURNAMENT AT ASHBY-DE-LA-ZOUCHE. 77 
 
 stant with eyes which seemed to flash fire through the 
 bars of their visors, each made a demi-volte, 1 and, re- 
 tiring to the extremity of the lists, received a fresh lance 
 from the attendants. 455 
 
 A loud shout from the spectators, waving of scarfs 
 and handkerchiefs, and general acclamations, attested 
 the interest taken by the spectators in this encounter; 
 the most equal, as well as the best performed, which had 
 graced the day. But no sooner had the knights resumed 46 
 their station than the clamor of applause was hushed 
 into a silence so deep and so dead that it seemed the 
 multitude were afraid even to breathe. 
 
 A few minutes' pause having been allowed, that the 
 combatants and their horses might recover breath, Prince 465 
 John with his truncheon signed to the trumpets to sound 
 the onset. The champions a second time sprung from 
 their stations, and closed in the centre of the lists with 
 the same speed, the same dexterity, the same violence, 
 but not the same equal fortune as before. 47 
 
 In this second encounter the Templar aimed at the 
 centre of his antagonist's shield, and struck it so fair 
 and forcibly that his spear went to shivers, and the Dis- 
 inherited Knight reeled in his saddle. On the other 
 hand, that champion had in the beginning of his career 475 
 directed the point of his lance towards Bois-Guilbert's 
 shield, but, changing his aim almost in the moment of 
 encounter, he addressed it to the helmet, a mark more 
 difficult to hit, but which, if attained, rendered the shock 
 more irresistible. Fair and true he hit the Norman on 480 
 the visor, where his lance's point kept hold of the bars. 
 Yet, even at this disadvantage, the Templar sustained 
 
 1 A movement of the horse in which he raises his fore-feet in a 
 particular manner.
 
 78 TOURNAMENT AT ASHBY-DE-LA-ZOUCHE. 
 
 his high reputation ; and had not the girths of his saddle 
 burst, he might not have been unhorsed. As it chanced, 
 however, saddle, horse, and man rolled on the ground 485 
 under a cloud of dust. 
 
 To extricate himself from the stirrups and fallen steed 
 was to the Templar scarce the work of a moment ; and, 
 stung with madness, both at his disgrace and at the ac- 
 clamations with which it was hailed by the spectators, he 490 
 drew his sword and waved it in defiance of his conqueror. 
 The Disinherited Knight sprung from his steed, and also 
 unsheathed his sword. The marshals of the field, how- 
 ever, spurred their horses between them, and reminded 
 them that the laws of the tournament did not, on the 495 
 present occasion, permit this species of encounter. 
 
 "We shall meet again, I trust," said the Templar, 
 casting a resentful glance at his antagonist; "and where 
 there are none to separate us." 
 
 "If we do not," said the Disinherited Knight, "theso 
 fault shall not be mine. On foot or horseback, with 
 spear, with axe, or with sword, I am alike ready to en- 
 counter thee." 
 
 More and angrier words would have been exchanged, 
 but the marshals, crossing their lances betwixt them, s5 
 compelled them to separate. The Disinherited Knight 
 returned to his first station, and Bois-Guilbert to his tent, 
 where he remained for the rest of the day in an agony 
 of despair. 
 
 Without alighting from his horse, the conqueror called SIQ 
 for a bowl of wine, and opening the beaver, or lower 
 part of his helmet, announced that he quaffed it, "To all 
 true English hearts, and to the confusion of foreign ty- 
 rants." He then commanded his trumpet to sound a 
 defiance to the challengers, and desired a herald to an- 515
 
 TOURNAMENT AT ASHBY-DE-LA-ZOUCHE. 79 
 
 nounce to them that he should make no election, but was 
 willing to encounter them in the order in which they 
 pleased to advance against him. 
 
 The gigantic Front-de-Bceuf, armed in sable armor, 
 was the first who took the field. He bore on a white 520 
 shield a black bull's head, 1 half defaced by the numer- 
 ous encounters which he had undergone, and bearing 
 the arrogant motto, Cave, adswn? Over this champion 
 the Disinherited Knight obtained a slight but decisive 
 advantage. Both knights broke their lances fairly, but 525 
 Front-de-Bceuf, who lost a stirrup in the encounter, was 
 adjudged to have the disadvantage. 
 
 In the stranger's third encounter with Sir Philip Mal- 
 voisin he was equally successful, striking that baron 
 so forcibly on the casque that the laces of the helmet 53 
 broke, and Malvoisin, only saved from falling by be- 
 ing unhelmeted, was declared vanquished like his com- 
 panions. 
 
 In his fourth combat with De Grantmesnil, the Disin- 
 herited Knight showed as much courtesy as he had hith-sss 
 erto evinced courage and dexterity. De Grantmesnil's 
 horse, which was young and violent, reared and plunged 
 in the course of the career so as to disturb the rider's 
 aim, and the stranger, declining to take the advantage 
 which this accident afforded him, raised his lance, and 540 
 passing his antagonist without touching him, wheeled 
 his horse and rode back again to his own end of the 
 lists, offering his antagonist, by a herald, the chance of 
 a second encounter. This De Grantmesnil declined, 
 avowing himself vanquished as much by the courtesy as 545 
 by the address of his opponent. 
 
 1 As a symbol of his name, which means BulFs head. 
 3 Beware ; I am here (Latin).
 
 8o TOURNAMENT AT ASHBY-DE-LA-ZOUCHE. 
 
 Ralph de Vipont summed up the list of the stranger's 
 triumphs, being hurled to the ground with such force 
 that the blood gushed from his nose and his mouth, and 
 he was borne senseless from the lists. 55 
 
 The acclamations of thousands applauded the unani- 
 mous award of the prince and marshals, announcing that 
 day's honors to the Disinherited Knight. 
 
 The prince made a sign with his truncheon as the 
 knight passed him in his career around the lists. Thesss 
 knight turned towards the throne, and, sinking his lance 
 until the point was within a foot of the ground, remained 
 motionless, as if expecting John's commands ; while all 
 admired the sudden dexterity with which he instantly 
 reduced his fiery steed from a state of violent emotion 56 
 and high excitation to the stillness of an equestrian 
 statue. 
 
 "Sir Disinherited Knight," said Prince John, "since 
 that is the only title by which we can address you, it is 
 now your duty, as well as privilege, to name the fair lady 565 
 who, as Queen of Honor and of Love, is to preside over 
 next day's festival. If, as a stranger in our land, you 
 should require the aid of other judgment to guide your 
 own, we can only say that Alicia, the daughter of our 
 gallant knight Waldemar Fitzurse, has at our court been 57 
 long held the first in beauty as in place. Nevertheless, 
 it is your undoubted prerogative to confer on whom you 
 please this crown, by the delivery of which to the lady 
 of your choice, the election of to-morrow's Queen will be 
 formal and complete. Raise your lance." s/s 
 
 The knight obeyed; and Prince John placed upon 
 its point a coronet of green satin, having around its edge 
 a circlet of gold, the upper edge of which was relieved
 
 82 TO URNAMENT A T A SHE Y-DE-LA-ZO UCHE. 
 
 by arrow-points and hearts placed interchangeably, like 
 the strawberry leaves ' and balls upon a ducal crown. 580 
 
 The Disinherited Knight passed the gallery close to 
 that of the prince, in which the Lady Alicia was seated 
 in the full pride of triumphant beauty, and, pacing for- 
 wards as slowly as he had hitherto rode swiftly around 
 the lists, he seemed to exercise his right of examining 585 
 the numerous fair faces which adorned that splendid 
 circle. 
 
 It was worth while to see the different conduct of the 
 beauties who underwent this examination during the 
 time it was proceeding. Some blushed, some assumed 59 
 an air of pride and dignity, some looked straight for- 
 ward, and essayed to seem utterly unconscious of what 
 was going on, some drew back in alarm, which was per- 
 haps affected, some endeavored to forbear smiling, and 
 there were two or three who laughed outright. There 595 
 were also some who dropped their veils over their 
 charms ; but as the Wardour Manuscript says these 
 were fair ones of ten years' standing, it may be supposed 
 that, having had their full share of such vanities, they 
 were willing to withdraw their claim, in order to give a&< 
 fair chance to the rising beauties of the age. 
 
 At length the champion paused beneath the balcony 
 in which the Lady Rowena was placed, and the expecta- 
 tion of the spectators was excited to the utmost. 
 
 Whether from indecision or some other motive of hes-6os 
 itation, the champion of the day remained stationary for 
 more than a minute, while the eyes of the silent audience 
 were riveted upon his motions ; and then, gradually and 
 gracefully sinking the point of his lance, he deposited 
 
 1 The coronet of a duke has eight strawberry leaves in a circle 
 round the top.
 
 TOURNAMENT AT ASHBY-DE-LA-ZOUCHE. 83 
 
 the coronet which it supported at the feet of the fai 
 Rowena. The trumpets instantly' sounded, while the 
 heralds proclaimed the Lady Rowena the Queen of 
 Beauty and of Love.
 
 ARCHERY ROBIN HOOD. 
 
 [Robin Hood, the " bold Outlaw" is present at the Tournament, tinder 
 the name of Locksley the Yeoman."] 
 
 "THE yeomen and commons," said De Bracy, "must 
 not be dismissed discontented, for lack of their share in 
 the sports." f 
 
 " The day," said Waldemar, " is not yet very far 
 spent let the archers shoot a few rounds at the target, 5 
 and the prize be adjudged. This will be an abundant 
 fulfilment of the prince's promises, so far as this herd 
 of Saxon serfs is concerned." 
 
 " I thank thee, Waldemar," said the prince ; " thou 
 remindest me, too, that I have a debt to pay to that in- 10 
 solent peasant who yesterday insulted our person." 
 
 The sound of the trumpets soon recalled those spec- 
 tators who had already begun to leave the field ; and 
 proclamation was made that Prince John, suddenly 
 called by high and peremptory public duties, held him- 15 
 self obliged to discontinue the entertainments of to-mor- 
 row's festival. Nevertheless, that, unwilling so many 
 good yeomen should depart without a trial of skill, he 
 was pleased to appoint them, before leaving the ground, 
 presently to execute the competition of archery intended 20 
 for the morrow. To the best archer a prize was to be 
 awarded, being a bugle-horn, mounted with silver, and a 
 silken baldric 1 richly ornamented with a medallion of 
 Saint Hubert, the patron of sylvan sport. 
 1 Belt.
 
 ARCHERY ROBIN HOOD. 85 
 
 More than thirty yeomen at first presented themselves 25 
 as competitors, several of whom were rangers ' and un- 
 der-keepers in the royal forests of Needwood and Charn- 
 wood. When, however, the archers understood with 
 whom they were to be matched, upwards of twenty with- 
 drew themselves from the contest, unwilling to encounter 3 
 the dishonor of almost certain defeat. For in those 
 days the skill of each celebrated marksman was as well 
 known for many miles round him as the qualities of a 
 horse trained at Newmarket are familiar to those who 
 frequent that well-known meeting. 35 
 
 The diminished list of competitors for sylvan fame 
 still amounted to eight. Prince John stepped from his 
 royal seat to view more nearly the persons of these cho- 
 sen yeomen, several of whom wore the royal livery. 
 Having satisfied his curiosity by this investigation, he 4 
 looked for the object of his resentment, whom he ob- 
 served standing on the same spot, and with the same 
 composed countenance which he had exhibited upon 
 the preceding day. 
 
 "Fellow," said Prince John, "I guessed by thy inso-45 
 lent babble thou wert no true lover of the long-bow, and 
 I see thou darest not adventure thy skill among such 
 merrymen 3 as stand yonder." 
 
 " Under favor, sir," replied the yeoman, " I have an- 
 other reason for refraining to shoot, besides the fearing 5 
 discomfiture and disgrace." 
 
 " And what is thy other reason ?" said Prince John, 
 who, for some cause which perhaps he could not himself 
 
 1 Officers whose duty it was to walk through the forest, guard 
 against trespassers, etc. 
 
 2 Archers ; a term often applied to the companions of Robin 
 Hood.
 
 86 ARCHERY ROBIN HOOD. 
 
 have explained, felt a painful curiosity respecting this 
 individual. ss 
 
 " Because," replied the woodsman, " I know not if 
 these yeomen and I are used to shoot at the same 
 marks; and because, moreover, I know not how your 
 grace might relish the winning of a third prize by one 
 who has unwittingly fallen under your displeasure." 60 
 
 Prince John colored as he put the question, " What is 
 thy name, yeoman ?" 
 
 " Locksley," answered the yeoman. 
 
 " Then, Locksley," said Prince John, " thou shalt shoot 
 in thy turn, when these yeomen have displayed their 65 
 skill. If thou earnest the prize, I will add to it twenty 
 nobles ;' but if thou losest it, thou shalt be stript of thy 
 Lincoln green a and scourged out of the lists with bow- 
 strings, for a wordy and insolent braggart." 
 
 "And how if I refuse to shoot on such a wager?" said? 
 the yeoman. "Your grace's power, supported as it is 
 by so many men-at-arms, may indeed easily strip and 
 scourge me, but cannot compel me to bend or to draw 
 my bow." 
 
 " If thou refusest my fair proffer," said the prince, 75 
 " the provost of the lists shall cut thy bowstring, break 
 thy bow and arrows, and expel thee from the presence 
 as a faint-hearted craven." 
 
 " This is no fair chance you put on me, proud prince," 
 said the yeoman, "to compel me to peril myself against So 
 the best archers of Leicester and Staffordshire, under 
 the penalty of infamy if they should overshoot me. Nev- 
 ertheless, I will obey your pleasure." 
 
 1 A gold coin worth ten shillings. 
 
 a A kind of cloth made at Lincoln, much worn by hunts- 
 > men.
 
 ARCHERY ROBIN HOOD. %j 
 
 A target was placed at the upper end of the southern 
 avenue which led to the lists. The contending archers 85 
 took their station in turn at the bottom of the southern 
 access, the distance between that station and the mark 
 allowing full distance for what was called a shot at 
 rovers. The archers, having previously determined by 
 lot their order of precedence, were to shoot each three 90 
 shafts in succession. The sports were regulated by an 
 officer of inferior rank, termed the Provost of the Games; 
 for the high rank of the marshals of the lists would have 
 been held degraded had they condescended to superin- 
 tend the sports of the yeomanry. 95 
 
 One by one the archers, stepping forward, delivered 
 their shafts yeomanlike and bravely. Of twenty-four ar- 
 rows, shot in succession, ten were fixed in the target, and 
 the others ranged so near it, that, considering the dis- 
 tance of the mark, it was accounted good archery. Of 100 
 the ten shafts which hit the target, two within the inner 
 ring were shot by Hubert, a forester in the service of 
 Malvoisin, who was accordingly pronounced victorious. 
 
 " Now, Locksley," said Prince John to the bold yeo- 
 man, with a bitter smile, " wilt thou try conclusions with 103 
 Hubert, or wilt thou yield up bow, baldric, and quiver to 
 the provost of the sports ?" 
 
 " Sith ' it be no better," said Locksley, " I am content 
 to try my fortune, on condition that when I have shot 
 two shafts at yonder mark of Hubert's, he shall be bound no 
 to shoot one at that which I shall propose." 
 
 " That is but fair," answered Prince John, " and it 
 shall not be refused thee. If thou dost beat this brag- 
 gart, Hubert, I will fill the bugle with silver pennies for 
 thee." 5 
 
 1 Since ; an obsolete form.
 
 88 ARCHERY ROBIN HOOD. 
 
 "A man can do but his best," answered Hubert; 
 " but my grandsire drew a good long-bow at Hastings, 1 
 and I trust not to dishonor his memory." 
 
 The former target was now removed, and a fresh one 
 of the same size placed in its room. Hubert, who, as 120 
 victor in the first trial of skill, had the right to shoot 
 first, took his aim with great deliberation, long measur- 
 ing the distance with his eye, while he held in his hand 
 his bended bow with the arrow placed on the string. 
 At length he made a step forward, and raising the bow 125 
 at the full stretch of his left arm, till the centre or grasp- 
 ing-place was nigh level with his face, he drew his bow- 
 string to his ear. The arrow whistled through the air 
 and lighted within the inner ring of the target, but not 
 exactly in the centre. 130 
 
 "You have not allowed for the wind, Hubert," said 
 his antagonist, bending his bow, " or that had been a 
 better shot." 
 
 So saying, and without showing the least anxiety to 
 pause upon his aim, Locksley stept to the appointed sta- 135 
 tion, and shot his arrow as carelessly in appearance as 
 if he had not even looked at the mark. He was speak- 
 ing almost at the instant that the shaft left the bow- 
 string, yet it alighted in the target two inches nearer to 
 the white spot which marked the centre than that of '4 
 Hubert. 
 
 Hubert resumed his place, and not neglecting the 
 caution which he had received from his adversary, he 
 made the necessary allowance for a very light air of 
 wind which had just arisen, and shot so successfully that 145 
 his arrow alighted in the very centre of the target. 
 
 "A Hubert! a Hubert!" shouted the populace, more 
 1 The battle of Hastings.
 
 ARCHERY ROBIN HOOD. 89 
 
 interested in a known person than in a stranger. " In 
 the clout ! ' in the clout \ a Hubert forever !" 
 
 " Thou canst not mend that shot, Locksley," said the 15 
 prince, with an insulting smile. 
 
 "I will notch his shaft for him, however," replied 
 Locksley. 
 
 And letting fly his arrow with a little more precaution 
 than before, it lighted right upon that of his competitor, 155 
 which it split to shivers. The people who stood around 
 were so astonished at his .wonderful dexterity that they 
 could not even give vent to their surprise in their usual 
 clamor. "This must be the devil, and no man of flesh 
 and blood," whispered the yeomen to each other ; " such 160 
 archery was never seen since a bow was first bent in 
 Britain." 
 
 "And now," said Locksley, "I will crave your grace's 
 permission to plant such a mark as is used in the North 
 Country, and welcome every brave yeoman who shall 165 
 try a shot at it to win a smile from the bonny lass he 
 loves best." 
 
 He then turned to leave the lists. " Let your guards 
 attend me," he said, " if you please I go but to cut a 
 rod from the next willow bush." 170 
 
 Prince John made a signal that some attendants 
 should follow him in case of his escape ; but the cry of 
 "Shame! shame!" which burst from the multitude, in- 
 duced him to alter his ungenerous purpose. 
 
 Locksley returned almost instantly with a willow- 175 
 wand about six feet in length, perfectly straight, and 
 rather thicker than a man's thumb. He began to peel 
 this with great composure, observing at the same time, 
 that to ask a good woodsman to shoot at a target so 
 1 The white centre of the target, mentioned above.
 
 9 
 
 ARCHERY-ROBIN HOOD. 
 
 broad as had hitherto been used was to put shame upon 180 
 his skill. " For his own part," he said, " and in the land 
 where he was bred, men would as soon take for their 
 mark King Arthur's round - table, which held sixty 
 knights around it. A child of seven years old," he 
 said, " might hit yonder target with a headless shaft ; 185 
 but," added he, walking deliberately to the other end 
 of the lists, and sticking the willow-wand upright in the 
 ground, " he that hits that rod at five-score yards, I call 
 him an archer fit to bear botji bow and quiver before a 
 king, an it were the stout King Richard himself." 190 
 
 " My grandsire," said Hubert, " drew a good bow at 
 the battle of Hastings, and never shot at such a mark in 
 his life and neither will I. If this yeoman can cleave 
 that rod, I give him the bucklers ' or rather, I yield to 
 the devil that is in his jerkin, 2 and not to any human 195 
 skill ; a man can but do his best, and I will not shoot 
 where I am sure to miss. I might as well shoot at the 
 edge of our parson's whittle, 3 or at a wheat straw, or at 
 a sunbeam, as at a twinkling white streak which I can 
 hardly see." 200 
 
 " Cowardly dog !" said Prince John. " Sirrah Locks- 
 ley, do thou shoot ; but if thou hittest such a mark, I 
 will say thou art the first man ever did so. Howe'er it 
 be, thou shalt not crow over us with a mere show of 
 superior skill." 205 
 
 " I will do my best, as Hubert says," answered Locks- 
 ley ; "no man can do more." 
 
 So saying, he again bent his bow, but on the present 
 occasion looked with attention to his weapon, and 
 changed the string, which he thought was no longer 210 
 
 1 I give up the contest, own myseif beaten. 
 
 8 Short coat, or jacket. 3 Knife. See p. 42 above.
 
 ARCHERY ROBIN HOOD. 91 
 
 truly round, having been a little frayed by the two former 
 shots. He then took his aim with some deliberation, and 
 the multitude awaited the event in breathless silence. 
 The archer vindicated their opinion of his skill : his ar- 
 row split the willow rod against which it was aimed. 215 
 A jubilee of acclamations followed ; and even Prince 
 John, in admiration of Locksley's skill, lost for an in- 
 stant his dislike to his person. " These twenty nobles," 
 he said, "which, with the bugle, thou hast fairly won, 
 are thine own ; we will make them fifty if thou wilt take 220 
 livery and service with us as a yeoman of our body-guard, 
 and be near to our person. For never did so strong 
 a hand bend a bow, or so true an eye direct a shaft." 
 
 " Pardon me, noble prince," said Locksley ; " but 
 I have vowed that if ever I take service it should be 225 
 with your royal brother, King Richard. These twenty 
 nobles I leave to Hubert, who has this day drawn as 
 brave l a bow as his grandsire did at Hastings. Had 
 his modesty not refused the trial, he would have hit the 
 wand as well as I." 230 
 
 Hubert shook his head as he received with reluctance 
 the bounty of the stranger ; and Locksley, anxious to 
 escape further observation, mixed with the crowd, and 
 was seen no more. 2 
 
 1 Fine, excellent. 
 
 - Of the English archers in war Scott says elsewhere : " Of the 
 troops then employed, the bowmen of England were the most for- 
 midable at a distance. They were selected from the yeomen of the 
 country, men to whom the use of the weapon had been familiar from 
 childhood ; for the practice of archery was then encouraged by prizes 
 and public competition in every village, in order to keep up the skill 
 which the youth had acquired, and to extend the renown of England, 
 as producing the best bowmen whom the world had ever seen. 
 
 " The equipment and mode of exercise of these archers were cal-
 
 THE SIEGE OF TORQUILSTONE. 1 
 
 A MOMENT of peril is often also a moment of open- 
 hearted kindness and affection. We are thrown off our 
 guard by the general agitation of our feelings, and betray 
 
 culated to maintain their superiority. Their dress was light and 
 had few ligatures. Instead of the numerous strings which then at- 
 tached the jacket to the hose or trousers, one stout point, as it was 
 called, answered the necessary purpose, without impeding the mo- 
 tions of the wearer. In battle the sleeve of the right arm was left 
 open to increase the archer's agility. Each of them carried a bow 
 and twelve arrows, or, as they termed them, ' the lives of twelve 
 Scots,' at his girdle ; their shafts had a light forked head, and were 
 carefully adjusted so as to fly true to the aim. In using the weap- 
 on, the English archers observed a practice unknown on the Conti- 
 nent, drawing the bow-string, not to the breast, but to the ear, which 
 gave a far greater command of a strong bow and long shaft. Their 
 arrows were, accordingly, a cloth yard in length, and their bows car- 
 ried to a prodigious distance. Upon the battlements of a castle, or 
 walls of a town, the arrows fell with the rapidity of hail, and such 
 certainty of aim as scarcely permitted a defender to show himself; 
 nor were they less formidable when discharged against a hostile col- 
 umn, whether of cavalry or infantry, and whether in motion or sta- 
 tionary. The principal danger to which the archers were exposed 
 was that of a rapid and determined charge of cavalry. To provide 
 in some degree against this, each archer used to carry a wooden 
 stake, shod with iron at both ends, the planting of which before him 
 might in some measure afford a cover from horse. They had also 
 swords. The stakes, however, were not always in readiness, nor 
 were they always found effectual for the purpose, neither were their 
 swords an adequate protection against cavalry." 
 1 TJie castle of Front-de-Boeuf.
 
 THE, SIEGE OF TORQUILSTONE. 93 
 
 the intensity of those which, at more tranquil periods, 
 our prudence at least conceals, if it cannot altogether 5 
 suppress them. In rinding herself once more by the 
 side of Ivanhoe, Rebecca was astonished at the keen 
 sensation of pleasure which she experienced, even at a 
 time when all around them both was danger, if not de- 
 spair. As she felt his pulse and inquired after his 10 
 health, there was a softness in her touch and in her ac- 
 cents, implying a kinder interest than she would herself 
 have been pleased to have voluntarily expressed. Her 
 voice faltered and her hand trembled, and it was only 
 the cold question of Ivanhoe, " Is it you, gentle maid- 15 
 en?" which recalled her to herself, and reminded her 
 the sensations which she felt were not and could not be 
 mutual. A sigh escaped, but it was scarce audible; 
 and the questions which she asked the knight concern- 
 ing his state of health were put in the tone of calm 20 
 friendship. Ivanhoe answered her hastily that he was, 
 in point of health, as well, and better than he could 
 have expected " Thanks," he said, " dear Rebecca, to 
 thy helpful skill." 
 
 " He calls me dear Rebecca," said the maiden to her- 25 
 self, " but it is in the cold and careless tone which ill 
 suits the word. His war-horse his hunting hound, are 
 dearer to him than the despised Jewess !" 
 
 "My mind, gentle maiden," continued Ivanhoe, "is 
 more disturbed by anxiety than my body with pain. 3 
 From the speeches of these men who were my warders 
 just now, I learn that I am a prisoner, and, if I judge 
 aright of the loud, hoarse voice which even now de- 
 spatched them hence on some military duty, I am in the 
 castle of Front-de-Boeuf. If so, how will this end, or how 35 
 can I protect Rowena and my father?"
 
 g4 THE SIEGE OF TORQUILSTONE. 
 
 " He names not the Jew or Jewess," said Rebecca, in- 
 ternally ; "yet what is our portion in him, and how justly 
 am I punished by Heaven for letting my thoughts dwell 
 upon him !" She hastened, after this brief self-accusa- 4 
 tion, to give Ivanhoe what information she could ; but it 
 amounted only to this, that the Templar Bois-Guilbert 
 and the Baron Front-de-Boeuf were commanders within 
 the castle ; that it was beleaguered ' from without, but 
 by whom she knew not. 45 
 
 The noise within the castle, occasioned by the defen- 
 sive preparations, which had been considerable for some 
 time, now increased into tenfold bustle and clamor. 
 The heavy yet hasty step of the men-at-arms traversed 
 the battlements, or resounded on the narrow and wind- 50 
 ing passages and stairs which led to the various barti- 
 sans" and points of defence. The voices of the knights 
 were heard, animating their followers or directing means 
 of defence, while their commands were often drowned in 
 the clashing of armor or the clamorous shouts of those 55 
 whom they addressed. Tremendous as these sounds 
 were, and yet more terrible from the awful event which 
 they presaged, there was a sublimity mixed with them 
 which Rebecca's high-toned mind could feel even in 
 that moment of terror. Her eye kindled, although the fo 
 blood fled from her cheeks ; and there was a strong 
 mixture of fear, and of a thrilling sense of the sublime, 
 as she repeated, half whispering to herself, half speak- 
 ing to her companion, the sacred text, " The quiver rat- 
 tleth* the glittering spear and the shield the noise of 65 
 the captains and the shouting!" 
 
 But Ivanhoe was like the war-horse of that sublime 
 
 1 Besieged. 2 Small overhanging turrets. 
 
 3 See yob, xxxix. 23, 25.
 
 9 6 THE SIEGE OF TORQUILSTONE. 
 
 passage, glowing with impatience at his inactivity, and 
 with his ardent desire to mingle in the affray of which 
 these sounds were the introduction. " If I could but 70 
 drag myself," he said, " to yonder window, that I might 
 see how this brave game is like to go If I had but bow 
 to shoot a shaft, or battle-axe to strike were it but a 
 single blow for our deliverance! It is in vain it is in 
 vain I am alike nerveless and weaponless!" 75 
 
 "Fret not thyself, noble knight," answered Rebecca, 
 " the sounds have ceased of a sudden it may be they 
 join not battle." 
 
 "Thou knowest nought of it," said Wilfred, impa- 
 tiently ; " this dead pause only shows that the men are &> 
 at their posts on the walls, and expecting an instant at- 
 tack ; what we have heard was but the distant mutter- 
 ing of the storm it will burst anon in all its fury. 
 Could I but reach yonder window !" 
 
 "Thou wilt but injure thyself by the attempt, noble 85 
 knight," replied his attendant. Observing his extreme 
 solicitude, she firmly added, " I myself will stand at the 
 lattice, and describe to you as I can what passes without." 
 
 "You must not you shall not !" exclaimed Ivanhoe ; 
 " each lattice, each aperture, will be soon a mark for the 9 
 archers ; some random shaft " 
 
 " It shall be welcome !" murmured Rebecca, as with 
 firm pace she ascended two or three steps which led to 
 the window of which they spoke. 
 
 "Rebecca, dear Rebecca!" exclaimed Ivanhoe, " this 95 
 is no maiden's pastime do not expose thyself to wounds 
 and death, and render me forever miserable for having 
 given the occasion ; at least, cover thyself with yonder 
 ancient buckler, and show as little of your person at the 
 lattice as may be." 100
 
 THE SIEGE OF TORQUILSTONE. 97 
 
 Following with wonderful promptitude the directions 
 of Ivanhoe, and availing herself of the protection of the 
 large ancient shield, which she placed against the lower 
 part of the window, Rebecca, with tolerable security to 
 herself, could witness part of what was passing without 105 
 the castle, and report to Ivanhoe the preparations which 
 the assailants were making for the storm. Indeed, the 
 situation which she thus obtained was peculiarly favor- 
 able for this purpose, because, being placed on an angle 
 of the main building, Rebecca could not only see what no 
 passed beyond the precincts of the castle, but also com- 
 manded a view of the outwork likely to be the first ob- 
 ject of the meditated assault. It was an exterior forti- 
 fication of no great height or strength, intended to pro- 
 tect the postern-gate * through which Cedric had been us 
 recently dismissed by Front-de-Bceuf. The castle-moat 
 divided this species of barbican* from the rest of the 
 fortress, so that, in case of its being taken, it was easy to 
 cut off the communication with the main building by 
 withdrawing the temporary bridge. In the outwork was 120 
 a sallyport 3 corresponding to the postern of the castle, 
 and the whole was surrounded by a strong palisade. 
 Rebecca could observe, from the number of men placed 
 for the defence of this post, that the besieged entertained 
 apprehensions for its safety ; and from the mustering of 125 
 the assailants in a direction nearly opposite to the out- 
 work, it seemed no less plain that it had been selected 
 as a vulnerable point of attack. 
 
 These appearances she hastily communicated to Ivan- 
 hoe, and added, " The skirts of the wood seem lined 13 
 
 1 Small back-gate. * The defence of an outer gate of a castle. 
 3 A gate or underground passage with gates, used in making a 
 sudden sally from the castle. 
 
 7
 
 9 8 THE SIEGE OF TORQUILSTONE. 
 
 with archers, although only a few are advanced from its 
 dark shadow." 
 
 " Under what banner ?" asked Ivanhoe. 
 
 " Under no ensign of war which I can observe," an- 
 swered Rebecca. 'ss 
 
 "A singular novelty," muttered the knight, "to ad- 
 vance to storm such a castle without pennon or ban- 
 ner displayed! Seest thou who they be that act as 
 leaders ?" 
 
 " A knight, clad in sable armor, is the most conspicu- 140 
 ous," said the Jewess ; " he alone is armed from head 
 to heel, and seems to assume the direction of all around 
 him." 
 
 "What device does he bear on his shield?" replied 
 Ivanhoe. HS 
 
 " Something resembling a bar of iron, and a padlock 
 painted blue on the black shield." 
 
 " A fetterlock 1 and shacklebolt" azure," said Ivanhoe ; 
 " I know not who may bear the device, but well I ween 
 it might now be mine own. Canst thou not see the s<> 
 motto?" 
 
 " Scarce the device itself at this distance," replied 
 Rebecca ; " but when the sun glances fair upon his 
 shield, it shows as I tell you." 
 
 " Seem there no other leaders ?" exclaimed the anxious 'ss 
 inquirer. 
 
 "None of mark and distinction that I can behold 
 from this station," said Rebecca; "but doubtless the 
 other side of the castle is also assailed. They appear 
 even now preparing to advance God of Zion protect '60 
 us ! What a dreadful sight ! Those who advance first 
 
 1 Fetlock, or instrument put on a horse's leg to prevent running 
 away. a Shackle, or fetter.
 
 THE SIEGE OF TORQUILSTONE. 99 
 
 bear huge shields and defences made of plank ; the 
 others follow, bending their bows as they come on. 
 They raise their bows ! God of Moses, forgive the 
 creatures thou hast made !" 165 
 
 Her description was here suddenly interrupted by the 
 signal for assault, which was given by the blast of a shrill 
 bugle, and at once answered by a flourish of the Nor- 
 man trumpets from the battlements, which, mingled with 
 the deep and hollow clang of the nakers (a species of 170 
 kettle-drum), retorted in notes of defiance the challenge 
 of the enemy. The shouts of both parties augmented 
 the fearful din, the assailants crying, " Saint George for 
 merry England !" ' and the Normans answering them 
 with cries of "En avant" 1 De Bracy ! 'eau- scant ! '175 
 Beau-seant ! Front- de-Bczuf a la rescousse T according 
 to the war-cries of their different commanders. 
 
 It was not, however, by clamor that the contest was 
 to be decided, and the desperate efforts of the assailants 
 were met by an equally vigorous defence on the part of 180 
 the besieged. The archers, trained by their woodland 
 pastimes to the most effective use of the long-bow, shot, 
 to use the appropriate phrase of the time, so " wholiy 
 together " that no point at which a defender could show 
 the least part of his person escaped their cloth-yard i8 s 
 shafts. 3 By this heavy discharge, which continued as 
 thick and sharp as hail, while, notwithstanding, every 
 arrow had its individual aim, and flew by scores together 
 against each embrasure* and opening in the parapets, as 
 
 1 The English battle-cry. 
 
 4 Forward ! (French) ; as & la rescousse ! is To the rescue ! 
 s Arrows a yard long. See p. 92 (foot-note) above. 
 * An opening in a wall or parapet through which arrows or shot 
 are fired.
 
 loo THE SIEGE OF TORQUILSTONE. 
 
 well as at every window where a defender either occa- igo 
 sionally had post or might be suspected to be stationed, 
 by this sustained discharge two or three of the garrison 
 were slain and several others wounded. But, confi- 
 dent in their armor of proof, 1 and in the cover which 
 their situation afforded, the followers of Front-de-Bceuf 195 
 and his allies showed an obstinacy in defence propor- 
 tioned to the fury of the attack, and replied with the 
 discharge of their large cross-bows, as well as with their 
 long-bows, slings, and other missile weapons, to the close 
 and continued shower of arrows ; and, as the assailants 2 
 were necessarily but indifferently protected, did occa- 
 sionally more damage than they received at their hand. 
 The whizzing of shafts and of missiles on both sides was 
 only interruped by the shouts which arose when either 
 side inflicted or sustained some notable loss. 205 
 
 "And I must lie here like a bedridden -monk," ex- 
 claimed Ivanhoe, " while the game that gives me freedom 
 or death is played out by the hand of others ! Look 
 from the window once again, kind maiden, but beware 
 that you are not marked by the archers beneath. Look 210 
 out once more, and tell me if they yet advance to the 
 storm." 
 
 With patient courage, strengthened by the interval 
 which she had employed in mental devotion, Rebecca 
 again took post at the lattice, sheltering herself, however, 215 
 so as not to be visible from beneath. 
 
 " What dost thou see, Rebecca ?" again demanded the 
 wounded knight. 
 
 " Nothing but the cloud of arrows flying so thick as 
 to dazzle mine eyes and to hide the bowmen who shoot 2 * 
 them." 
 
 1 Impenetrability, or power of resistance in armor.
 
 THE SIEGE OF TORQUILSTONE: IQI 
 
 "That cannot endure," said Ivanhoe ;" if they press 
 not right on to carry the castle by pure force of arms, 
 the archery may avail but little against stone walls and 
 bulwarks. Look for the Knight of the Fetterlock, fair 225 
 Rebecca, and see how he bears himself; for as the 
 leader is, so will his followers be." 
 
 " 1 see him not," said Rebecca. 
 
 "Foul craven !" exclaimed Ivanhoe; "does he blench 
 from the helm when the wind blows highest?" 230 
 
 " He blenches not ! he blenches not !" said Rebecca, 
 " I see him now ; he leads a body of men close under 
 the outer barrier 1 of the barbican. They pull down the 
 piles and palisades ; they hew down the barriers with 
 axes. His high black plume floats abroad over the 235 
 throng, like a raven over the field of the slain. They 
 have made a breach in the barriers they rush in they 
 are thrust back! Front-de-Bceuf heads the defenders; 
 I see his gigantic form above the press. They throng 
 again to the breach, and the pass is disputed hand to 24 
 hand and man to man. God of Jacob ! it is the meet- 
 ing of two fierce tides the conflict of two oceans moved 
 by adverse winds !" 
 
 She turned her head from the lattice, as if unable 
 longer to endure a sight so terrible. 245 
 
 " Look forth again, Rebecca," said Ivanhoe, mistaking 
 the cause of her retiring; "the archery must in some de- 
 gree have ceased, since they are now fighting hand to 
 hand. Look again, there is now less danger." 
 
 1 " Every Gothic castle and city had, beyond the outer walls, a 
 fortification composed of palisades, called the barriers, which were 
 often the scene of severe skirmishes, as these must necessarily 
 be carried before the walls themselves could be approached " 
 (Scott).
 
 102 THE SIEGE OF TORQUILSTONE. 
 
 Rebecca again looked forth, and almost immediate- 250 
 ly exclaimed, " Holy prophets of the law ! Front-de- 
 Boeuf and the Black Knight fight hand to hand on the 
 breach, amid the roar of their followers, who watch the 
 progress of the strife Heaven strike with the cause of 
 the oppressed and of the captive !" She then uttered 255 
 a loud shriek, and exclaimed, " He is down ! he is 
 down !" 
 
 " Who is down?" cried Ivanhoe ; " for our dear Lady's 
 sake, tell me which has fallen ?" 
 
 " The Black Knight," answered Rebecca, faintly ; then 260 
 instantly again shouted with joyful eagerness " But no 
 but no ! the name of the Lord of Hosts be blessed ! 
 he is on fpot again, and fights as if there were twenty 
 men's strength in his single arm. His sword is broken 
 he snatches an axe from a yeoman he presses Front- 265 
 de-Bceuf with blow on blow. The giant stoops and tot- 
 ters like an oak under the steel of the woodman he falls 
 he falls !" 
 
 " Front-de-Bceuf ?" exclaimed Ivanhoe. 
 
 "Front-de-Bceuf !" answered the Jewess ;" his men 370 
 rush to the rescue, headed by the haughty Templar 
 their united force compels the champion to pause. 
 They drag Front-de-Bceuf within the walls." 
 
 " The assailants have won the barriers, have they not ?" 
 said Ivanhoe. 275 
 
 "They have they have!" exclaimed Rebecca, "and 
 they press the besieged hard upon the outer wall ; some 
 plant ladders, some swarm like bees, and endeavor to 
 ascend upon the shoulders of each other down go 
 stones, beams, and trunks of trees upon their heads, and 280 
 as fast as they bear the wounded to the rear, fresh men 
 supply their places in the assault Great God ! hast thou
 
 THE SIEGE OF TORQUILSTONE. 103 
 
 given men thine own image, that it should be thus cru- 
 elly defaced by the hands of their brethren !" 
 
 " Think not of that," said Ivanhoe ; " this is no time 285 
 for such thoughts Who yield ? who push their way ?" 
 
 " The ladders are thrown down," replied Rebecca, 
 shuddering ; " the soldiers lie grovelling under them like 
 crushed reptiles the besieged have the better." 
 
 " Saint George strike for us !" exclaimed the knight ; 29 
 " do the false yeomen give way ?" 
 
 "No!" exclaimed Rebecca, "they bear themselves 
 right yeomanly the Black Knight approaches the post- 
 ern with his huge axe the thundering blows which he 
 deals, you may hear them above all the din and shouts 295 
 of the battle Stones and beams are hailed down on the 
 bold champion he regards them no more than if they 
 were thistle-down or feathers !" 
 
 " By Saint John of Acre," ' said Ivanhoe, raising 
 himself joyfully on his couch, " methought there was 3 
 but one man in England that might do such a deed !" 
 
 "The postern-gate shakes," continued Rebecca; "it 
 crashes it is splintered by his blows they rush in the 
 outwork is won O God ! they hurl the defenders from 
 the battlements they throw them into the moat O 3s 
 men, if ye be indeed men, spare them that can resist 
 no longer !" 
 
 " The bridge the bridge which communicates with the 
 castle have they won that pass ?" exclaimed Ivanhoe. 
 
 " No," replied Rebecca, " the Templar has destroyed 31 
 the plank on which they crossed few of the defenders 
 escaped with him into the castle the shrieks and cries 
 
 1 The full name of this Syrian seaport is St. Jean d'Acre, or St. 
 John of Acre. In the time of the Crusaders it became their chief 
 landing-place and the seat of the Order of St. John.
 
 I0 4 THE SIEGE OF TORQUILSTONE. 
 
 which you hear tell the fate of the others Alas ! I see 
 it is still more difficult to look upon victory than upon 
 battle." 315 
 
 " What do they now, maiden ?" said Ivanhoe ; " look 
 forth yet again this is no time to faint at bloodshed." 
 
 " It is over for the time," answered Rebecca ; " our 
 friends strengthen themselves within the outwork which 
 they have mastered, and it affords them so good a shel- 320 
 ter from the foemen's shot that the garrison only be- 
 stow a few bolts on it from interval to interval, as if 
 rather to disquiet than effectually to injure them." 
 
 "Our friends," said Wilfred, "will surely not abandon 
 an enterprise so gloriously begun and so happily at- 3*5 
 tained O no ! I will put my faith .in the good knight 
 whose axe hath rent heart-of-oak and bars of iron. Sin- 
 gular," he again muttered to himself, "if there be two 
 who can do a deed of such derring-do! 1 a fetterlock 
 and a shacklebolt on a field -sable what may that 33 
 mean ? seest thou nought else, Rebecca, by which the 
 Black Knight may be distinguished ?" 
 
 " Nothing," said the Jewess ; " all about him is black 
 as the wing of the night-raven. Nothing can I spy that 
 can mark him farther but having once seen him put 335 
 forth his strength in battle, methinks I could know him 
 again among a thousand warriors. He rushes to the 
 fray as if he were summoned to a banquet. There is 
 more than mere strength, there seems as if the whole 
 soul and spirit of the champion were given to every blow 34 
 which he deals upon his enemies. God assoilzie" him 
 of the sin of bloodshed ! it is fearful, yet magnificent, 
 to behold how the arm and heart of one man can tri- 
 umph over hundreds." 
 
 1 Desperate courage. 3 Assoil, or absolve.
 
 THE SIEGE OF TORQUILSTONE. 105 
 
 " Rebecca," said Ivanhoe, " thou hast painted a hero; 345 
 surely they rest but to refresh their force, or to provide 
 the means for crossing the moat. Under such a leader 
 as thou hast spoken this knight to be, there are no craven 
 fears, no cold-blooded delays, no yielding up a gallant 
 emprize, 1 since the difficulties which render it arduous 35 
 render it also glorious. I swear by the honor of my 
 house I vow by the name of my bright lady-love, I 
 would endure ten years' captivity to fight one day by 
 that good knight's side in such a quarrel as this!" 
 
 " Alas !" said Rebecca, leaving her station at the win- ass 
 dow, and approaching the couch of the wounded knight, 
 " this impatient yearning after action this struggling 
 with and repining at your present weakness, will not fail 
 to injure your returning health. How couldst thou hope 
 to inflict wounds on others ere that be healed which thou 360 
 thyself hast received ?" 
 
 " Rebecca," he replied, " thou knowest not how impos- 
 sible it is for one trained to actions of chivalry to remain 
 passive as a priest or a woman when they are acting 
 deeds of honor around him. The love of battle is the 365 
 food upon which we live the dust of the melee is the 
 breath of our nostrils ! We live not we wish not to 
 live longer than while we are victorious and renowned. 
 Such, maiden, are the laws of chivalry to which we are 
 sworn, and to which we offer all that we hold dear." 37 
 
 " Alas !" said the fair Jewess, " and what is it, valiant 
 knight, save an offering of sacrifice to a demon of vain- 
 glory, and a passing through the fire to Moloch ? a What 
 remains to you as the prize of all the blood you have 
 spilled of all the travail and pain you have endured 375 
 
 1 Enterprise. 
 
 3 See Leviticus, xviii. 21, 2 Kings, xxiii. 10, etc.
 
 106 THE SIEGE OF TORQUILSTONE. 
 
 of all the tears which your deeds have caused, when 
 death hath broken the strong man's spear, and overtaken 
 the speed of his war-horse ?" 
 
 " What remains ?" cried Ivanhoe. " Glory, maiden, 
 glory ! which gilds our sepulchre and embalms our name." 380 
 
 "Glory?" continued Rebecca. "Alas! is the rusted 
 mail which hangs as a hatchment ] over the champion's 
 dim and mouldering tomb is the defaced sculpture of 
 the inscription which the ignorant monk can hardly read 
 to the inquiring pilgrim are these sufficient rewards forays 
 the sacrifice of every kindly affection, for a life spent 
 miserably that ye may make others miserable? Or is 
 there such virtue in the rude rhymes of a wandering 
 bard that domestic love, kindly affection, peace and 
 happiness, are so wildly bartered, to become the hero of 39 
 those ballads which vagabond minstrels sing to drunken 
 churls over their evening ale ?" 
 
 " By the soul of Hereward !" replied the knight impa- 
 tiently, " thou speakest, maiden, of thou knoWest not 
 what. Thou wouldst quench the pure light of chivalry, 395 
 which alone distinguishes the noble from the base, the 
 gentle knight from the churl and the savage ; which 
 rates our life far, far beneath the pitch of our honor, 
 raises us victorious over pain, toil, and suffering, and 
 teaches us to fear no evil but disgrace. Thou art no 4 
 Christian, Rebecca ; and to thee are unknown those high 
 feelings which swell the bosom of a noble maiden when 
 her lover hath done some deed of emprize which sanc- 
 tions his flame. Chivalry ! why, maiden, she is the 
 nurse of pure and high affection the stay of the op-4s 
 pressed, the redresser of grievances, the curb of the 
 power of the tyrant. Nobility were but an empty name 
 1 A funereal coat-of-arms.
 
 THE SIEGE OF TORQUILSTONE. 107 
 
 without her, and liberty finds the best protection in her 
 lance and her sword." 
 
 " I am, indeed," said Rebecca, " sprung from a race 41 
 whose courage was distinguished in the defence of their 
 own land, but who warred not, even while yet a nation, 
 save at the command of the Deity, or in defending their 
 country from oppression. The sound of the trumpet 
 wakes Judah no longer, and her despised children are 415 
 now but the unresisting victims of hostile and military 
 oppression. Well hast thou spoken, sir knight, until 
 the God of Jacob shall raise up for his chosen people a 
 second Gideon ' or a new Maccabeus, 2 it ill beseemeth 
 the Jewish damsel to speak of battle or of war." 42 
 
 The high-minded maiden concluded the argument in 
 a tone of sorrow, which deeply expressed her sense of 
 the degradation of her people, embittered perhaps by 
 the idea that Ivanhoe considered her as one not en- 
 titled to interfere in a case of honor, and incapable of 425 
 entertaining or expressing sentiments of honor and gen- 
 erosity. 
 
 " How little he knows this bosom," she said, " to im- 
 agine that cowardice or meanness of soul must needs be 
 its guests, because I have censured the fantastic chivalry 43 
 of the Nazarenes ! Would to Heaven that the shedding 
 of mine own blood, drop by drop, could redeem the cap- 
 tivity of Judah ! Nay, would to God it could avail to set 
 free my father, and this his benefactor, from the chains 
 of the oppressor ! The proud Christian should then see 435 
 whether the daughter of God's chosen people dared not 
 to die as bravely as the vainest Nazarene maiden, that 
 
 1 See Judges, vi.-viii. 
 
 2 Judah Maccabeus, who reconquered Jerusalem, purified the tem- 
 ple, and restored the ancient service (164 B.C.).
 
 I0 8 THE SIEGE OF TORQUILSTONE. 
 
 boasts her descent from some petty chieftain of the rude 
 and frozen north !" 
 
 She then looked towards the couch of the wounded 44 
 knight. 
 
 " He sleeps," she said ; " nature exhausted by suffer- 
 ance and the waste of spirits, his wearied frame embraces 
 the first moment of temporary relaxation to sink into 
 slumber. Alas! is it a crime that I should look upon 445 
 him, when it may be for the last time ? when yet but 
 a short space, and those fair features will be no longer 
 animated by the bold and buoyant spirit which forsakes 
 them not even in sleep ! when the nostril shall be dis- 
 tended, the mouth agape, the eyes fixed and bloodshot ; 45 
 and when the proud and noble knight may be trodden 
 on by the lowest caitiff of this accursed castle, yet stir 
 not when the heel is lifted up against him ! And my 
 father ! oh, my father ! evil is it with his daughter, when 
 his gray hairs are not remembered because of the golden 455 
 locks of youth ! What know I but that these evils are 
 the messengers of Jehovah's wrath to the unnatural child 
 who thinks of a stranger's captivity before a parent's ? 
 who forgets the desolation of Judah, and looks upon the 
 comeliness of a Gentile and a stranger? But I will tear 460 
 this folly from my heart, though every fibre bleed as I 
 rend it away !" 
 
 She wrapped herself closely in her veil, and sat down 
 at a distance from the couch of the wounded knight, with 
 her back turned towards it, fortifying, or endeavoring 10465 
 fortify her mind, not only against the impending evils 
 from without, but also against those treacherous feelings 
 which assailed her from within. 
 
 At this moment the besiegers caught sight of the red 
 flag upon the angle of the tower. The good yeoman 47
 
 THE SIEGE OF TORQUILSTONE. 109 
 
 Locksley was the first who was aware of it, as he was 
 hasting to the outwork, impatient to see the progress of 
 the assault. 
 
 " Saint George !" he cried, " Merry Saint George for 
 England ! To the charge, bold yeomen ! why leave ye 475 
 the good knight and noble Cedric to storm the pass 
 alone ? make in, 1 mad priest, show thou canst fight for 
 thy rosary, make in, brave yeomen ! the castle is ours, 
 we have friends within See yonder flag, it is the ap- 
 pointed signal Torquilstone is ours! Think of honor, 4 8o 
 think of spoil One effort, and the place is ours!" 
 
 With that he bent his good bow, and sent a shaft right 
 through the breast of one of the men-at-arms, who, under 
 De Bracy's direction, was loosening a fragment from 
 one of the battlements to precipitate on the heads of 485 
 Cedric and the Black Knight. A second soldier caught 
 from the hands of the dying man the iron crow, with 
 which he heaved at and had loosened the stone pinna- 
 cle, when, receiving an arrow through his head-piece, he 
 dropped from the battlements into the moat a dead man. 490 
 The men-at-arms were daunted, for no armor seemed 
 proof against the shot of this tremendous archer. 
 
 " Do you give ground, base knaves P said De Bracy ; 
 "Mount joye, Saint Denis /" Give me the lever." 
 
 And, snatching it up, he again assailed the loosened 495 
 pinnacle, which was of weight enough, if thrown down, 
 not only to have destroyed the remnant of the draw- 
 bridge, which sheltered the two foremost assailants, but 
 also to have sunk the rude float of planks over which 
 
 1 Advance; make being used as in make for a place, make tow- 
 ards it, etc. 
 
 3 The patron saint of France, whose name was the national war- 
 cry.
 
 HO THE SIEGE OF TORQUILSTONE. 
 
 they had crossed. All saw the danger, and the boldest, s 
 even the stout friar himself, avoided setting foot on the 
 raft. Thrice did Locksley bend his shaft against De 
 Bracy, and thrice did his arrow bound back from the 
 knight's armor of proof. He then began to call out, 
 " Comrades ! friends ! noble Cedric ! bear back, and let ss 
 the ruin fall." 
 
 His warning voice was unheard, for the din which the 
 knight himself occasioned by his strokes upon the post- 
 ern would have drowned twenty war-trumpets. The 
 faithful Gurth indeed sprung forward on the planked 51 
 bridge, to warn Cedric of his impending fate, or to share 
 it with him. But his warning would have come too late ; 
 the massive pinnacle already tottered, and De Bracy, 
 who still heaved at his task, would have accomplished 
 it, had not the voice of the Templar sounded close in 5*5 
 his ear. 
 
 " All is lost, De Bracy, the castle burns." 
 
 "Thou art mad to say so !" replied the knight. 
 
 "It is all in a light flame on the western side. I have 
 striven in vain to extinguish it." 520 
 
 With the stern coolness which formed the basis of his 
 character, Brian de Bois - Guilbert communicated this 
 hideous intelligence, which was not so calmly received 
 by his astonished comrade. 
 
 " Saints of Paradise !" said De Bracy ; " what is to be s*5 
 done? I vow to Saint Nicolas of Limoges 1 a candle- 
 stick of pure gold " 
 
 " Spare thy vow," said the Templar, " and mark me. 
 Lead thy men down, as if to a sally; throw the postern- 
 gate open there are but two men who occupy the 53 
 float; fling them into the moat and push across for the 
 1 An old city in France.
 
 THE SIEGE OF TORQUILSTONE. m 
 
 barbican. I will charge from the main gate, and attack 
 the barbican on the outside ; and if we can regain 
 that post, be assured we shall defend ourselves until 
 we are relieved, or at least till they grant us fair quar-sss 
 ter." 
 
 De Bracy hastily drew his men together, and rushed 
 down to the postern-gate, which he caused instantly 
 to be thrown open. But scarce was this done ere the 
 portentous strength of the Black Knight forced his 540 
 way inward in despite of De Bracy and his followers. 
 Two of the foremost instantly fell, and the rest gave 
 way, notwithstanding all their leader's efforts to stop 
 them. 
 
 ^Dogs !" said De Bracy, " will ye let two men win our 545 
 only pass for safety ? The castle burns behind us, vil- 
 lains ! let despair give you courage, or let me forward, 
 I will cope with this champion myself." 
 
 And well and chivalrous did De Bracy that day main- 
 tain the fame he had acquired in the civil wars of that sso 
 dreadful period. The vaulted passage to which the pos- 
 tern gave entrance, and in which these two redoubted 
 champions were now fighting hand to hand, rung with 
 the furious blows which they dealt each other, De Bracy 
 with his sword, the Black Knight with his ponderous axe. sss 
 At length the Norman received a blow which, though its 
 force was partly parried by his shield, for otherwise never 
 more would De Bracy have again moved limb, descended 
 yet with such violence on his crest that he measured his 
 length on the paved floor. 560 
 
 " Yield thee, De Bracy," said the Black Champion, 
 stooping over him, and holding against the bars of his 
 helmet the fatal poniard with which the knights de- 
 spatched their enemies and which was called the Dag-
 
 112 THE SIEGE OF TORQUILSTONE. 
 
 ger of Mercy " yield thee, Maurice de Bracy, rescue or 565 
 no rescue, or thou art but a dead man." 
 
 " I will not yield," replied De Bracy, faintly, " to an 
 unknown conqueror. Tell me thy name, or work thy 
 pleasure on me it shall never be said that Maurice de 
 Bracy was prisoner to a nameless churl." 57 
 
 The Black Knight whispered something into the ear 
 of the vanquished. 
 
 " I yield me to be true prisoner, rescue or no rescue," 
 answered the Norman, exchanging his tone of stern and 
 determined obstinacy for one of deep though sullen sub- 575 
 mission. 
 
 " Go to the barbican," said the victor, in a tone o: 
 authority, " and there wait my farther orders." 
 
 " Yet first let me say," said De Bracy, " what it im- 
 ports thee to know. Wilfred of Ivanhoe is wounded and 580 
 a prisoner, and will perish in the burning castle without 
 present help." 
 
 "Wilfred of Ivanhoe!" exclaimed the Black Knight, 
 " prisoner and perish ! The life of every man in the 
 castle shall answer it if a hair of his head be singed. 385 
 Show me his chamber !" 
 
 " Ascend yonder winding-stair," said De Bracy ; " it 
 leads to his apartment. Wilt thou not accept my guid- 
 ance ?" he added, in a submissive voice. 
 
 " No. To the barbican, and there wait my orders. 1 590 
 trust thee not, De Bracy." 
 
 During this combat and the brief conversation which 
 ensued, Cedric, at the head of a body of men, among 
 whom the friar was conspicuous, had pushed across the 
 bridge as soon as they saw the postern open, and drove 595 
 back the dispirited and despairing followers of De Bracy, 
 of whom some asked quarter, some offered vain resist-
 
 THE SIEGE OF TORQUILSTONE. II3 
 
 ance, and the greater part fled towards the courtyard. 
 De Bracy himself arose from the ground, and cast a sor- 
 rowful glance after his conqueror. " He trusts me not," 600 
 he repeated ; " but have I deserved his trust ?" He then 
 lifted his sword from the floor, took off his helmet in 
 token of submission, and, going to the barbican, gave up 
 his sword to Locksley, whom he met by the way. 
 
 As the fire augmented, symptoms of it became soon 605 
 apparent in the chamber where Ivanhoe was watched, 
 and tended by the Jewess Rebecca. He had been 
 awakened from his brief slumber by the noise of the 
 battle ; and his attendant, who had at his anxious de- 
 sire again placed herself at the window to watch andeio 
 report to him the fate of the attack, was for some time 
 prevented from observing either, by the increase of the 
 smouldering and stifling vapor. At length the volumes 
 of smoke which rolled into the apartment, the cries for 
 water which were heard even above the din of the 615 
 battle, made them sensible of the progress of this new 
 danger. 
 
 " The castle burns," said Rebecca ; " it burns ! What 
 can we do to save ourselves ?" 
 
 " Fly, Rebecca, and save thine own life," said Ivanhoe, 620 
 "for no human aid can avail me." 
 
 " I will not fly," answered Rebecca ; "we will be saved 
 or perish together. And yet, great God ! my father, my 
 father ! what will be his fate ?" 
 
 At this moment the door of the apartment flew open, 625 
 and the Templar presented himself a ghastly figure, for 
 his gilded armor was broken and bloody, and the plume 
 was partly shorn away, partly burned from his casque. 
 " I have found thee," said he to Rebecca ; " thou shalt 
 prove I will keep my word to share weal and woe withe 3 o
 
 II 4 THE SIEGE OP TORQUILSTONE. 
 
 thee. There is but one path to safety; I have cut my 
 way through fifty dangers to point it to thee up, and 
 instantly follow me." 
 
 " Alone," answered Rebecca, " I will not follow thee. 
 If thou wert born of woman if thou hast but a touch of 635 
 human charity in thee if thy heart be not hard as thy 
 breastplate save my aged father save this wounded 
 knight!" 
 
 " A knight," answered the Templar, with his charac- 
 teristic calmness, "a knight, Rebecca, must encounter 6 4 o 
 his fate, whether it meet him in the shape of sword or 
 flame and who recks how or where a Jew meets with 
 his ?" 
 
 " Savage warrior," said Rebecca, "rather will I perish 
 in the flames than accept safety from thee !" 645 
 
 "Thou shalt not choose, Rebecca once didst thou 
 foil me, but never mortal did so twice." 
 
 So saying, he seized on the terrified maiden, who 
 filled the air with her shrieks, and bore her out of the 
 room in his arms in spite of her cries, and without re- 650 
 garding the menaces and defiance which Ivanhoe thun- 
 dered against him. " Hound of the Temple stain to 
 thine order set free the damsel ! Traitor of Bois-Guil- 
 bert, it is Ivanhoe commands thee ! Villain, I will have 
 thy heart's blood !" 6 S5 
 
 "I had not found thee, Wilfred," said the Black 
 Knight, who at that instant entered the apartment, " but 
 for thy shouts." 
 
 " If thou be'st a true knight," said Wilfred, " think not 
 of me pursue yon ravisher save the Lady Rowena 6<*> 
 look to the noble Cedric !" 
 
 " In their turn," answered he of the fetterlock, " but 
 thine is first."
 
 THE SIEGE OF TORQUILSTONE. 115 
 
 And seizing upon Ivanhoe, he bore him off with as 
 much ease as the Templar had carried off Rebecca, 665 
 rushed with him to the postern, and having there de- 
 livered his burden to the care of two yeomen, he again 
 entered the castle to assist in the rescue of the other 
 prisoners. 
 
 One turret was now in bright flames, which flashed 67 
 out furiously from window and shot-hole. But in other 
 parts the great thickness of the walls and the vaulted 
 roofs of the apartments resisted the progress of the 
 flames, and there the rage of man still triumphed, as the 
 scarce more dreadful element held mastery elsewhere 5675 
 for the besiegers pursued the defenders of the castle from 
 chamber to chamber, and satiated in their blood the ven- 
 geance which had long animated them against the sol- 
 diers of the tyrant Front-de-Boeuf.
 
 THE TRIAL OF REBECCA THE JEWESS. 
 
 THE Grand-Master 1 commanded Rebecca to unveil 
 herself. Opening her lips for the first time, she replied 
 patiently, but with dignity, that it was not the wont of 
 the daughters of her people to uncover their faces when 
 alone in an assembly of strangers. The sweet tones of s 
 her voice, and the softness of her reply, impressed on the 
 audience a sentiment of pity and sympathy. But Beau- 
 manoir, in whose mind the suppression of each feeling 
 of humanity which could interfere with his imagined duty 
 was a virtue of itself, repeated his commands that his > 
 victim should be unveiled. The guards were about to 
 remove her veil accordingly, when she stood up before 
 the Grand-Master and said, " Nay, but for the love of 
 your own daughters Alas," she said, recollecting her- 
 self, " ye have no daughters ! yet for the remembrance 5 
 of your mothers for the love of your sisters, and of 
 female decency, let me not be thus handled in your pres- 
 ence ; it suits not a maiden to be disrobed by such rude 
 grooms. I will obey you," she added, with an expres- 
 sion of patient sorrow in her voice which had almost 2 
 melted the heart of Beaumanoir himself; "ye are elders 
 among your people, and at your command I will show 
 the features of an ill-fated maiden." 
 
 She withdrew her veil, and looked on them with a 
 countenance in which bashfulness contended with dig-^s 
 1 Of the Order of the Templars.
 
 THE TRIAL OF REBECCA THE JEWESS. 117 
 
 nity. Her exceeding beauty excited a murmur of sur- 
 prise, and the younger knights told each other with their 
 eyes, in silent correspondence, that Brian's best apology 
 was in the power of her real charms rather than of her 
 imaginary witchcraft. 3 
 
 The circumstances of their evidence would have been, 
 in modern days, divided into two classes those which 
 were immaterial, and those which were actually and 
 physically impossible. But both were, in those ignorant 
 and superstitious times, easily credited as proofs ofss 
 guilt. The first class set forth that Rebecca was heard 
 to mutter to herself in an unknown tongue that the 
 songs she sung by fits were of a strangely sweet sound, 
 which made the ears of the hearer tingle, and his heart 
 throb that she spoke at times to herself, and seemed to 4 
 look upward for a reply that her garments were of a 
 strange and mystic form, unlike those of women of good 
 repute that she had rings impressed with cabalistical l 
 devices, and that strange characters were broidered on 
 her veil. 45 
 
 All these circumstances, so natural and so trivial, 
 were gravely listened to as proofs, or, at least, as afford- 
 ing strong suspicions, that Rebecca had unlawful corre- 
 spondence with mystical powers. 
 
 Less than one half of this weighty evidence would s 
 have been sufficient to convict any old woman, poor and 
 ugly, even though she had not been a Jewess. United 
 with that fatal circumstance, the body of proof was too 
 weighty for Rebecca's youth, though combined with the 
 most exquisite beauty. ss 
 
 The Grand-Master had collected the suffrages, and 
 
 1 Pertaining to the cabala, or mysterious science of Jewish tradi- 
 tions.
 
 Ii8 THE TRIAL OF REBECCA THE JEWESS. 
 
 now in a solemn tone. demanded of Rebecca what she 
 had to say against the sentence of condemnation which 
 he was about to pronounce. 
 
 " To invoke your pity," said the lovely Jewess, with 60 
 a voice tremulous with emotion, " would, I am aware, be 
 as useless as I should hold it mean. To state that to 
 relieve the sick and wounded of another religion cannot 
 be displeasing to the acknowledged Founder of both our 
 faiths, were also unavailing; to plead that many things 65 
 which these men whom may Heaven pardon ! have 
 spoken against me are impossible, would avail me but 
 little, since you believe in their possibility; and still less 
 would it advantage me to explain that the peculiarities 
 of my dress, language, and manners are those of my peo- 7 
 pie I had wellnigh said of my country, but, alas! we 
 have no country. Nor will I even vindicate myself at 
 the expense of my oppressor, who stands there listening 
 to the fictions and surmises which seem to convert the 
 tyrant into the victim. God be judge between him and ?s 
 me ! but rather would I submit to ten such deaths as 
 your pleasure may denounce against me than listen to 
 the suit which that man of Belial ' has urged upon me 
 friendless, defenceless, and his prisoner. But he is of 
 your own faith, and his lightest affirmance would weigh So 
 down the most solemn protestations of the distressed 
 Jewess. I will not therefore return to himself the charge 
 brought against me ; but to himself yes, Brian de Bois- 
 Guilbert, to thyself I appeal, whether these accusations 
 are not false ? as monstrous and calumnious as they are 85 
 deadly?" 
 
 There was a pause ; all eyes turned to Brian de Bois- 
 Guilbert. He was silent. 
 > Wicked man. See I Samuel, xxv. 25, 2 Samuel, xvi. 7, xx. i, etc.
 
 THE TRIAL OF REBECCA THE JEWESS. ng 
 
 " Speak." she said, " if thou art a man if thou art a 
 Christian, speak ! I conjure thee, by the habit which 9 
 thou dost wear, by the name thou dost inherit by the 
 knighthood thou dost vaunt by the honor of thy moth- 
 er by the tomb and the bones of thy father I conjure 
 thee to say, are these -things true?" 
 
 "Answer her, brother," said the Grand-Master, "if 95 
 the Enemy ' with whom thou dost wrestle will give thee 
 power." 
 
 In fact, Bois-Guilbert seemed agitated by contending 
 passions which almost convulsed his features, and it was 
 with a constrained voice that at last he replied, looking 100 
 at Rebecca " The scroll ! the scroll !" 
 
 " Ay," said Beaumanoir, " this is indeed testimony ! 
 The victim of her witcheries can only name the fatal 
 scroll, the spell inscribed on which is doubtless the 
 cause of his silence." I0 s 
 
 But Rebecca put another interpretation on the words 
 extorted as it were from Bois-Guilbert, and glancing her 
 eye upon the slip of parchment which she continued to 
 hold in her hand, she read written thereupon in the 
 Arabian character, Demand a Champion ! * The mur- o 
 muring commentary which ran through the assembly at 
 the strange reply of Bois-Guilbert gave Rebecca leisure 
 to examine and instantly to destroy the scroll unob- 
 served. When the whisper had ceased, the Grand- 
 Master spoke. "5 
 
 " Rebecca, thou canst derive no benefit from the evi- 
 dence of this unhappy knight, for whom, as we well per- 
 
 ' The evil spirit under whose power he is supposed to have been 
 put by Rebecca. 
 
 1 A knight to fight in one's defence, according to the usage of 
 the time explained below.
 
 120 THE TRIAL OF REBECCA THE JEWESS. 
 
 ceive, the Enemy is yet too powerful. Hast thou aught 
 else to say ?" 
 
 " There is yet one chance of life left to me," said 120 
 Rebecca, " even by your own fierce laws. Life has 
 been miserable miserable, at least, of late but I will 
 not cast away the gift of God, while he affords me the 
 means of defending it. I deny this charge I maintain 
 my innocence, and I declare the falsehood of this ac- "5 
 cusation I challenge the privilege of trial by combat, 
 and will appear by my champion." 
 
 "And who, Rebecca," replied the Grand - Master, 
 " will lay lance in rest ' for a sorceress? who will be the 
 champion of a Jewess ?" 130 
 
 "God will raise me up a champion," said Rebecca 
 " it cannot be that in merry England the hospitable, 
 the generous, the free where so many are ready to 
 peril their lives for honor, there will not be found one 
 to fight for justice. But it is enough that I challenge '35 
 the trial by combat there lies my gage." 8 
 
 She took her embroidered glove from her hand, and 
 flung it down before the Grand-Master with an air of 
 mingled simplicity and dignity which excited universal 
 surprise and admiration. M 
 
 Even Lucas Beaumanoir himself was affected by the 
 mien and appearance of Rebecca. He was not origi- 
 nally a cruel or even a severe man ; but with passions 
 by nature cold, and with a high though mistaken sense 
 of duty, his heart had been gradually hardened by the 143 
 ascetic 3 life which he pursued, the supreme power which 
 he enjoyed, and the supposed necessity of subduing 
 
 1 That is, take up arms. See p. 31 above. 
 4 Token of challenge. 
 * Hermit, monastic. 
 
 I
 
 THE TRIAL OF REBECCA THE JEWESS. T2 i 
 
 infidelity and eradicating heresy which he conceived 
 peculiarly incumbent on him. His features relaxed in 
 their usual severity as he gazed upon the beautiful creat- 150 
 ure before him, alone, unfriended, and defending her- 
 self with so much spirit and courage. He crossed 
 himself twice, as doubting whence arose the unwonted 
 softening of a heart which on such occasions used to 
 resemble in hardness the steel of his sword. At length iss 
 he spoke. 
 
 " Damsel," he said, " if the pity I feel for thee arise 
 from any practice thine evil arts have made on me, great 
 is thy guilt. But I rather judge it the kinder feelings of 
 nature, which grieves that so goodly a form should be a 160 
 vessel of perdition. Repent, my daughter confess thy 
 witchcrafts turn thee from thine evil faith embrace 
 this holy emblem, 1 arftl all shall yet be well with thee 
 here and hereafter. In some sisterhood 2 of the strictest 
 order shalt thou have time for prayer and fitting pen- 165 
 ance, and that repentance not to be repented of. This 
 do and live what has the law of Moses done for thee 
 that thou shouldest die for it ?" 
 
 " It was the law of my fathers," said Rebecca ; " it 
 was delivered in thunders and in storms upon the moun- 170 
 tain of Sinai, in cloud and in fire. This, if ye are Chris- 
 tians, ye believe it is, you say, recalled ; but so my 
 teachers have not taught me." 
 
 "Let our chaplain," said Beaumanoir, "stand forth, 
 and tell this obstinate infidel " i 7S 
 
 " Forgive the interruption," said Rebecca, meekly ; " I 
 am a maiden, unskilled to dispute for my religion, but I 
 can die for it, if it be God's will. Let me pray your 
 answer to my demand of a champion." 
 
 1 The cross. 3 That is, of nuns.
 
 "122 THE TRIAL OF REBECCA THE JEWESS. 
 
 " Give me her glove," said Beaumanoir. " This is 180 
 indeed," he continued, as he looked at the flimsy texture 
 and slender fingers, " a slight and frail gage for a pur- 
 pose so deadly ! Seest thou, Rebecca, as this thin and 
 light glove of thine is to one of our heavy steel gauntlets, 
 so is thy cause to that of the Temple, for it is our Order 185 
 which thou hast defied." 
 
 "Cast my innocence into the scale," answered Re- 
 becca, "and the glove of silk shall outweigh the glove 
 of iron." 
 
 "Then thou dost persist in thy refusal to confess thy 190 
 guilt, and in that bold challenge which thou hast made ?" 
 
 " I do persist, noble sir," answered Rebecca. 
 
 " So be it then, in the name of Heaven," said the 
 Grand-Master; "and may God show the right!" 
 
 " It is our charge to thee, Brother," he continued, 195 
 addressing himself to Bois-Guilbert, " that thou do thy 
 battle manfully, nothing doubting that the good cause 
 shall triumph. And do thou, Rebecca, attend, that we 
 assign thee the third day from the present to find a 
 champion." 200 
 
 "That is but brief space," answered Rebecca, "for a 
 stranger, who is also of another faith, to find one who 
 will do battle, wagering life and honor for her cause, 
 against a knight who is called an approved soldier." 
 
 " We may not extend it," answered the Grand- 205 
 Master; "the field must be foughten 1 in our own pres- 
 ence, and divers weighty causes call us on the fourth 
 day from hence." 
 
 " God's will be done !" said Rebecca ; " I put my 
 trust in Him to whom an instant is as effectual to 210 
 save as a whole age." 
 
 1 An old participle of the \trbfight. 

 
 THE TRIAL OF REBECCA THE JEWESS. 123 
 
 " Thou hast spoken well, damsel," said the Grand- 
 Master ; " but well know we who can array himself like 
 an angel of light. 1 It remains but to name a fitting place 
 of combat, and, if it so hap, also of execution. Where is 215 
 the Preceptor of this house ?'' 
 
 Albert Malvoisin, still holding Rebecca's glove in his 
 hand, was speaking to Bois-Guilbert very earnestly, but 
 in a low voice. 
 
 " How !" said the Grand-Master, " will he not receive 220 
 the gage ?" 
 
 " He will he doth, most reverend father," said 
 Malvoisin, slipping the glove under his own mantle. 
 " And for the place of combat, I hold the fittest to be 
 the lists of Saint George belonging to this Preceptory, 225 
 and used by us for military exercise." 
 
 " It is well," said the Grand-Master. " Rebecca, in 
 those lists shalt thou produce thy champion ; and if thou 
 failest to do so, or if thy champion shall be discomfited 
 by the judgment of God, thou shalt then die the death 230 
 of a sorceress, according to doom." 
 
 1 See 2 Corinthians, xi. 14.
 
 VIEW OF HOLY SEPULCHRE, JERUSALEM. 

 
 NOTES.
 
 ABBREVIATIONS, except a few of the most familiar, have been avoided in the 
 Notes, as in other parts of the book. The references to act, scene, and line in 
 the quotations from Shakespeare are added for the convenience of the teacher or 
 parent, who may sometimes wish to refer to the context, and possibly to make 
 use of it in talking with the young people The line-numbers are those of the 
 " Globe " edition, which vary from those of my edition only in scenes that are 
 wholly or partly in prose. 
 
 The numbers appended to names of persons (as in the note on page 14, line 374, 
 for example) are the dates of their birth and death. It must not be supposed that 
 I would have these committed to memory as a part of the lesson, though it is well 
 for the pupil to know at about what time an eminent man lived or wrote. 
 
 The pronunciation of a few foreign words not included in the index is appended 
 here: 
 
 Asphaltites, as-fal-ti'-tez. 
 
 Beaulte", bo-ta. 
 
 Beaumanoir, bo-tnan-viahr ' 
 
 Bois-Guilbert, bwa.h-gil-ba.ir (hard g). 
 
 Brian, bre-ahtig' (or as in English). 
 
 de (e as in her). 
 
 des Amours, daz-ah-moor '. 
 
 Vron\.-&e-ft(K\if,frong-de-6e/ (e as in her). 
 
 Grantmesnil, grahng-ma-nif. 
 
 Hereward, her '-e -ward. 
 
 Hundebert, hun'-de-bert. 
 
 le (e as in her). 
 
 Malvoisin, mal-vwah-zang '. 
 
 Martival, mar-ti-vaf. 
 
 Montdidier, mong-did-1-a ' . 
 
 Montjoie Saint Denis, mdng-zhwah' sang de-tie' (first e as in her). 
 
 Rowena, ro-e'-na. 
 
 Royne, rain. 
 
 The French nasal soui,d, represented above by ng, is unknown in English, and 
 can be learned only from a person familiar with French. Certain other sounds 
 are indicated only approximately, as they differ somewhat from the English. 
 
 W. J. R.
 
 NOTES. 
 
 EARLY LIFE OF SCOTT. 
 
 Page 3j line 6l. Strength. In this use of strength for strong- 
 hold, we have an example of an " abstract " noun, or the name of a 
 quality, put for a " concrete " noun, or the name of something possess- 
 ing that quality. This is a form of that " figure of speech" which 
 writers on rhetoric call metonymy a word which means " change of 
 name" or "exchange of names." Shakespeare uses this same ab- 
 stract noun in another concrete sense in King Lear (i. I. 41), where 
 the old monarch says : 
 
 " Know that we have divided 
 In three our kingdom ; and 'tis our fast intent 
 To shake all cares and business from our age, 
 Conferring them on younger strengths ;" 
 
 that is, on those who are younger and stronger. We also find 
 strength used for an army (just as we now use force and forces an- 
 other example of the same figure) ; as in King John (ii. i. 388), where 
 "your united strengths" means your allied armies. 
 
 Line 65. Wassail -rout. Drinking-bout. The word wassail 
 originally meant the drinking of a health. It is from two old words 
 meaning literally "be hale," or healthy. Thence it came to be ap- 
 plied to a favorite beverage of our Saxon ancestors, made of ale 
 (sometimes wine) spiced and sweetened, with roasted crab-apples 
 floating in it. 
 
 Line 66. Methonght. It seemed to me. Of course it is equiva- 
 lent to " I thought ;" but the thought in it is not from our present 
 think. In old English there was an impersonal verb thinken, to 
 seem, as well as the personal verb thenken, to think. The former 
 has become obsolete except in this compound methinks, in which me 
 is the old dative case, equivalent to to me. In early writers we find 
 him thoughte (it seemed to him), hem thoughte (it seemed to them), 
 hir thotighte (it seemed to her), etc. Meseems and meseemed are 
 similar old forms, occasionally used by poets of our day ; as by 
 Mrs. E. B. Browning : " Meseemed I floated into a sudden light." 
 
 Line 75. Wallace wight. The gallant Sir William Wallace, a
 
 128 NOTES. 
 
 famous Scotch patriot of the latter part of the thirteenth century. 
 He was the most successful leader of his countrymen in the rebel- 
 lion against English rule. After routing the Earl of Surrey in a 
 great battle on the nth of September, 1297, and ravaging the north- 
 ern counties of England, he was elected governor of Scotland ; but 
 the next year King Edward I. brought a great army against him and 
 defeated him at Falkirk on the 22d of July. Little is known of his 
 after-life until 1305, when he was treacherously delivered up to Ed- 
 ward, and executed at London as a traitor, his plea that he had never 
 been a subject of the English king being unjustly disregarded. 
 
 Bruce the bold refers to Robert Bruce, the most heroic of the Scot- 
 tish kings. He was born March 21, 1274, and in 1296 swore alle- 
 giance to Edward I. ; but soon after he joined the Scottish leaders 
 in their rebellion against English authority. After varied fortunes 
 he was crowned king in 1306, and before 1309 had freed nearly the 
 whole of Scotland from foreign rule. In 1314 he defeated Edward 
 II. at the memorable battle of Bannockburn ; and later he gained 
 other victories over the English on their own soil as well as in Scot- 
 land. A truce between the kingdoms followed, but Edward III. 
 renewed hostilities in 1327. The Scots were again victorious, and 
 a treaty of peace, recognizing their national independence, was rati- 
 fied the next year. Bruce continued to reign until his death in June, 
 1329. He is the hero of Scott's poem of The Lord of the Isles. 
 
 Page 4r, line 91. Sprung of Scotland's gentler blood. Descended 
 from one of its better families; that is, the Scotts of Harden, who 
 traced their lineage to Walter Scott of Harden or " Wat of Har- 
 den " (see page 5), as he was generally called a renowned Border 
 freebooter of the time of Queen Mary. Scott was very proud of his 
 descent from this old marauding baron, and has immortalized him 
 in the 3d canto of The Lay of The Last Minstrel. 
 
 Line 94. Whose doom discording neighbours sought. To whose 
 judgment or arbitration his neighbors submitted their disputes, in- 
 stead of going to law. We have doom in this sense of judgment in 
 doomsday. See also p. 123, line 231. 
 
 Page 6, line 149. As You Like it. One of Shakespeare's most 
 delightful comedies. Orlando is the younger brother of Oliver, to 
 whose care he has been committed by their father's will, but who 
 proves disgracefully false to the charge laid upon him. In the open- 
 ing scene of the play, Orlando reproaches his brother for this neg- 
 lect of duty, and the "quarrel" is the result. 
 
 Line 162. Prestonpans. A small seaport about eight miles east 
 of Edinburgh. Salt-pans were erected here as early as the twelfth 
 century (whence the name), but the manufacture of salt was long
 
 EARLY LIFE OF SCOTT. 
 
 129 
 
 ago given up. On the 2ist of September, 1745, a famous battle was 
 fought in the vicinity between the Royalist and Jacobite forces, in 
 which the former were utterly routed. 
 
 Page 7 ? line 175. The quantity of lakes. It would be more cor- 
 rect to say " the great number of lakes," or " the many lakes ;" 
 quantity being properly used with reference to bulk or amount, not 
 with reference to number. The word is derived from a Latin word 
 meaning " how much ?" and it answers that question, not " how 
 many ?" We can say " a quantity of beef," but not " a quantity of 
 oxen." 
 
 Page 8, line 214. / had observed some auditors smile. With 
 observe the "prepositional infinitive" (to smile) is commonly used, 
 but the form used by Scott is not incorrect. See Matzner's English 
 Grammar, vol. iii. p. 13. 
 
 Page 9 ? line 239. Stout of hand and heart, though somewhat dull 
 of head. In hand . . . heart . , . head we have an example of 
 alliteration, or the use of successive words beginning with the same 
 letter or sound. The poet Charles Churchill (1731-1764) illustrates 
 it while referring to it in his "Apt alliteration's artful aid." In 
 Shakespeare's day it was carried to a ridiculous excess, and he bur- 
 lesques it in the Midsummer Night's Dream, i. 2. 33 : 
 
 " The raging rocks 
 And shivering shocks 
 Shall break the locks 
 
 Of prison gates ; 
 And Phibbus' car 
 Shall shine from far, 
 And make and mar 
 
 The foolish Fates;" 
 
 and more broadly in the same play, v. i. 147 : 
 
 " Whereat, with blade, with bloody blameful blade, 
 He bravely broached his boiling bloody breast." 
 
 Line 253. This was really gathering grapes from thistles. That 
 is, finding unexpected pleasure in what had been disagreeable. The 
 expression is "figurative," the real meaning being suggested by a 
 " figure," or implied resemblance. It is also an example ot a 
 " Scriptural allusion ;" for Scott evidently had in mind Matthew, 
 vii. 16 : " Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles ?" 
 
 Page 10, line 255. Gualterns. The Latin form for Walter. 
 Latin was doubtless used more or less in the intercourse between 
 teacher and pupil, as in English grammar-schools now. 
 
 Line 266. Climbed to the first form. Worked up into the first 
 class. The different grades or classes in English schools are called 
 
 9
 
 I 3 o 
 
 MOTES. 
 
 forms. In climbed the effort Walter had to make in gaining the first 
 form is indirectly compared to that which we make in climbing a 
 steep hill or some other difficult ascent. Such an indirect or implied 
 comparison is called a metaphor. The name is from the Greek, and 
 means a transferrcnce. Here, for example, the familiar idea of climb- 
 ing is transferred to a very different kind of exertion, which it never- 
 theless illustrates. 
 
 Page llj line 286. Galgacus. A Caledonian chieftain who 
 resisted the Romans in their invasion of his native land, but was 
 defeated by Agricola (84 A.D.). The "speech" referred to is given 
 by the Latin historian Tacitus. Being " spouted " in Latin, it was 
 understood by few in the audience. 
 
 Line 298. Profane. That is, not sacred, as we speak of profane 
 history in distinction from Biblical history. 
 
 Page 12, line 314. Ossiatt. A Celtic (or Keltic) warrior-poet, 
 said to have lived in the third century. Only a few fragments of 
 his verse have been preserved ; but about the year 1760 James Mac- 
 pherson, a Scotch schoolmaster, published two long poems, Fiiigal 
 and Temora, with some smaller pieces, which he affirmed to be 
 translations of compositions by Ossian that had been preserved by 
 oral tradition in the Highlands of Scotland. They were greatly ad- 
 mired at first, but their authenticity was soon disputed by critics, 
 and a long and bitter controversy was the result. It was finally set- 
 tled that the poems were not genuine, though they were to some 
 extent imitations or adaptations of Ossianic poetry ; and also that, 
 so far as they were genuine, they ought to be considered as Irish 
 rather than Scotch. 
 
 Line 315. Spenser. Edmund Spenser, one of the most eminent 
 poets of the Elizabethan or any other age. He was born in London 
 in the year 1553, and was educated at Cambridge. His Shepherd's 
 Kalendar was published in 1579, and six books of his chief work, 
 The Faerie Queene, appeared in 1590 and 1591. This poem was 
 never completed. Little is known of Spenser's personal history, but 
 nearly all that we do know is very sad. In 1580 he went to reside 
 in Ireland, as secretary to Lord Grey, the queen's deputy in that 
 country; and in 1586 his official services were rewarded by the 
 grant of the large estate of Kilcolman, near the city of Cork. In a 
 rebellion which occurred in 1598 his house was sacked and burned, 
 and his youngest child perished in the flames. The poet and his 
 wife barely escaped with their lives, and fled to England. On the 
 I5th of the next January he died in London, perhaps not literally 
 " for lack of bread," as we are told by Ben Jonson, a brother poet 
 who knew him well, but doubtless in poverty and wretchedness.
 
 EARLY LIFE OF SCOTT. i$i 
 
 He was buried at his own request near Chaucer in Westminster 
 Abbey. 
 
 Line 320. The allegory. An allegory is a narrative with a figura- 
 tive meaning, which we may or may not recognize in reading it. The 
 Pilgrim's Progress of John Bunyan is a familiar and famous exam- 
 ple. The pilgrimage described in it typifies the progress of the 
 Christian life. A child may read and enjoy the book without sus- 
 pecting its hidden meaning. So the Faerie Queene of Spenser is an 
 allegory, in which the characters represent virtues and vices ; but, 
 as a good critic has said, " the beauties of the poem may be felt 
 though the allegory is disregarded, and perhaps the best advice to 
 give to one reading Spenser for the first time is to let the allegory 
 alone altogether " just as the young Scott did. 
 
 Line 331. A Border-raid ballad. Like many that Scott collected 
 in his Border Minstrelsy (see p. 16). 
 
 Page 13, line 334. Was also a sealed book. That is, it was like 
 a book whose covers are fastened together and sealed, so that it 
 cannot be read. Here we have a metaphor, or implied comparison 
 (see on page 10, line 266 above) ; as in line 350 below : " I waded 
 into the stream ;" where the abundant reading at his command is 
 indirectly compared to a stream into which he is free to wade. But 
 when he goes on to say " like a blind man into a ford," the compar- 
 ison is direct, and is called a simile (a Latin word meaning like or sim- 
 ilar, which is derived from it). The simile is always introduced by 
 like, as, or some word expressing likeness or similarity ; while the 
 metaphor omits these words and merely implies that one thing is like 
 another. If Scott had written, " The philosophy of history was like 
 a sealed book to me," it would have been a simile instead of a 
 metaphor. 
 
 Line 356. Bishop Percy's Reliques of Ancient Poetry. A collec- 
 tion of old English ballads published by Thomas Percy (1728-1811), 
 Bishop of Dromore, in 1765. 
 
 Page 14, line 365. Banquet. Is this a metaphor or a simile ? 
 
 Line 374.- Richardson. Samuel Richardson (1689-1761), the au- 
 thor of Pamela, Clarissa Harlowe, and Sir Charles Grandison, nov- 
 els famous in their day, but seldom read now. Henry Mackenzie 
 (1745-1831) was a Scotch novelist and essayist. His most noted 
 book was The Man of Feeling. Henry Fielding (1707-1754), author 
 of Tom Jones, etc., and Tobias George Smollett (1721-1771), author 
 of Roderick Random, Peregrine Pickle, etc., are reckoned among the 
 greatest English writers of fiction, though their works are not suited 
 to the popular taste of our day. 
 
 Line 381. Kelso. This town is on the Tweed, only a few miles
 
 132 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 from Sandy- Knowe, where Scott's grandfather lived. It has a 
 ruined abbey, built in the twelfth century ; and just across the river 
 are the remains of Roxburghe Castle, which was for a time the 
 chief residence of the kings of Scotland. Being so near to the Eng- 
 lish border, Kelso suffered much during the wars between the two 
 countries. James II. of Scotland was killed by the bursting of a 
 cannon at the siege of Roxburghe Castle in 1460. The abbey at 
 Kelso had been several times burnt by the English before they re- 
 duced it to its present ruinous state in 1545. 
 
 Page 15, line 418. So narrow a foundation to build upon, 
 What figure have we here ? 
 
 LATER LIFE OF SCOTT. 
 
 Page 1 7) line 53. Fortune seemed to pour her whole cornucopia 
 of wealth, etc. This is an example of the figure called personifica- 
 tion, by which lifeless things are represented as living. Fortune 
 here becomes a powerful goddess, as the Greeks and Romans de- 
 scribed her, with the cornucopia, or horn of plenty, as the symbol of 
 her good gifts to men. Personification is more frequent in poetry 
 than in prose, but some forms of the latter furnish many examples 
 of it. 
 
 Page 18, line 60. As an exhaust/ess mine. What is the figure 
 here? 
 
 Page 19, line 91. Gentle as a child. Is the figure here the 
 same as in the mists of the next line? 
 
 Line 103. Dryburgh Abbey. The cut on page 20 gives an idea 
 of the present appearance of this ruin, which is near the Tweed 
 and about seven miles from Abbotsford. The abbey was founded 
 about the year 1150, but was burnt by the soldiers of Edward II. in 
 their retreat from Scotland in 1322. Having been rebuilt, it was 
 again destroyed by the English in 1544. Whether it was again re- 
 built is doubtful. St. Alary 's Aisle is a part of the " north transept " 
 of the abbey church.* Scott's tomb is inside the right-hand arch 
 seen in the cut. 
 
 * The church, like most Gothic churches, was built in the form of a Latin cross, 
 or a cross of which one arm is longer than the others. In such a cruciform (cross' 
 shaped) church, the long arm is called the nave, the short arm at the top (or in a 
 line with the nave) is the choir, and the two transverse arms are the transepts. 
 As the nave and choir were built in a line from west to east (the main front of the 
 church being at the western end of the nave), the transepts are to the north and 
 south.
 
 THE CRUSADERS. 
 
 THE CRUSADERS. 
 
 Page 21, line 13. The Holy Septdchre. The Church of the 
 Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem is generally believed to be on the site 
 of the tomb of Christ, though some learned men have held a differ- 
 ent opinion. 
 
 Line 18. The Grecian or Eastern Empire. One of the parts into 
 which the Roman Empire was divided a little before the end of the 
 third century. 
 
 Page 22, line 30. The Saracens. The Arabian followers of 
 Mahomet and founders of an empire which, fifty years after his death, 
 extended " from the Indus in the east and the Caucasus in the north, 
 to the coasts of the Atlantic in the west." 
 
 Line 37. Mahomet. Mohammed, often called Mahomet, the 
 founder of the religion of Islam, was born at Mecca, 570 A.D. In 
 his fortieth year he professed to receive the first of the divine reve- 
 lations on which his claims as a prophet were founded. Before his 
 death in 632, he had firmly established the faith in which more than 
 130 millions of people are now believers. 
 
 Page 24, line 83. Clermont. There are at least five towns of 
 this name in France. The one here meant is known as Clermont- 
 Ferrand. It is in the central part of the country, two hundred and 
 sixty miles south of Paris. Several ecclesiastical councils were held 
 here, the most noteworthy being that of 1095, at which Pope Urban 
 II. was present in person, with many of his cardinals, thirteen arch- 
 bishops, and two hundred and five bishops. 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN KNIGHT AND THE SARACEN. 
 
 Page 26, line z. A knight of the Red-cross. That is, wearing 
 the red cross of St. George, the national emblem of England. The 
 first book of Spenser's Faerie Queene is devoted to the " legend of 
 the Knight of the Red-cross," who typifies Holiness in the allegory 
 (see on page 12, line 320, above). The 2d stanza says of him: 
 
 " And on his brest a bloodie Crosse he bore, 
 The deare remembrance of his dying Lord, 
 For whose sweete sake that glorious badge he wore, 
 And dead, as living, ever him ador'd :
 
 134 NOTES. 
 
 Upon his shield the like was also scor'd, 
 
 For soveraine hope which in his helpe he had." 
 
 Line 6. Lake Asphaltite s. This is the old Latin name of the sea 
 (Lacus Asphaltites), now seldom used. 
 
 Page 27, line 35. And even the very air was entirely devoid of 
 its ordinary winged inhabitants, etc. This has often been asserted 
 of the Dead Sea ; but, according to good authorities, birds have 
 been seen flying over the lake, and even resting on its surface. Here 
 and there upon its banks are thickets of tamarisk and oleander which 
 are the home of many singing-birds. Except on the east side, how- 
 ever, where there are ravines with fresh-water springs, the shores are 
 destitute of vegetation and indescribably dreary. 
 
 Line 53- A sufficient weight of armor. The ancient armor was 
 heavy and cumbrous, but training and experience made the wearing 
 of it easier than we might think possible. Measurements of the 
 many specimens that have been preserved prove that the men who 
 wore it were not of larger frame than the average soldier of to-day. 
 
 Page 28, line 75. The arms of the owner. Heraldry, or " the 
 science of armorial bearings," had its rise in the latter part of the 
 twelfth century. Some devices of the kind were put upon the shields 
 used by knights in the third crusade (1189) ; and early in the next 
 century these coats-of-arms (as they were called from being embroid- 
 ered on the surcoat, as here) came to be transmitted from father to 
 son. By slow degrees the complicated system of modern heraldry 
 grew up. For an account of this, see any encyclopaedia under Her- 
 aldry. The technical terms of the science (like couchant in the next 
 line) are explained in any large dictionary. 
 
 Page 29, line I. Crest. The plume, tuft, or other ornament on 
 the top of the helmet. It came to be an important feature in coats- 
 of-arms. 
 
 Line 95. The fabulous unicorn. The creature which is associ- 
 ated with the lion in the arms of England. A somewhat similar one- 
 horned animal is described by old Greek and Roman writers as 
 native to India. 
 
 Pslge 30, line 117. The renmvned Norman line. Normandy got 
 its name from the Northmen Norwegians or Scandinavians who, 
 under the leadership of Rolf or Rollo, conquered that part of France 
 in the early part of the tenth century. They were a rude race, but 
 soon adopted the more civilized form of life which they found in their 
 new home, without losing their Northern vigor and prowess. In 
 1066, under William the Conqueror, they became the rulers of Eng- 
 land. Of their doings there we shall learn a good deal in other parts 
 of this book.
 
 THE CHRISTIAN KNIGHT AND THE SARACEN. 135 
 
 Line 119. Adventurous swords. Here we have an example of 
 a very common figure or form of speech the transferring of an 
 adjective from the noun which it properly describes to another as- 
 sociated or connected with the former. The swords are not adven- 
 turous or daring, but the men who wield them. In the same way 
 we may speak of "coward swords" instead of cowardly soldiers. 
 Gray, in his well-known Elegy, says : " The ploughman homeward 
 plods his weary way." Any child can tell to which noun the weary 
 really belongs. Compare " a sick-bed" in line 137 below. 
 
 Line 143. Iron frame. Here we have a metaphor in an adjec- 
 tive. The strong frame of the knight is indirectly compared to 
 iron. 
 
 Page 31, line 166. As if borne on the wings of an eagle. What 
 is the figure here ? Compare page 33, line 205: " like a hawk," etc. 
 
 Page 32, line 186. At full career. At full speed. Compare 
 The Lay of the Last Minstrel, iv. 566 : " On foaming steed in full 
 career." 
 
 Page 35, line 274. By the cross of my sword. As the handle of 
 the sword was formed like a cross (see p. 28, line 63, above), swear- 
 ing by the sword was very common. In Shakespeare's Winter's 
 Tale (ii. 3. 168) Leontes says to Antigonus : 
 
 " Swear by this sword 
 Thou wilt perform my bidding ;" 
 
 and again in the same play (iii. 2. 125), an officer says : 
 
 " You here shall swear upon this sword of justice 
 That you, Cleomenes and Dion, have 
 Been both at Delphos," etc. 
 
 Line 280. And now wend we, etc. And now let us go, etc. 
 Wend we is the first person imperative, a form not recognized in 
 most of the elementary grammars. 
 
 Page 36, line 310. A station. That is, a halting-place for trav- 
 ellers in their journey across the desert. 
 
 Line 320. Velvet verdure. For the figure in the adjective, com- 
 pare page 30, line 143, above. See another example of it on page 
 2, line 49, above.
 
 136 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 SHERWOOD FOREST IN THE REIGN OF RICHARD 
 THE FIRST. 
 
 Page 37, line 2. The river Don. In the southern part of York- 
 shire, flowing into the Humber. Sheffield, Doncaster, and Rother- 
 ham are all on this river ; and the mansions referred to are in the 
 same neighborhood. 
 
 Line 8. The fabulous Dragon of Wantley. A monster celebrated 
 in several old ballads (in Percy's Reliques, Scott's Border Minstrel- 
 sy, etc.), which had its haunt in a cave in Wharncliffe Crags, still 
 known as the " Dragon's Den." The creature was finally destroyed 
 by the valiant More of More Hall, an old house yet to be seen on 
 the banks of the Don. 
 
 Line 10. The Civil Wars of the Roses. The civil contest which 
 raged in England from 1455 to 1485 between the factions supporting 
 the rival claims of the houses of York and Lancaster to the throne. 
 The badge of the former house was the white rose, of the latter the 
 red rose. 
 
 Line 12. Outlaws. Of whom the most famous was Robin Hood, 
 who figures in the narrative beginning on page 84 below. 
 
 Line 20. Stephen. Who reigned in England from 1135 to 1154, 
 the first five years being spent in a civil war as bloody as that of the 
 Roses. The old Saxon Chronicle says : " In this king's time all was 
 dissension and evil and rapine. . . . Thou mightest go a whole 
 day's journey, and not find a man sitting in a town, nor an acre of 
 land tilled. The poor died of hunger, and those who had been well- 
 to-do begged for bread. . . . This lasted the nineteen years that 
 Stephen was king, and it grew continually worse." Henry II. suc- 
 ceeded Stephen, and reigned until 1189. Though by no means a 
 model sovereign, he was far better than his predecessor. 
 
 Page 38, line 35. Feudal tyranny. The rule of the great nobles 
 mentioned in the preceding paragraph. The "feudal system," of 
 which we get a glimpse in the following pages, prevailed through- 
 out Europe from the beginning of the ninth to the latter part of the 
 thirteenth century. 
 
 Line 56. The battle of Hastings. The battle fought near Hastings 
 on the southern coast of England, between William Duke of Nor- 
 mandy and Harold the Saxon King of England, in which the latter 
 was defeated and slain, and the Conqueror, as William was thence-
 
 SHERWOOD FOREST. 
 
 137 
 
 forward called, became master of the country. It <vas fought on the 
 I4th of October, 1066. 
 
 Page 39, line 67. The laws of the chase. Severe restrictions 
 upon hunting, the wild game in the country being claimed as the 
 property of the crown. See foot-note on p. 46. 
 
 Line 71. Add weight, as it were, to the feudal chains. The inser- 
 tion of as it were makes the expression a simile, instead of the meta- 
 phor it would otherwise be. See on page 13, line 334, above. 
 
 Line 76. In short, French was the language, etc. The remainder 
 of this paragraph might well be learned by heart or, better, the 
 substance of it mastered as a lesson in the history of the English 
 language. 
 
 Page 40, line 97. The Roman soldiery. Britain was invaded by 
 the Romans under Julius Caesar in the year 55 B.C. It was gradu- 
 ally brought under Roman rule, and remained a province of the em- 
 pire until about 420 A.D., or a short time previous to the Saxon con- 
 quest. Traces of the Roman occupation remain in many parts of 
 the country fortified camps, roads, ruins of houses, baths, altars, 
 weapons, tools, pottery, coins, inscriptions, etc. Many names of 
 places are also Roman ; as, for example, all ending in -caster, -cester, 
 and -chester, which endings are corruptions of the Latin caslra, a 
 camp. 
 
 Line 112. Druidical superstition. Druidism appears to have 
 
 STONEHENGE.
 
 '38 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 been common to all nations of the Celtic race, to which the ancient 
 Britons belonged. The Druids were not only priests and teachers 
 of religion, but also magistrates and judges. The oak-tree was es- 
 pecially sacred among them, and many of their rites were performed 
 in oak-groves. The structures mentioned by Scott are found in 
 various parts of the British Isles, and have been generally supposed 
 to be Druidical monuments ; but this is by no means certain. One 
 of the most remarkable collections of the kind is at Stonehenge near 
 Salisbury in the southern part of England. The cut gives an idea 
 of it The isolated stone in the foreground, known as the " Friar's 
 Heel," is sixteen feet high. The other cut shows a cromlech (as one 
 
 CROMLECH. 
 
 form of these supposed Druidical remains is called) on Ridge Hill, 
 near Abbotsbury, a small town about ten miles northwest of Port- 
 land. 
 
 Page 42, line 155. A Sheffield whittle. The poet Chaucer, 
 writing about five hundred years ago, mentions " a Sheffield thwit- 
 el," or whittle. 
 
 Page 44. line 191. A cap, etc. From this portion of the do- 
 mestic fool's costume, the " cap and bells " has become the symbol 
 of folly. Thus, in Lowell's Vision of Sir Launfal we read : 
 
 " At the devil's booth are all things sold, 
 Each ounce of dross costs its ounce of gold ; 
 For a cap and bells our lives we pay," etc.
 
 SHERWOOD FOREST. 
 
 139 
 
 Page 45, line 213. Harlequin. One of the chief characters in 
 the pantomime which is a regular feature of Christmas festivities in 
 England. He wears a tight dress covered with spangles, and his 
 wooden sword is supposed to be a magic one. The sword of lath 
 with which the jester is here equipped is a relic of the old " morali- 
 ties," or moral plays, in which the fool, or Vice, as he was called, 
 carried a dagger of lath, with which he used to attack the devil, who 
 also figured in these rude early dramas. We have several allusions 
 to this Vice in Shakespeare ; as, for instance, in Twelfth Nig/it, iv. 
 
 2. 134: 
 
 " Like to the old Vice, 
 
 Who, with dagger of lath, 
 In his rage and his wrath, 
 Cries, ah, ha ! to the devil," etc. 
 
 Page 46 ? line 247. The two-legged wolf. A jocose metaphor for 
 a robber. True man, in old English, was equivalent to honest man, 
 and is often found opposed to thief ; as in Shakespeare, i Henry IV. 
 ii. 2. 98 : " The thieves have bound the true men ;" Cymbeline, ii. 3. 
 76 : " Which makes the true man kill'd, and saves the thief," etc. 
 
 Page 47 ? line 261. An thou beest. If you are. Beest is the old 
 subjunctive form. It was also often used in the indicative ; as in 
 Hamlet, iii. 2. 32 : " O, there be players that I have seen play," etc. 
 Sometimes we find be and is in immediate succession j as in Richard 
 III. iv. 4. 92 : 
 
 " Where is thy husband? Where lie thy brothers? 
 Where are thy children?" 
 
 When a boy says now " Where be they ?" it is a vulgarism ; but, 
 \ike many other vulgarisms (double negatives and the confounding 
 vf who and which, for example), it was once good English. 
 
 Thou was formerly used in addressing inferiors, as by a master in 
 speaking to a servant. It was also common between equals, espe- 
 cially if they were on familiar terms ; but to use it in speaking to a 
 stranger who was not an inferior was an insult. Many examples of 
 the distinction might be given ; as in Shakespeare's Julius Ccesar (v. 
 5. 33) where Brutus says : 
 
 " Farewell to you, and you, and you, Volumnius; 
 Farewell to thee too, Strato ;" 
 
 where the persons first addressed are his friends, but Strato is a 
 servant. So in King Lear (iv. 6. 32), Edgar, disguised as a peasant, 
 says to the noble Gloster: "Now fare yoit well, good sir;" and 
 Gloster replies : " No\v,/eHow, fare thee well." See also on page 86, 
 line 58, below.
 
 140 NOTES. 
 
 Line 266. I have consulted my legs, etc. Wamba personifies his 
 legs (see on p. 17, line 53) in a merry way. 
 
 Line 273. Converted into Normans, etc. The dialogue that fol- 
 lows is an excellent lesson in language, and has several times been 
 quoted in the larger grammars and works on the history of our 
 English tongue. 
 
 Page 48, line 284. And drawn, and quartered, and hungup by 
 the heels, like a traitor. There is an allusion here to the ancient 
 punishment of a traitor by " hanging, drawing, and quartering;" the 
 victim being disembowelled {drawn is still used in this sense in con- 
 nection with dressing fowls) and cut into pieces after being hung. 
 In the time of George III. this penalty for treason was changed to 
 " drawing the criminal on a hurdle to the place of execution, hang- 
 ing him, and dividing his body into quarters." This will explain 
 the seemingly inconsistent explanations of " hanging, drawing, and 
 quartering," given in dictionaries and encyclopaedias. 
 
 Page 49, line 318. This second Eumceiis. Here we have a 
 "Classical allusion," as it is called. When Ulysses after his long 
 wanderings returns to his home in the disguise of an aged beggar, he 
 is kindly received by the faithful Eumaeus, who afterwards helps him 
 to regain possession of his kingdom. 
 
 CEDRIC THE SAXON, AND ROWENA. 
 
 Page 51, line 32. Chimneys. In the time of Richard I. chim- 
 neys like our modern ones were just coming into use in England, 
 and their construction was very rude and imperfect. 
 
 Line 46. Our modern barns. That is, English and Scotch barns, 
 the floors of which are often made in the manner described. 
 
 Page 53, line 94. Blue eyes. These, like the yellow hair (line 
 102), were characteristic of the Saxon race. As the poet says: 
 
 " from the bleak coast that hears 
 The German Ocean roar, deep-blooming, strong, 
 And yellow-haired, the blue-eyed Saxon came." 
 
 Page 55, line 154. Balder. In the Northern mythology, Bal- 
 der, or Baldur, was a son of the god Odin, or Woden, from whom 
 our Wednesday ( Woden 1 s-day) gets its name. For the story of Bal- 
 der's death, see Longfellow's poem entitled Tegner's Drapa. 
 
 Line 159. Evening mass. Some critics have found fault with 
 Shakespeare for referring to "evening mass " in Romeo and Juliet, 
 iv. 1. 38 ; but mass is occasionally celebrated in the evening in the
 
 CEDRIC THE SAXON, AND ROWENA. I4I 
 
 Roman Catholic Church (see our edition of R. and J. p. 200). In 
 the present passage vespers may be meant. 
 
 Page 56, line 189. Knights Templars. A celebrated order of 
 knights, founded at Jerusalem in the early part of the twelfth cen- 
 tury, for the protection of the Holy Sepulchre and pilgrims visiting 
 it. Their dress was a white robe (see p. 57, line 228) with a red 
 Maltese cross on the left shoulder. Their war-cry was " Beau sc- 
 ant " (literally "good sitting "), and their banner, called by the same 
 name, was white striped with black.* Their badges were the lamb 
 and cross (the Agnus Dei) and a device of two knights on one horse 
 emblematic of the poverty of the order in its early days (see page 
 76, line 429, below). After the conquest of Jerusalem by the Sara- 
 cens, the Templars spread all over Europe and became rich, luxuri- 
 ous, and arrogant. Their degeneracy led to the suppression of the 
 order in France, and later in other countries, their property being 
 transferred to the Knights of St. John. 
 
 Page 58, line 253. Vows are the knots, etc. What figure is 
 this? In the expression that follows we have also a Scriptural 
 allusion. See Psalms, cxviii. 27. 
 
 Line 256. Unloosened. Just above we have unloosed. The va- 
 riation is Scott's, not the printer's. 
 
 Line 260. In odor of sanctity. With the reputation of a saint; 
 a familiar metaphor. So " in bad odor " means in bad repute. 
 
 Page 59, line 284. His -ward. Cedric was the guardian of Row- 
 ena. 
 
 Line 295. That of the Eastern sultanas. The use of that is not 
 strictly grammatical ; neither would those be just right, as benuty is 
 not the abstract noun, but the concrete meaning a beautiful person, 
 not beauty as a quality. If Scott had written " on the beauty of the 
 Saxon lady," it would be correctly followed by " that of the Eastern 
 sultanas." 
 
 Page 60, line 301. Sate enshrined. What is the figure here ? 
 
 Line 303. Capable to kindle. Good usage would favor " capable 
 of kindling." This " indefinite use of the infinitive," as it is some- 
 times called, was more common formerly than it is at present. 
 
 Page 61, line 329. The dark caverns, etc. His deep-set eyes 
 are indirectly compared to fires in dark caverns. 
 
 Line 342. Which are to meet. The collective noun train is fol- 
 lowed by a plural relative, referring to the persons that make up the 
 train ; but in such a case -who would be better than which. 
 
 * A horse marked with black and white was called beau-seant ; hence the ap- 
 plication of the term to this banner.
 
 1 42 NOTES. 
 
 TOURNAMENT AT ASHBY-DE-LA-ZOUCHE. 
 
 The town of Ashby-de-la-Zouche, as it is called to distinguish it 
 from the many other places named Ashby, is in Leicestershire, about 
 twenty miles northwest of Leicester. The ancient castle, now in 
 ruins, is the scene of some of the most interesting portions of 
 Scott's Ivanhoe. About a mile to the west of the town is a small 
 plain which Scott is supposed to have had in mind as the place 
 where this tournament is held. The Lords of Ashby were great 
 patrons of such passages at arms, and the field of Ashby was one of 
 the most noted in England. 
 
 Page 02, line 19. Trumpets. That is, trumpeters ; the instru- 
 ment being put for the person. Compare Shakespeare, 3 Henry 
 VI. v. I. 16 : "Go, trumpet, to the walls, and sound a parle " (par- 
 ley). For the figure, see on page 3, line 61, above. Metonymy in- 
 cludes a great variety of cases in which one word is put for another 
 associated with it or suggesting it ; as the cause for the effect, the 
 sign for the thing signified, a part for the whole, an individual for a 
 class or species, etc., or vice versa.* 
 
 Heralds were officers whose business it was to conduct tourna- 
 ments as well as other celebrations of a formal and ceremonious 
 character royal cavalcades, coronations, marriages, etc. Pursui- 
 vants were attendants on the heralds, to assist them in their duties. 
 
 Line 21. The quality of the knights. That is, their rank and 
 title. 
 
 Page 64, line 70. The pit of a theatre. The lower floor of a 
 theatre, formerly called the fit, used to be considered the least de- 
 sirable part of the house and was given up to the poorer class of 
 spectators. 
 
 Page 66, line 125. Burghers. Inhabitants of a burgh, borough, 
 or town, of a rank corresponding to that of \\\z. yeomen in the coun- 
 try. It is equivalent to burgesses on p. 69. 
 
 Line 129. Dog of an unbeliever. The metaphor is contemptu- 
 ous, like whelp of a she- wolf below. 
 
 Line 137. Gaberdine. This garment was much worn by Jews. 
 
 * Most rhetoricians make a distinction between metonymy and synecdoche, put- 
 ting all forms of " a part for the whole " under the latter ; but as Prof. A. S. Hill 
 says in his excellent Principles of Rhetoric, " there is no important distinctioit 
 between synecdoche and metonymy."
 
 TOURNAMENT AT ASHBY-DE-LA-ZOUCHE. 
 
 143 
 
 Shylock, in the Merchant of Venice (1.3. 113), speaks of his "Jewish 
 gaberdine." 
 
 Page (J7, line 170. White as pearl. What is the figure? What 
 would it be if Scott had written " her teeth of pearl ?" 
 
 Page 69, line 222. Largesse, largesse. As Scott says, this was 
 the cry with which the heralds acknowledged the gifts made to 
 them ; but they seem also to have used it in expectation of receiv- 
 ing such gifts, or as a hint that the largess would be welcome. 
 
 Page 72, line 306. To break the 'weapon athwart, etc. We often 
 find in Shakespeare and other writers of that day figurative refer- 
 ences to this clumsiness. For instance, in Mttch Ado about Nothing 
 (v. i. 139), where Benedick and Claudio are engaged in a contest of 
 wit, the former says : " Sir, I shall meet your wit in the career, an 
 you charge it against me : I pray you choose another subject." Clau- 
 dio replies sarcastically: "Nay, then, give him another staff; this 
 last was broke cross." 
 
 Line 325. Applauses. Expressions of applause ; a use of the 
 plural somewhat uncommon, though we use praises, congratulations, 
 etc., in a similar way. 
 
 Page 76, line 445. With the shock of a thunderbolt. That is, as 
 with the shock, etc. What is the figure ? 
 
 Page 77, line 452. Stemed to flash fire. The use of seemed makes 
 the figure a simile. 
 
 Line 472. Fair and forcibly. For the alliteration, see on page 9, 
 line 239, above. 
 
 Line 481. The bars. That is, the bars of the front of the helmet. 
 
 Page 78, line 489. Stutig. Note the figurative use of the word. 
 
 Page 82, line 597. The Wurdour Manuscript. The source from 
 which the author of Ivanhoe professed to have drawn his materials. 
 Of these he says, in the " dedicatory epistle " of the novel : " They 
 may be chiefly found in the singular Anglo-Norman MS. which Sir 
 Arthur Wardour preserves with such jealous care in the third drawer 
 of his oaken cabinet, scarcely allowing any one to touch it, and being 
 himself not able to read one syllable of its contents." 
 
 Line 608. Gradually and gracefully. Of what is this an exam- 
 ple ?
 
 144 NOTES. 
 
 ARCHERY ROBIN HOOD. 
 
 Page 84, line 24. Saint Hubert. According to the legend, Hu- 
 bert was a gay French nobleman, who was so fond of the chase that 
 he followed it even on fast-days. While hunting in the Forest of 
 Ardennes during Holy Week, he met with a milk-white stag bearing 
 a crucifix between its horns. Overcome with awe and contrition, he 
 became a hermit in the forest, and preached Christianity to the 
 robbers and outlaws who infested it. Afterwards he studied for the 
 priesthood, and was eventually made bishop of Liege in Belgium. 
 He was buried in the church of St. Peter in that city, but his body 
 was afterwards removed to the abbey church of the Benedictines of 
 Ardennes. He is the patron of the chase and of dogs, and chapels 
 are erected to him in forests for the use of devout huntsmen. 
 
 Page 85, line 27. The royal forests of Needwood and Charnwood. 
 The former of these forests is in Staffordshire. In the time of Eliz- 
 abeth it was twenty-four miles in circumference, but comparatively 
 small portions of it now remain. The most picturesque of these are 
 between Burton-on-Trent and the river Dove. Ckarmvood Forest 
 is between Ashby-de-la-Zouche and Leicester, but is greatly changed 
 from its ancient condition, when "a squirrel might hop six miles 
 from tree to tree without touching the ground, and a traveller might 
 journey from Beaumanoir to Bardon on a summer day without once 
 seeing the sun." 
 
 Line 34. Newmarket. This "cradle of horse-racing" is partly 
 in Cambridgeshire and partly in Suffolk. Seven race-meetings oc- 
 cur here during the year, while no other town in England can boast 
 more than two. The population is largely made up of horse-jock- 
 eys, trainers, and persons otherwise concerned with " the turf." 
 
 Page 86, line 58. Your grace. Observe that Locksley, in ad- 
 dressing the Prince, uses the pronoun you, while the Prince uses 
 than in speaking to him. See on page 47, line 261, above. 
 
 Line 66. Carriest. Dost carry off, or win. 
 
 Page 87, line 88. A shot at rovers. Shooting at such long 
 range that the arrow was not aimed point-blank but with an eleva- 
 tion. Strong and heavy arrows, called rovers, were employed in 
 such archery. 
 
 Line 108. Sith. The full form of the word was siihence, which 
 Shakespeare uses in Coriolanns, iii. i. 47 : " Have you informed 
 them sithence?"
 
 THE SIEGE OF TORQUILSTONE. I45 
 
 Page 89, line 156. Which it split to shivers. In the Lady of 
 the Lake (v. 621) Douglas performs a similar feat in the archery 
 contest at Stirling : 
 
 " The Douglas drew a bow of might, 
 His first shaft centred in the white, 
 And when in turn he shot again, 
 His second split the first in twain." 
 
 Page 90, line 194. I give him the bucklers. Shakespeare uses 
 the same expression figuratively in Much Ado (v. I. 17), where Bene- 
 dick says to Margaret : " I give thee the bucklers ;" that is, I give 
 up the contest of wit. 
 
 Line 197. Shoot at the edge of our parson's whittle. So Jack Fal- 
 staff (in Shakespeare's 2 Henry IV. iii. 2. 286) says of the slender 
 Shadow : " give me this man : he presents no mark to the enemy ; 
 the foeman may with as great aim level at the edge of a penknife." 
 
 Line 201. Cowardly dog ! Compare page 66, line 129, above. 
 
 Page 91, line 226. Your royal brother. John was the younger 
 brother of Richard I., who had conferred upon him earldoms amount- 
 ing to nearly a third of the kingdom. John nevertheless endeav- 
 ored to seize the crown during Richard's captivity in Austria. His 
 brother pardoned this treachery, and when dying is said to have 
 named John as his successor. 
 
 THE SIEGE OF TORQUILSTONE. 
 
 Page 93, line 22. As -well, and better than he could have ex- 
 pected. The grammatical construction is incomplete. It should 
 read, " as well as, and better than," etc., or, preferably, " as well as 
 he could have expected, and better." 
 
 Page 94, line 49. Heavy yet hasty. Besides the alliteration (of 
 which we have noted only a few out of many instances in the pre- 
 ceding pages), we have here an example of antithesis (a Greek word 
 meaning a setting against or opposite), the contrast or opposition 
 of words or sentiments. It is a forcible figure if judiciously used. 
 Compare Pope's familiar line, " To err is human, to forgive divine ;" 
 and his translation from Horace, " He 's armed without that 's inno- 
 cent within," etc. See also line 60 below. 
 
 Page 96, line 82. The distant muttering of the storm, etc. Is 
 this literal or figurative language? 
 
 Page 98, line 138. Who they be. See on page 47, line 261, 
 above. 
 10
 
 I 4 6 NOTES. 
 
 Line 148. Azure. The heraldic term for blue ; as gules for red, 
 vert for green, sable for black, etc. 
 
 Line 150. It might now be mine own. Referring in a half-sport- 
 ive way to his imprisonment. 
 
 Page 99, line 175. Beau-seant! See on page 56, line 189, 
 above. 
 
 Page 100, line 194. Armor of proof . This use of proof was a 
 technical term, implying that the armor had been proved, or tested, 
 or would bear the proof of actual service in war. The word is some- 
 times put, by metonymy, for the armor itself, as in Shakespeare's 
 
 Richard III. v. 3. 219 : 
 
 " ten thousand soldiers, 
 Armed in proof, and led by shallow Richmond." 
 
 Page 101, line 229. Blench from the helm, etc. Shrink from, 
 or desert it. Translate the figurative into literal language ; and 
 also in lines 241-243 below. 
 
 Page 102, line 251. Holy prophets of the law! Note that all 
 the exclamations of Rebecca are in keeping with her Jewish national- 
 ity. Contrast with these the language of Ivanhoe on the next page, 
 lines 290, 299, etc. 
 
 Line 267. Like an oak, etc. Name and explain the figure. In 
 steel we have a form of metonymy the material put for the thing 
 made of it. 
 
 Page 103, line 283. Thine own image. A Scriptural allusion. 
 See Genesis, i. 26. 
 
 Line 288. Like crushed reptiles. Point out another example of 
 the same figure on this page. 
 
 Line 305. O men, if ye be indeed men, etc. Observe that this is 
 not actually said to the soldiers outside, who could not hear her 
 voice, even if she dared to make herself known to them at this time. 
 It is an example of the rhetorical figure called apostrophe (a Greek 
 word meaning a turning away), which is a turning aside from the di- 
 rect discourse to address some other person, often not present, or 
 some thing which is personified. Thus Byron, in his poem of 
 Childe Harold, introduces the famous apostrophe to the ocean, be- 
 ginning " Roll on, thou deep and dark blue ocean, roll !" Of course 
 the ocean must be viewed as an intelligent being, or personified, be- 
 fore it can be addressed. In the present passage, the apostrophe is 
 merely an indirect or figurative way of expressing Rebecca's earnest 
 wish that the victors might spare the vanquished. She would plead 
 thus with them if it were possible to do so. 
 
 Page 104, line 330. On a field-sable. On a black surface; the 
 language of heraldry. See on page 98, line 148, above.
 
 THE SIEGE OF TORQUILSTONE. 147 
 
 105, line 366. Melee. Confused conflict ; a French word, 
 literally meaning a mixture. It has been Anglicized (or made an 
 English word) as mellay or melley, which is used in poetry, and oc- 
 casionally in prose. See, for example, Tennyson's Princess, v. 491 : 
 " He rode the mellay, lord of the ringing lists ;" and one of Mr. W. 
 H. Russell's Crimean letters to the London Times : " crowded to- 
 gether in one indiscriminate melley." 
 
 Note the figures in this passage, and in lines 371, 372 below, 
 where there is also a Scriptural allusion. The next page abounds in 
 examples of figurative language. Observe the personification of 
 Chivalry in 405 and the lines that follow. 
 
 Page 108, line 455. Gray hairs. What form of metonymy have 
 we here ? See on page 62, line 19, above. 
 
 Page 109, line 494. Mount joy e, Saint Denis ! More correctly 
 Montjoye (or Montjoie) Saint Denis ! This French war-cry dates 
 back at least to the fifth century. We have met with no explana- 
 tion of its origin. 
 
 Page 111, line 549. Well and chivalrous. The adverbial use 
 of chivalrous seems to be in imitation of the old confusion of adjec- 
 tive and adverb of which we have many examples in Shakespeare 
 and earlier writers. Compare fair and true, page 77, line 480, above. 
 
 Page 112, line 573. I yield me. I yield myself. The use of 
 the personal pronoun for the reflexive was once common, but is now 
 admissible only in poetry or, as here, in imitation of the language of 
 the olden time. 
 
 Line 596. Dispirited and despairing. Of what is this an exam- 
 ple ? 
 
 Page 113, line 612. Prevented from observing either. This is 
 the reading of the standard editions of Ivanhoe, but there is either 
 some corruption of the text or carelessness in composition. It is 
 not clear to what either refers. The most plausible explanation is 
 that it means either party the assailants or the defenders. 
 
 Page 114, line 642. Recks. Cares ; now little used except in 
 poetry. Reckless, which is derived from it, was in constant use down 
 to the middle of the sixteenth century, but fifty years later it had be- 
 come so nearly obsolete that Dr. Richard Hooker (1553-1600) thought 
 it necessary to explain its meaning in a marginal note. It was after- 
 wards revived, and is now familiar to every English-speaking person. 
 Reck was formerly used impersonally also ; as in Milton's Cotnus, 
 404 : " Of night or loneliness it recks me not ;" that is, I do not care 
 for them, or regard them. 
 
 Line 652. Hound of the Temple. Compare page 66, line 129, and 
 page 90, line 201. Metaphors taken from the names of animals are
 
 148 NOTES. 
 
 common v not only in books but in every-day speech. Such use of 
 hog, bear, fox, goose, etc., will occur to young people at once, and they 
 can easily make out a long list of similar names. Sometimes the 
 metaphor takes the form of a verb ; as in dog, to follow like a dog. 
 Compare Comtis, 405 (the next line to the one quoted in the pre- 
 ceding note) : " I fear the dread events that dog them both." 
 
 THE TRIAL OF REBECCA THE JEWESS. 
 
 Brian de Bois-Guilbert has carried Rebecca against her will to 
 Templestowe, an establishment of the Templars, contrary to the 
 rule forbidding a woman to be lodged in any of their houses. The 
 fact is discovered by the Grand Master, and the Templar, in order 
 that he may escape the penalty he has incurred, allows the Jewess 
 to be accused of exercising a magic power over him. 
 
 Magic and witchcraft were generally believed in, even by the most 
 learned men, at that time and for centuries afterwards. It was not 
 until the latter part of the sixteenth century that any English writer 
 ventured to attack the popular belief. In 1584 Reginald Scot pub- 
 lished his Discoverie of Witchcraft, in which he exposed the preten- 
 sions of the magicians ; but he made many enemies by it. His book 
 was received with much less favor than King James's Demonology, 
 brought out a few years later, in which sorcery and witchcraft were 
 treated as sober realities. Executions of persons charged with being 
 witches took place in Europe as late as 1793 (a hundred years after 
 the "Salem witchcraft" here); and no longer ago than 1863 a re- 
 puted wizard was drowned in a pond at Hedingham, England, by a 
 mob of 'his neighbors. 
 
 Page 118, line 69. Advantage. Rarely used as a verb now, but 
 formerly common enough. Compare Shakespeare's Julius Ccesar, iii. 
 I. 242 : " It shall advantage more than do us wrong." 
 
 Line So. Affirmance. Affirmation ; rarely used except in legal 
 language. 
 
 Weigh down. For the figure compare page 40, line 71, and page 
 122, line 188. 
 
 Page 121, line 161. Vessel of perdition. Probably suggested by 
 " vessel of wrath " in Romans, ix. 22. 
 
 Line 166. Repentance not to be repented of . See 2 Corinthians, 
 vii. 10. 
 
 Page 122, line 183. As this thin and light glove, etc. Here we 
 have the full and formal statement of the simile. Note how aptly
 
 THE TRIAL OF REBECCA THE JEWESS. 149 
 
 Rebecca turns the figure against Eeaumanoir in her reply, which 
 also illustrates the difference between the simile and the metaphor. 
 
 Line 206. Foughten. Shakespeare uses this old participle once, 
 in Henry V. iv. 6. 18 : " this glorious and well-foughten field." Tenny- 
 son imitates him, using the expression " foughten field " no less than 
 three times in his poems. 
 
 Line 210. Him to whom an instant is as effectual, etc. Scott 
 seems to have had in mind Psalm xc. 4. 
 
 Page 123, line 215. If it so hap. That is, happen, come to 
 pass. Hap, whether as verb or noun, is now seldom used except in 
 poetry. 
 
 Line 231. Doom. Judgment, sentence. See on page 4, line 94, 
 above. 
 
 BRONZE CAST OF THE HEAD OF SIR WALTER SCOTT AFTER DEATH, FROM 
 PHOTOGRAPH.
 
 SCOTT'S STUDY.
 
 INDEX OF WORDS AND PHRASES 
 EXPLAINED. 
 
 a la rescousse (ah-lah-res-coos"), 99. 
 
 advantage (verb), 148. 
 
 adventurous swords, 135. 
 
 affirmance, 148. 
 
 agraffe, 68. 
 
 allegory, 131. 
 
 alliteration, 129, 143, 145. 
 
 an (=if), 47. J 39- 
 
 antithesis, 145. 
 
 apostrophe, 146. 
 
 applauses, 143. 
 
 armor of proof, 146. 
 
 arms (heraldic), 28, 134. 
 
 as well . . . than, 145. 
 
 As You Like It, 128. 
 
 ascetic, 120. 
 
 Ashby-de-la-Zouche (zoosft), 56, 142. 
 
 Asphaltites, Lake, 134. 
 
 assoilzie, 104. 
 
 at full career. 135. 
 
 athwart (of a lance), 72, 143. 
 
 azure (heraldic), 146. 
 
 Balder, 140. 
 
 baldric, 84. 
 
 bandeau (bdn-do'), 44. 
 
 barbican, 97. 
 
 barriers (of castle), 101. 
 
 bartisan,94. 
 
 be l=is), 139,^145. 
 
 beau seant (&o-sa-ahng'), 141, 146. 
 
 beech-mast, 46. 
 
 beleaguered, 94. 
 
 Belial, man of, 118. 
 
 blench, 146. 
 
 blue eyes (Saxon), 140. 
 
 brave (=excellent), 91. 
 
 Bruce the bold, 128- 
 
 bucklers, to give the, 90, 145. 
 
 burgesses, 69. 
 
 burghers, 142. 
 
 cabalistical, 117. 
 
 caftan, 31. 
 
 Campagna (cam-pahn'-yaK), the, 18. 
 
 canon, 57. 
 
 cap and bells, 138. 
 
 cap-a-pie, 70. 
 
 capitation tax, 22. 
 
 caracole, 67. 
 
 career, at full, 135. 
 
 earnest, 144- 
 
 Cave, adsunt (cah'-va, akd"-soonf), 79. 
 
 champion, 119. 
 
 Chamwood Forest, 144. 
 
 chase, laws of the, 137. 
 
 chimneys (ancient), 140. 
 
 Classical allusion, 140. 
 
 Clermont, 133. 
 
 cloth-yard shafts, 99. 
 
 clout (of target), 89. 
 
 connoisseur, 67- 
 
 cope (noun), 57. 
 
 cornucopia, 132. 
 
 couch (a spear), 31. 
 
 couchant, 28. 
 
 crest (of helmet), 134. 
 
 cromlech, 138. 
 
 cross (of sword), 135. 
 
 Crusade, 25. 
 
 demi-volte, 77. 
 
 derring-do, 104. 
 
 dog (figurative), 142, 145, 148. 
 
 Don (river), 136. 
 
 doom (=judgment), 128, 149. 
 
 doublet, 53. 
 
 Dragon of Wantley, 136. 
 
 drawn and quartered, etc., 140. 
 
 drinking-horns, 59. 
 
 Druidical, 40. 
 
 Druidism, 137. 
 
 Dryburgh Abbey, 132. 
 
 Eastern Empire, 133. 
 
 embrasure, 99. 
 
 Emir. 33. 
 
 emprize, 105. 
 
 en avant (ahn av-akng'}, 99. 
 
 ermine, 53. 
 
 escutcheons, 70. 
 
 Eumaeus (Eu-me'-us), 49, 140. 
 
 evening mass, 140. 
 
 exoteric, 12-
 
 INDEX OF WORDS AND PHRASES. 
 
 fetterlock, 98. 
 
 make in, 109. 
 
 feudal tyranny, 136. 
 
 malice prepense, 46. 
 
 Fielding, 131. 
 
 tafUe (ma-la), 147. 
 
 field-sable, 146. 
 
 mellay, 147. 
 
 figurative, 129. 
 
 merrymen, 85. 
 
 flanked, 50. 
 
 metaphor, 130, 131, 147. 
 
 form (in school), 129. 
 
 methought, 127. 
 
 foughten, 122, 149. 
 
 metonymy, 127, 142. 
 
 
 
 Mountjoye, Saint Denis, 147. 
 
 gaberdine, 66, 142. 
 
 murrain, 48. 
 
 gage, 120. 
 
 
 Galgacus (GUI-go.' -cus), 130. 
 
 Nazarene, 35. 
 
 gambadoes, 5. 
 
 Needwood Forest, 144. 
 
 Gare le Corbeau (g&r Ifh cdr-6o"), 76. 
 
 Newmarket, 144. 
 
 give the bucklers, 90, 145. 
 
 noble (coin), 86. 
 
 gorget, 42. 
 
 Norman, 30, 134. 
 
 gramercy, 75. 
 
 
 S-ammar-school, n. 
 
 odor of sanctity, 141. 
 
 recian Empire, 133. 
 Gualterus (Guahl-ta '-rus), 129. 
 
 Ossian, 130. 
 outrance (oo-ira/tns'), 68. 
 
 hanging, drawing, and quartering, 140. 
 hap (verb), 149. 
 
 pennoncelle (ftn-nin-sff), 28. 
 personification, 132, 146. 
 
 Harlequin, 45, 139- 
 
 pit (of theatre), 142. 
 
 harness (=armor), 34. 
 
 platanus-tree, 13. 
 
 Hastings, battle of, 136. 
 
 postern-gate, 97. 
 
 hatchment, 106. 
 
 Prestonpans, 128. 
 
 hauberk, 28, 41. 
 
 profane (not sacred), 130. 
 
 Henry II., 136. 
 heraldry, 134. 
 
 proof (of armor), 100. 
 Prophet, the, 35. 
 
 heralds, 142. 
 
 pursuivants, 142. 
 
 hership, 56. 
 
 
 hind, 3. 
 Holy Sepulchre, the, 133. 
 
 quality (=rank), 142. 
 quantity (misused), 129. 
 
 Hospitaller, 74. 
 
 quarter-staff, 49. 
 
 hussar, 44. 
 
 
 
 rangers, 85. 
 
 infinitive, indefinite, 141. 
 
 reckless, 147. 
 
 iron (figurative), 135. 
 
 recks (=cares), 147. 
 
 
 Red-cross Knight, 133. 
 
 J'erkin, 90. 
 
 reed (=shepherd's pipe), 2. 
 
 ohn, Prince, 145. 
 
 reliquary, 60. 
 
 
 Reliqiies, Percy's, 131. 
 
 Kelso, 131. 
 
 rest (in armor), 32. 
 
 kirtle, 60. 
 
 Richardson, 131. 
 
 Knight of La Mancha. 5. 
 
 Romans in Britain, 137. 
 
 Knights Templars, 141. 
 
 Roses, Wars of the, 136. 
 
 
 rovers (arrows), 144. 
 
 lady (derivation), 52. 
 
 
 largesse (l&r-zltisf 1 ), 69, 143. 
 
 Saint Denis, 109, 147. 
 
 lay spear in rest, 3 1, 120. 
 
 Saint Hilda, 58. 
 
 Limoges, no. 
 
 Saint Hubert, 144. 
 
 Lincoln green, 86. 
 
 Saint Jean d'Acre, 103. 
 
 lingua franca, 34. 
 
 Saint Mary's Aisle, 132. 
 
 lists, 62. 
 
 Saint Withold, 46. 
 
 lord (derivation), 52. 
 
 sallyport, 97. 
 
 lurcher, 46. 
 
 salvage (=savage), 63. 
 
 
 Saracens, 133. 
 
 Maccabeus (Mac-ca-be'-ui), 107. 
 
 scarlet ranks, 4. 
 
 Mackenzie, 131. 
 
 Scotland's gentler blood, 128. 
 
 magic, 148. 
 
 scrip, 42. 
 
 Mahomet, 133. 
 
 Scriptural allusion, 129, 146. 
 
 major-domo, 57. 
 
 settles (noun), 52.
 
 INDEX OF WORDS AND PHRASES. 
 
 153 
 
 shacklebolt, 98. 
 
 Sheffield whittle, 138. 
 
 shepherd's reed, 2. 
 
 shot at rovers, 144. 
 
 simarre (si-m&r'), 67. 
 
 simile, 131. 
 
 sith, 87, 144. 
 
 sithence, 144. 
 
 sleights, 3. 
 
 slow-hounds, 54. 
 
 Smailholm Tower, 2. 
 
 Smollett, 131. 
 
 Spenser, 130. 
 
 squire, 30. 
 
 station (in desert), 135. 
 
 Stephen, King, 136. 
 
 Stonehenge, 138. 
 
 strawberry-leaves (ducal), 82. 
 
 strength (^stronghold), 3. 
 
 surcoat, 28. 
 
 swart, 58. 
 
 thane. 53. 
 
 thatch, 51. 
 
 them and you, 139, 144. 
 
 thrall (serf ), 42. 
 
 timeless, 4. 
 
 to (omitted), 129. 
 
 tournament, 56. 
 
 trencher, 55. 
 
 true man, 139. 
 
 trumpet (=trumpeter), 142. 
 
 truncheon, 55. 
 
 two-legged wolf, 139. 
 
 undertake, 68. 
 unicorn, 134. 
 
 Veau (vo), Monsieur de, 48. 
 velvet verdure, 135. 
 vessel of perdition, 148. 
 
 Wallace wight, 127. 
 
 Wardpur Manuscript, 143. 
 
 wassail-rout, 127. 
 
 Wednesday (derivation), 140. 
 
 ween, 56. 
 
 weight of armor, 134. 
 
 well and chivalrous, 147. 
 
 wend we, 135. 
 
 West-Riding, 41. 
 
 whit, 71. 
 
 whittle (=knife), 42,90, 138, 145, 
 
 wight (=gallant), 3. 
 
 yeomanry, 64. 
 
 you and thoUi 139, 144-
 
 ARMS OF SIR WALTER SCOTT.
 
 TO TEACHEES OF THE ENGLISH CLASSICS. 
 
 COURSES 01 STUDY IN SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 ARRANGED WITH REFERENCE TO THE TIME TO BE 
 
 DEVOTED TO THE STUDY OF THE POET, AND 
 
 ALSO TO THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE 
 
 LEADING COLLEGES AS A PART 
 
 OF THE PREPARATION 
 
 FOR ADMISSION. 
 
 THE attention of classical teachers is called to the fact that 
 certain plays of Shakespeare are now required by most of our 
 leading colleges as a part of the preparation for admission. 
 HARVARD COLLEGE (followed by DARTMOUTH, TRINITY, and 
 WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY) specifies Julius Ccesar and Macbeth for 
 the examination of 1886, Julius Ccesar and the Merchant of Ven- 
 ice for 1887, Julius Ccesar and Twelfth Night for 1888, and Julius 
 Ccesar and As You Like, It for 1889. BROWN UNIVERSITY re- 
 quires the same, except that the Merchant is omitted for 1887, 
 and Julius Ccesar and the Midsummer- Night's Dream are added 
 for 1890. WILLIAMS COLLEGE follows Harvard for 1886 and 
 1887, no announcement being made as yet for 1888, etc. AM- 
 HERST COLLEGE has the same requirements for 1886 and 1888, 
 but substitutes As You Like It for the Merchant in 1887. TUFTS 
 COLLEGE follows Harvard for 1886, 1887, and 1888, with the 
 omission of Julius Ccesar in 1886. BOSTON UNIVERSITY follows 
 Harvard for 1886, the only year announced. THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF VERMONT requires only Richard III. for 1886, and Julius 
 Ccesar for 1887. 
 
 A glance at the catalogues and calendars of other first-class 
 institutions throughout the country will show that the majority 
 of them are also requiring a knowledge of these English clas- 
 sics for admission to their privileges. 
 
 Mr. Rolfe often receives letters from teachers asking what 
 plays he would recommend for school use, and in what order 
 they should be taken up. The Merchant was the first play he 
 edited for schools, because he regarded it as, on the whole, the 
 best to begin with ; though for classical schools he would prefer 
 Julius Ccesar, which, as shown above, is required every year by 
 the great majority of the colleges. If two plays can be read, the 
 Merchant and Julius Ccesar may be commended, or either of
 
 (2) 
 
 these, with As You Like It (or Macbeth, which is the shortest of 
 the great tragedies and the best for an ordinary school course). 
 For a selection of three plays, take the Merchant (or Julius Cce- 
 sar), As You Like It (or Twelfth Night or Much Add), and Mac- 
 beth. One of the English historical plays (King John, Richard 
 II., Henry IV., Part I., or Henry V.) may be substituted for the 
 second in the list, if preferred ; and Hamlet, which is about twice 
 as long as Macbeth, for the latter play, if time permits and the 
 teacher chooses. If a fourth play is wanted, add The Tempest 
 to the list. Macbeth and The Tempest together (4061 lines) are 
 but a trifle longer than Hamlet (3929 lines), and can be easily read 
 in the same time. For a fifth play, Hamlet, Lear, or Coriolanus 
 may be added; or, if a shorter and lighter play is preferred, 
 the Midsummer- Night's Dream, which, in a course of five plays, 
 might well be put first, as a specimen of the dramatist's early 
 work. A course of five plays, arranged with special reference 
 to the illustration of Shakespeare's career as a writer, might be 
 this: A Midsummer- Night's Dream (early comedy) ; Richard II., 
 Henry IV., Part I., or Henry V. (English historical period): As 
 You Like It, Twelfth Night, or Much Ado (later comedy); Mac- 
 beth, Hamlet, or Lear (period of the great tragedies) ; and The 
 Tempest or Winters Tale (the latest plays, or "Romances"). 
 For a series of six plays, instead of one English historical play 
 take two: Richard III., Richard II., or King John (earlier his- 
 tory, 1593-1595), and Henry IV., Part I., or Henry V. (later his- 
 tory, or "history and comedy united, "1597-1 599). For a series 
 of seven, insert in the list either Romeo and Juliet (early tragedy) 
 before "early history," or the Merchant (middle comedy) after 
 "early history;" and for a series of eight, include both these. 
 Henry VIII. could be added to any of the longer series as a 
 very late play, of which Shakespeare wrote only a part, and 
 which was completed by Fletcher. The Taming of the Shrew 
 may be mentioned incidentally as an earlier play that is inter- 
 esting as being partly from another hand than Shakespeare's. 
 
 Certain plays, like Cymbeline, Othello, and Antony and Cleopa- 
 tra, are not to be commended for "mixed" schools or classes, 
 but may be used in others at the discretion of the teacher. 
 
 The Sonnets may well be introduced to give variety to any ex- 
 tended course in Shakespeare. Young people always get inter- 
 ested in the Sonnets, if their attention is once called to them. 
 Rolfe's Edition is in all respects adapted for school or college use. 
 
 See list of Rolfe's English Classics on following page.
 
 ENGLISH CLASSICS. 
 
 EDITED BY WM. J. ROLFE, A.M. 
 
 Illustrated. i6mo, Cloth, 56 cents per vol. ; Paper, 40 
 cents per vol. 
 
 SHAKESPEARE'S WORKS: 
 
 The Merchant of Venice. The Tempest. King Henry 
 the Eighth. Julius Caesar. King Richard the Second. 
 Othello. Macbeth. Romeo and Juliet. A Midsum- 
 mer-Night's Dream. King Richard the Third. King 
 Henry the Fifth. Hamlet. As You Like It. Much 
 Ado About Nothing. Twelfth Night. The Winter's 
 Tale. King John. King Henry the Fourth. Part I. 
 King Henry the Fourth. Part II. King Lear. The 
 Taming of the Shrew. All 's Well that Ends Well. 
 Coriolanus. The Comedy of Errors. Cymbeline. An- 
 tony and Cleopatra. Measure for Measure. Merry 
 Wives of Windsor. Love's Labour 's Lost. Two Gen- 
 tlemen of Verona. Timon of Athens. Troilus and 
 Cressida. King Henry the Sixth. Part I. King Henry 
 the Sixth. Part II. King Henry the Sixth. Part III. 
 Pericles, Prince of Tyre. The Two Noble Kinsmen. 
 Poems. Sonnets. Titus Andronicus. 
 
 GOLDSMITH'S SELECT POEMS. 
 GRAY'S SELECT POEMS. 
 
 ROBERT BROWNING'S A BLOT IN THE 'SCUTCH- 
 EON, AND OTHER DRAMAS. 
 
 ROBERT BROWNING'S SELECT POEMS. 
 MILTON'S MINOR POEMS. 
 MACAULAY'S LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS, NEW YORK. 
 
 t3&~ A ny of the above works will be sent by mail, postage prepaid, to any part 
 of the United States or Canada, on receipt of the price.
 
 THE WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
 
 Bv SIR WALTER SCOTT, BART. 
 
 Each of the following editions contains the full number of 2000 illustrations. 
 They are printed from large type, on handsome paper, and are the cheapest, best, 
 and most legible editions of these favorite novels ever offered to the American pec- 
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 THISTLE EDITION : 48 volumes, Green Cloth, $i oo per volume. (The 
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 HOLYROOD EDITION: 48 volumes, Brown Cloth, 75 cents per volume. 
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 Ivanhoe. 2 vols. The Monastery. 2 vols. The Abbot. 2 vols. Kenilworth. 
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 Perth. 2 vols. Anne of Geierstein. 2 vols. Woodstock. 2 vols. Peveril of the 
 Peak. 3 vols. A Legend of Montrose. i vol. The Betrothed, i vol. The 
 Talisman, i vol. The Bride of Lammermoor; The Black Dwarf. 2 vols. 
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 POPULAR EDITION: 24 volumes (2 volumes in one), bound in Green 
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 Waverley. i vol. Guy Mannering. i vol. The Antiquary, i vol. Rob 
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 St. Ronan's Well, i vol. Redgauntlet. i vol. The Fair Maid of Perth, i voL 
 Anne of Geierstein. i vol. Woodstock, i vol. The Bride of Lammermoor ; 
 The Black Dwarf, i vol. The Betrothed ; The Talisman, i vol. Peveril of the 
 Peak; A Legend of Montrose. 2 vols. Count Robert of Paris; Castle Danger- 
 ous ; Chronicles of the Canongate ; The Highland Widow, etc. ; The Surgeon's 
 Daughter ; Glossary. 2 vols. 
 
 SIR WALTER SCOTT'S POEMS. 
 
 THE LAY OF THE LAST MINSTREL. 32mo, Paper, 20 cents; Cloth, 
 35 cents. 
 
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